Transcript: How the Largest Christian School Continues to Grow and Make an Impact // Dr. Jason Rachels, Calvary Christian Academy

Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast

How the Largest Christian School Continues to Grow and Make an Impact

April 10, 2023

Jason Rachels

Intro: Do you have an uneasy feeling that maybe your organization is a bit flat, even stagnant? Well, today's guest is the president of the largest Christian school in the United States, with nearly 3,000 students. They've seen significant growth in the past couple of years and are planning on continued growth through a multi-site strategy. In our conversation, our guest outlined several keys that have led to the creation of their flourishing workplace culture and how their culture is the foundation for their growth and impact. Listen in as we talk about several actionable steps that have led to high levels of trust and Christian character among their faculty and staff.

Welcome: Welcome to the Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast, your home for open, honest, and insightful conversations to help develop your leadership, your team, and build a flourishing workplace culture.

Al Lopus: Hello, I'm Al Lopus, the co-founder of the Best Christian Workplaces and the author of the book Road to Flourishing: Eight Keys to Boost Employee Engagement and Well-Being. And I'm passionate about helping Christian leaders, like you, create engaged, flourishing workplaces. So thank you for joining us today.

You know, when you lead a growing organization, it takes intentional effort to reinforce the vision and the values of the organization. And today on the Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast, we'll learn from the president of the largest and growing Christian school with a flourishing workplace culture. And we really encourage you to listen in to learn practical ways that you can lead well to influence workplace culture.

I'm delighted to welcome Dr. Jason Rachels to the podcast today. Jason is the president of Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with 2,900 students between pre-K and the 12th grade. Jason, welcome back to the Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast.

Jason Rachels: Thanks a lot, Al. It's great to be here with you. I appreciate it.

Al: Great to have you again, Jason. And I think of my visits back to be with you and your leadership team as you've talked about your culture. And I appreciate Tara's worked with you now for the last couple of years. You know, and you've been with Calvary Christian Academy since it started in 2000, so 23 years of service, and, first, as an assistant principal, and then, growing your leadership responsibility over the years, now serving as president. And since you've been president, you've seen a very nice increase in the health of your workplace culture. So from your vantage point, what has changed over the years more broadly in Christian education, and what are some of the core strengths and values that remain unchanged?

Jason: Yeah. Good, good question. I'd say Christian schools have begun to focus more on intentional discipleship and biblical worldview. As kids get more and more connected to social media, they're getting just all these additional hours of negative worldview shaping that needs to be countered with a biblical worldview. And I hope that more schools are working to not only provide persuasive arguments for the faith, but to also work to capture the hearts of the students—so not just going after their minds, but going after their hearts as well, because the culture is definitely doing that. And as for core strengths and values that remain unchanged, I'd say that most Christian schools have remained true to the Word of God and making the focus to be about Christ. I think that's always been the case. We just had to change some of the ways we do it as the culture has adjusted.

Al: Yeah. And there have been, certainly, big changes, for sure.

Well, Calvary Christian Academy has been doing the Engagement Survey with the Best Christian Workplaces since 2015. And you've got a long history and, again, a very nice improvement in your workplace culture. One of the areas of strengths that you have, which is above the averages of other Christian schools, is valuing diversity. And in this day and age, diversity is important in education. So how have you and your team nurtured diversity in your school, and what steps are you taking to continue to grow in this important area?

Jason: Yeah. Well, one thing that helps a lot is that we're a ministry of a church that is rather diverse itself. It's probably the most diverse church I've been a part of. And South Florida is rather diverse as well, and, thankfully, our church seems to show that flavor of the community that we're a part of. But then when it comes to hiring, we really just want to hire the best people for the job. And when you truly want that, diversity should happen fairly naturally because people of diverse backgrounds possess the talent. And so we didn't really try to set quotas or try to force the numbers, but rather just say, “Who's the best person for the job?” And as they, I think, saw our church as diverse and our school as diverse, people feel comfortable coming and applying. And so it's worked out pretty well.

Al: Yeah. As I've been on your campus, again both with the Calvary Chapel Church Fort Lauderdale as well as the school, you really do have, and it's really impressive to see, the diversity that you've got. I was always impressed, as I walked on the campus, that I feel the level of love, clearly the love of Christ, that exists in your campus.

Jason: That’s great.

Al: And that kind of leads to the next question. Another strong area that your school has is this level of trust between leaders and employees, and collaboration with clear consensus on goals. And again, your scores here are clearly above your peers. So this is always something that leaders are interested. How do you build trust, and how have you brought your staff together around your shared goals? What encouragement would you give to other school leaders or other leaders of Christian-led organizations that have been struggling in this area? Are there some practical steps that you've taken to build trust, Jason?

Jason: Yeah. Good question. The first one I’ll share is not easy to put into practice quickly, but one strength in our leadership team is the longevity of each of the leaders. So at our higher-level leaders, they've been there for a long time. So I've been at the school for over 23 years. My head of upper schools has been at the school for 20 years. My administrative assistant worked at the church and school for 23 years. My early childhood director has been here since we opened 23 years ago. So all that longevity is, like, these people, they're known.

And also, I'd say in addition to longevity is the fact that the vast majority of them actually started as teachers or teacher assistants at the school and worked their way up through the ranks over time by showing exceptional ability and character. So we work hard to be true to our word and to the mission of the school. We also have core values that we teach and practice. And so I think all that together are some of the key factors that have led to that high level of trust. They've seen us for a long time, and we really try to stay true to what we say and what our mission is.

In terms of bringing staff together around shared goals, it’s really nice that we know that our mission is taken directly from Jesus’s Great Commission. So that's our key goal and one that we all know is worth giving your life for. So that's a lot easier to do than it might be, you know, for the mission of a store or something like that.

And in terms of practical steps that leaders can take to build trust, I think we need to be true to our word and show a long obedience in the same direction, as someone once put it. Also, being real and transparent with your people, especially those that you work closely with. So you don't have to try to pretend to be perfect or anything like that, but let people know when you've messed up and admit to it and own it up. And people generally know anyway, and they appreciate that you're willing to be real and sort of invite them to be real as well.

Al: These are great: true to your word; long obedience in the same direction, just being faithful; and transparency. Great, great suggestions.

Your school has been in a season of growth, and you're also adding new locations in the past few years. And your Hollywood school, again, separate from your main campus, but your Hollywood location started doing the Best Christian Workplace Survey, oh, a few years ago, and they've also steadily improved. And so what are some of the challenges of growth as far as being a shared vision and culture? How have you worked to bring these new locations, and to be sure, because of growth, the current strengths that you have, how do you keep the CCA culture in these growing and new locations?

Jason: Yeah. Good question. Definitely something we have to be intentional about. And I think that the incremental growth on the same campus would not be too difficult—

Al: Mm-hmm.

Jason: —but we did something that created a greater challenge for us, as you mentioned. And so a church with a school asked us if we would take over running their school, which involved closing that school, re-opening it as a Calvery Christian Academy. So this created greater challenges for culture. You know, as you're taking a body that had an existing culture and a way of doing things, and then we need to come in and build trust and relationship in a situation that could feel awkward for them and challenging as, like, they're under new management, and their colors are changing, and their mascot and their name, and who are these people? But again, trying to be true to our word, and not overpromising, but really trying to be frank about how we want to make this place better, but it's going to take. Being consistent in our character, really trying to best care for the people, love the people, respect the people. But we've really been able to see some great things happening there, and that's been a cool thing.

And I'd say, also, to bring the strengths of CCA culture to the Hollywood campus, we've been intentional about focusing on our mission to make disciples and on our core values that lay out how we work together as believers on a mission.

We also sought some outside and with Scott Barron at School Growth, he's come in and helped work on some different things that have been made a real good impact. But definitely, BCWI has been helpful to give us that inside look at how does every single staff person feel about all these different areas. Some of that you just can't get that level of depth by management by walking around. I recommend management by walking around—

Al: Yeah.

Jason: —but the BCWI Survey lets us really get in and hear their frank assessment because it's anonymous, and that’s just been really a healthy part of it.

Al: Yeah, yeah. Well, congratulations. And who wouldn’t want to be a CCA Eagle, right? I mean…

Jason: Hey, there you go. I agree.

Al: Yeah. But you've really addressed, I mean, regardless of a merger or in your case, you know, really taking over the school, closing the old school, opening a new school, many of the same employees in the old school were part of this new venture. And yeah, so building trust, consistent character, love and respecting people, really focusing on the mission and the values, making disciples, and even seeking outside help, those are great, great suggestions.

One challenge in school leadership is managing the expectations of parents. I mean, so you've got—

Jason: Sure.

Al: —students. Those are your customers in a sense, but, also, your parents are key parts of this process. In a large school, multiple locations, 2900 students, there's certainly many different viewpoints on issues affecting the school. In our Survey you've found that your employees felt that parents do view the school as well led and well managed. And I'll just say congratulations. And this is an area—

Jason: Thank you.

Al: —that other school leaders really find challenging. So what strategies does your team have to get families to rally around the vision of Calvary Christian Academy? You know, how has your staff built a cohesive culture around the parent-student community? Any thoughts on that?

Jason: Yeah. I think, one, we really do continually refer to the mission and vision so people know who we are and what we're about. Also, by providing a high-quality program, that's going to be the main thing that wins the students and parents over. Or maybe right after this one, really by loving our students and their parents and our staff, we've really developed a very special community that parents and staff had rallied around. And it was nice to hear you say in the earlier part of this that you just felt the love on our campus.

Al: No question.

Jason: And I really had many—yeah—I really had many people say that, just from coming and doing a one-hour tour, you know, will tell me years later, that's why they came. They just saw the way that our staff cared for each other, seemed to love each other, and seemed to have fun together. And I think that's a real part of it.

We work to build a cohesive culture by expecting students, staff, and families to treat each other with that kind of love and respect. And most of that is an enjoyable time of caring for each other, and we work hard, but we have a lot of fun doing what we do.

We also have clear expectations for students, staff, and parents, and we're willing to challenge those who are hurting our culture, even to the extent of removing people from the community when our best efforts at making the relationship work fail. So we have multiple student expulsions a year, times when we don't invite teachers or staff to return, and even times where we needed to remove a family because of the actions of a parent. So I just wanted to be, like, frank and transparent about the tougher side because it's a real part of what's made our community to be as strong as it is.

And I'll say that your A-level teachers and staff really want you to have high expectations, they want to be a part of something that's excellent, and they don't want you to be willing to accept the C-level work from their peers. And I’d say the same goes for A-level students and A-level parents. I mean, you hold people to that higher standard, many people step up their game. We're all far from perfect, but we need to know that we're all rowing in that same direction, and we can't have someone on board who's trying to drill holes in the boat.

And so not want to focus on the negative, but to say, as we do all the positive, fun encouraging, we're also willing to make the tough decisions when we need to. And that's something that I feel sorry for the public schools because they don't quite have as much freedom there as we do, with the teachers’ unions and the public-school parents; whereas, we really can say, “Hey, we're a private organization, and if you want to be a part, there are expectations to follow.”

Al: That’s fantastic.

I trust you’re enjoying our podcast today. We’ll be right back after an important word for leaders.

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Now, back to our conversation with Jason Rachels, the president of Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Lauderdale.

And I know our listeners are listening closely, but having clear expectations, and as you say—you didn't use these terms exactly—but people who are hurting and busting your culture, you are on top of that, and you work through processes to help make sure that they are meeting the expectations that you've outlined for all groups: for your families, for your parents, your students, and your staff. Absolutely. Wow. I don't know where you got that analogy about people rowing in a boat and so on. But anyway, let's get on to the next question.

You know, last year, your school hosted a conference for leaders of other Christian schools. And as you've intended and interacted with your peers in Christian leadership, you know, what are you hearing from them as far as trends in Christian schools? What challenges are Christian schools facing today? How are you equipping leaders, faculty, and staff in your own school to meet these challenges? And, you know, how does having a flourishing culture make a difference for CCA as you even face these unique challenges?

Jason: Yeah. I'd say as far as other schools, you know, what are they facing? many are actually facing the challenge of space, which is a great problem because many are leaving the public schools for Christian schools. And then there are the challenges that come from our students being immersed in anti-biblical culture. I think we've just seen our culture through the years get more and more anti biblical, or post Christian, you might say.

Al: Mm-hmm.

Jason: So we have to work that much harder to help our students understand the truth when so many lies can be coming at them throughout the day and when they're immersed in media and other sources. So that’s been something that we’ve seen, and at other schools, I've heard them talking about as well.

One thing that we're doing to fight this is to be intentionally training our teachers in solid biblical-worldview development. And so the Colson Center has been a big help with this, as have been several books that we've taken our staff through. And just, one, making sure that we ourselves, the staff, have a solid biblical worldview, but also that we can really see the parts where students might particularly be struggling and how we can help them with it.

And then you asked about flourishing culture making a difference as we face challenges, yeah. So I'd say that having a flourishing culture makes such a difference because staff are that much more engaged in what's going on, they’re more likely to be with you, and again, rowing in that same direction versus against you, and they’re more likely to trust your leadership through the storm. As there might be different challenges coming along the way, they have a greater trust that sort of lines up with flourishing culture, and that makes things go much better.

Al: Yeah. Many schools are part of the ministry of a church, as you are, and might be a separate entity, may not be, but sometimes the staff are interconnected. I know that's been the case historically. But they're also connected with spouses and their family members. And some of your students, their parents work at the church, also certainly at the school. And this can impact the work-life balance. Even the communication networks, I'm sure it makes communication much more complex. So how do you keep a positive partnership with the church, Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, and what have you learned over the years that might help other Christian schools navigate the partnership with a key church that you're a part of?

Jason: Yeah. That's a great question as I know I hear horror stories from church-school relationships as well as, you know, good things, too. And it's definitely sort of like a marriage, where you have to just always anticipate that there are going to be challenges, and you got to choose to work at it. So we try to keep the lines of communication open and flowing, you know, so that we can try to avoid surprises, and try to treat each other with love and respect.

We also look to try to develop policy and procedures so that it's clear to people who does what and how things work. You know, hey, if we need the sanctuary, that should have been put on this calendar by this date, you know, so that no one's surprised, if you need the AV people or if you're going to change, you know, something.

And I’d say, also, a phrase we say around here is, like, blessed are the flexible for they shall not be broken. So it's good to be flexible. There's going to be times where something comes up on both sides that they need to flex and be ready to change.

We have to know that we can't always have our way. So, whereas, I know that there's schools that are independent, that really, they control their property and pretty much do whatever they want any time, and that's a nice plus. But there's also a real plus of being a part of a church ministry, as you just can—

Al: Yeah.

Jason: —do so much more with shared space and things like that.

And I’d say realize that if everyone acts as though the team you're on is more important than the team you lead, then we can tend to be better at developing unity rather than moving into separate silos and fighting against each other. So for me, I report to the senior pastor, and while there’s things that I try to be an advocate for the school, but at the same time, recognizing, hey, but I'm on his team, and we need to make this whole thing work together.

Al: Yeah, I really like that, Jason. That's great advice. Again, being on the team, and that's team number one, and then the team that you're responsible for is important but not team number one. Yeah. So—

Jason: Yeah.

Al: —yeah. Senior leadership being on the same team, focusing on the overall organization versus your sector, that really does promote teamwork.

Well, Jason, I'm often asked the question, so why should a Christian school focus on having a flourishing workplace culture? And we kind of addressed this a little bit, but I want to get your thoughts more specifically. You know, what difference does it make for your students, for their education, maybe even their discipleship, and possibly even the financial health of your organization? And I know that you put a lot of energy into creating this healthy culture. Why do you do it? What's the difference? What difference does it make?

Jason: Yeah. Good question. As you ask it, I almost think to myself, it's almost like asking somebody, “Hey, why bother to be a healthy person, you know—

Al: Yeah.

Jason: —mentally, spiritually, physically? Why bother? It's a lot of work. It's so much easier to just eat Doritos on the couch.” But I would say, yeah, it's sort of the same thing. When you are a flourishing workplace culture, it's like you are a healthy body. You're going to be able to, you know, as a Christian school, better care for the kids; the staff are going to have better relationships with each other. It's going to be a place where people more likely want to go to work.

We know as a Christian school that the main way we grow is by word of mouth. So we don’t have big billboards or anything like that. It's our parents and students telling other people in their community, “You got to check this place out. It's just a wonderful little slice of heaven.” So it really—and, also, really drawing the best students and parents because they're naturally attracted to something healthy, and attracting and retaining the best staff, which all just ends up being this spiraling upward cycle of success, that if you keep doing that, you're able to pay your staff, and you're able to attract them, and they're able to do a better job. So it just is really making the whole place healthy and thriving. And then we've just really found it to be definitely worth the effort; whereas, I think in my early days I would have thought, “Oh, culture. That's all that soft stuff. I got real stuff I got to work on: the budget and building this classroom.” But I've really come to see more and more through the years, “Oh, wow. Culture is a big deal.” And thanks to the Best Christian Workplace Surveys, these are actually a big deal and actually do hit the bottom line, by the way, the budget that lets you afford to build that classroom. So that’d be my take on it.

Al: Yeah. Well, Jason, thanks.

Well, we’ve learned so much from our conversation. And even going back to the trends we're seeing in Christian education, the importance of intentional discipleship; the importance of Christian worldview, that you've talked about; how when it comes to diversity, you're really focused on hiring the best person for the job. And naturally, you're seeing in a culture of diversity that the best people are showing up and applying for key roles. Also, the key question that we talked about, just reflecting on, how do you build trust? and the way you described it, and it's not that often that I hear this, but it's the longevity of leaders that you've had at Calvary Christian Academy, including yourself and many of the key leaders, how they become known. They’ve kind of worked their way up. They know and have created trust along the way because they've actually done a good job along the way that they really are true to their word. You know, integrity is something, certainly, that you're talking about. And how people are focused on worthy goals and how that's important. Also, just again, as you've grown and added new locations, created new schools, basically, how you're keeping that culture, that flourishing culture, and building that by building trust and also by being consistent in your character. You use the term a lot, “love and respect for people” and just demonstrating that over and over again. How you've worked with parents, the challenges you faced, and again, the “Blessed are the flexible. They shall not be broken.” I don’t know that I've heard that before. So this has just been a great conversation. Jason, thanks.

Is there anything that you'd like to add that that we haven't talked about or that we have talked about? Anything you want to focus on or emphasize?

Jason: Yeah. Sure. No, I think I just really have appreciated what the work that you guys are doing to help Christian organizations develop a flourishing culture, because it's been so helpful for us, and I know that it can be a real benefit to so many others as well, because when you're able to, like I say, have all of your staff answering all of those questions—and not in a way to maybe try to please you because you're standing right in front of them, knowing that this is anonymous; this is how I really feel—it really does let you put that information together and say, “Okay, wow. This is interesting.”

And one thing, too, that I'll just say, and this might be more detail than you want to know, but the way that you guys disaggregate the data is just something that I wish a lot of other organizations can learn from, because sometimes I'm a part of a survey that just sort of mushes it all together, and it's like, “Oh, wow. Hey, your whole staff feels this way about x,” and it's like, “Well, that's nice to know,” but when BCWI breaks it down, it's like, “Hey, our whole number is 75% or something, but did you know that your science teachers hate what's going on, but your math teachers love it? So what's going on? There's something that you probably need to look into there as to why did this group love and this group hate the same thing?” or “Here's how your older staff feel versus here's how your younger staff feel, or here's how your men feel versus how your women feel.” That's been just really eye opening and helps you to really be more likely be able to create some actual action steps that are going to do something versus seeing everything sort of mushed together in one raw number, you know.

I'll also say exciting. We're actually going to be opening a third and fourth campus this next year, one in Boynton Beach and then one in North Miami. And so, you know, it’d be good to, again, have the tools there that we can do to work with. The Boynton Beach is brand new, so we'll be bringing every single one of those person on new. But North Miami is taking an existing school and reframing it as a CCA. So again, while there's cultural challenges there that we can really try to go in and, again, have a chance to give people a voice to share how they're feeling about things and where we can try to respond to that. So look forward to being able to use the tools for that. So I appreciate all you guys are doing, and I think it's making a difference.

Al: Well, I appreciate your leadership, Jason, and thanks for sharing today. Thank you for your contributions. And most of all, I appreciate your commitment to serving God's kingdom by preparing students to glorify God in all areas of their lives, and teaching, starting with even your faculty, Christian worldview, because that's so important in our day and age. Your school is educating tomorrow's leaders to be world changers for Christ. And thank you for taking your time out today. Thank you for your heartfelt passion for Christian leadership and Christian education. Thanks, Jason.

Jason: Hey, thank you, Al. Really appreciate the time.

Outro: The Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast is sponsored by Best Christian Workplaces. If you need support building a flourishing workplace culture, please visit workplaces.org for more information.

We'll see you again next week for more valuable content to help you develop strong leaders and build a flourishing workplace culture.

Al: Next week, join us for our conversation with the senior pastor of Beulah Alliance Church, Daniel Im. Daniel is relatively new in his key role at one of Canada's largest congregations located in Edmonton, Canada.