The Unpublished Article
[image error]Denied.
* Were we too radical?
* Too controversial?
* Bad language? (You know me)
Pat, the vice-principle at Stapleton Elementary (where Cottonwood Church meets), wrote an article with me for Leadership Journal. Many of you said you wanted it read it.
Aaron wrote one earlier earlier in the year with me, which was published. You can read it here.
But this time Leadership said NO. You can't read it here. No link. Nothing. Nada.
Jerks.
Not really. Anyway, you can read it here. As in below here. Pat's part is at the end. Enjoy!
Dan
P.S. They are printing an article about Steve Lacy soon. I'll send the link when we have it.
OUR CHURCH-SCHOOL DILEMMA
(for leadership magazine 1204 words)
The Legal Dilemma
Last summer (2011) NYC 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to prohibit churches from meeting in their schools. It’s OK for secular groups to meet, but you know how church people can party. Churches can temporarily meet in the schools until things get sorted out – probably in the Supreme Court. As a country, churches’ being singled out for discrimination is an oddity. As history, it’s normal.
Meanwhile we have a window of opportunity to show the world the benefit of a church/school marriage.
Our Church Dilemma
“If Cottonwood [our church] somehow got obliterated by a possessed asteroid, people in Mexico would miss us. People in Haiti might cry. But here in West Albuquerque they’d have to look at the county records to see what was under the rock.”
That was my message four years ago. We were renting a 5000 sq. ft. store front for $5000 a month. It was lousy stewardship with no community impact. So – we made the decision to “Go Portable.” After praying for God to “close doors,” we looked at 27 possible locations in our vicinity. God answered. Only one came open.
Stapleton Elementary School.
This wasn’t where we wanted to be. It was too far north. It was hidden. And we didn’t have a choice. On January 1, 2009 we started regular services at Stapleton. It was the best decision (if you can call it that) we ever made.
We had heard some horror stories about churches meeting in schools. After doing some research (through other portable churches, outreach.com, portablechurch.com, etc) about successful church/school marriages we learned to:
Share Creatively
Whatever we couldn’t use as a portable church (most everything), we offered to the school before selling or giving it to someone else. We did this to the extreme. A few of the gifs included…
1. Flags: The history teacher has cool new flags (previously used for mission services) hanging all over his classroom.
2. Music Stands, etc: The music teacher was ecstatic to receive some of our gear that didn’t work in a portable application.
3. Chairs: The school now owns all our nice, padded stacking chairs. Giving them away seemed cheaper than buying a trailer to haul them around. They now own them. We use ‘em.
Our denomination has a “Block Party Trailer” they lend us for $100.00. It contains a jumping castle, cotton candy machine, popcorn, snow cone, grill, etc. We figure Stapleton is our block and we bring it in and man it whenever the school needs it.
Give Generously
Before our first service at Stapleton we held a garage sale at the school. We gave them 100% of the profits. It was only 1200 dollars, but it came at the beginning of the recession and budget cutbacks. Someone from our church at the sale heard a teacher say the gifted reading program was being cancelled due to lack of funds. This person wrote a personal check for another 500.00 to underwrite the program.
The school teachers in whose classrooms we meet receive an added bonus. Sometimes its gift cards for a teaching store, sometimes something more personal. Custodians usually receive something special over the holidays.
We donate backpacks at the beginning of the school year, and work with the school counselor to help needy families at Christmas. With only 150 people at an average service we were still able to help out both our friends in Haiti and give Christmas to six needy families at Stapleton last year. www.AdventConspiracy.org helped us to realize we could do way more than we thought possible.
Deal With Desires
It’s our desire for Stapleton Elementary to be known as the cleanest, sharpest school in Rio Rancho. To that end we cancel our normal service on the Sunday before school starts. We arrive at our normal 8:00 “set-up” time in our work clothes. Then we shovel, weed, rake, sweat and have a grand time. Others make cards for the teachers first day of classes. At 10 we have a mini-service in the cafeteria. We have brunch while we worship. The cooking helps to cover some of the other smells from a morning of outside work.
We try to help in whatever areas Stapleton desires. Some members help when the students are tested, other get involved in the school Family Fun Night, and still others help with the Staff Picnic. One weekend we put in a little sidewalk for the principle. Next to the custodians she runs the place, so we want her happy.
Results
This year Stapleton asked us if we wanted to set up a table at school registration. Did we! At the table we had a back-pack give away and a sign-up for those who wanted to be part of our Drill a Well in Haiti Christmas fundraiser. In one day we had 53 families sign up for the Haiti fundraiser. The well is something we just can’t do on our own.
I don’t know where this will lead us. We’ve only been at Stapleton 2 ½ years. For those paranoid NYC judges that think it’s a way for churches to indoctrinate school families with the gospel – I only wish they were right. That hasn’t been our case.
Those who had a church home before we started meeting there still do. Those who didn’t want to go to church still don’t. That may change over time, but the basic truth remains. . .
We do what is right because it is right. Outreach, at its core, is reaching out. As a result, if the possessed asteroid falls on us tomorrow we will be missed.
And if the NYC judges come down to NM, I believe Stapleton will be fighting right beside us for us to stay.
For us, for now, that is enough.
SIDEBAR: Thoughts from a Principle’s Perspective:
This former New York City girl will go head to head with any NY Court of Appeals to keep Cottonwood Church at our school! As the assistant principal, part of my job is to manage public facilities use. In the past, several churches asked to use our school and it did not feel like a good match.
When Pastor Dan Cooley met with me to ask about bringing his church to our school, it felt right. He was genuine and sincere. We worked out the logistics and he was so grateful for the opportunity. From the very beginning, it was all about giving back to our school. They take great pride in our campus. Throughout the year they volunteer time to clean up. They have had several garage sales and donated all of the proceeds to our school. We have a Family Fun Night to raise money for books, paper, and ink and they work side by side with our staff from beginning to end to help make it a success.
He has affectionately named this Ernest Stapleton Elementary School/Cottonwood Church endeavor “Staplewood!” They have been using our facility for over two years. I think it is great that we are blessed every Sunday with the Lord’s presence inside our school. During these scary and difficult times, we need all of the prayer we can possibly receive on a daily basis.
Pat Di Vasto
