Church and Christian academy partner to ‘pray and obey, love Christ well, share God’s love’
WINTER GARDEN—What is the secret to a spiritual awakening taking place among students in central Florida?
It’s really no secret at all.
First Baptist Church in Winter Garden and Foundation Academy, a private Christian school in Winter Garden, have partnered together to integrate the gospel into every aspect of students’ educational life, resulting in a campus-wide spiritual revival.
“All we’ve done is pray and obey, love Christ well, and share God’s love with the students through every available avenue,” said John Bradley, student ministry director at First Baptist Church in Winter Garden.
Over this past 2023-2024 academic year, this intentional gospel integration into daily school activities has seen countless students “come to understand that there is a difference between having knowledge about the things of God and following through on them in faith and obedience,” Bradley said.
Many students have made professions of faith in Jesus as they realized that a Christian commitment “takes more than behavior to ‘be good enough,’” Bradley said. “It requires surrender to the lordship of Christ,” which includes following through “in obedience” in matters such as baptism, church involvement, serving or personal discipleship.
First Baptist Winter Garden pastors and Foundation Academy faculty say the movement of God among the students started in September 2023 when Bradley and Jeffrey Lawrence, director of spiritual development at the school, began to teach more directly on doctrine and theology—challenging students to think more intentionally about their personal relationships with God.
“We began to teach more directly on theology and doctrine, primarily who God is, how we can know Him, and what He produces in us. Students were challenged to evaluate their relationship with God and test its foundation,” Bradley said.
Spiritual transformations taking place at Foundation Academy are evident on the high school baseball team. What started as one coach sharing his testimony with the players after practice launched an immediate response. After players and students were challenged to understand that nothing else matters aside from a genuine relationship with the Lord, several players responded
The spiritual revival occurring among students at Foundation Academy in Winter Garden is “the work of the Spirit through the believers displaying a genuine and effective faith. … It’s genuine believers living out what God has developed in them. It’s not fake, superficial or manipulative. It’s real-life stuff happening with ordinary people in divine ways.”
with salvation decisions, resulting in numerous baptisms.
Bradley also credited the spiritual awakening to longtime, diligent prayer, saying, “The faculty and staff have prayed long and hard over these students and this school.”
Foundation Academy, Bradley said, is now “reaping” the harvest of years of prayer and preparation by both church and school leaders.
“We’re realizing the vision Tim Grosshans, senior pastor at First Baptist Winter Garden, and Dave Buckles, president of Foundation Academy, had years ago and what this place should be. We are reaping the reward now of years of preparation and diligently seeking the will of God by this leadership and faculty,” Bradley said.
Genuine, organic life change
With leaders’ priority on foundational doctrine and prayer, the students are living out their genuine love for the Lord, which is leading to “organic discipleship” campus-wide.
What is taking place at Foundation Academy isn’t overwhelming chapel invitations and extended prayer services, but rather one-on-one conversations taking place around campus, in classrooms and at after-school practices, Bradley said.
“Students are seeing faith lived out by others, whether that be through peers, faculty or their pastors,” he said. “It’s the work of the Spirit through the believers displaying a genuine and effective faith. It’s a, ‘Let’s do this together,’ rather than a, ‘Do as I say’ attitude.”
When asked if he could describe what is happening on campus in two words, Bradley described it as “lifestyle testimonies.”
“It’s genuine believers living out what God has developed in them,” he said. “It’s not fake, superficial or manipulative. It’s real-life stuff happening with ordinary people in divine ways.”
Vital church partnership
The faculty, leadership and pastors believe that this recent evangelism explosion and genuine life change are the result of a strong and vital partnership between the church and academy.
With First Baptist Winter Garden church members serving as board members for the school, the cohesive partnership between the two has developed into family-centered mission and discipleship over the years.
“The church functions as a spiritual accountability and guidance entity, allowing the school flexibility in how it applies matters of faith in daily student life,” Bradley said. “The church directs the faith doctrine and theology, and the school implements the formation process.”
Because the private school is not a “covenant school,” meaning that students don’t have to profess faith in Christ to attend, a large portion of students do not know God or actively attend a local church. Therefore, Foundation Academy is a ripe mission field for “many faith decisions and baptisms,” Bradley said.
“Many students are truly professing the message of the gospel for the first time!”