Let me pause our fairy tale for a moment and ask you—Where does this story go from here? It could really go in a number of different directions. Things could go badly. The farmers could get greedy, care less for their pickles, pumpkins and potatoes and the farm could fall into ruin. Eventually, the farmers might need a government bailout and become some sort of agricultural co-op. Darkness could come in from the outside and the farm could be destroyed by invaders from a far off kingdom or giant beetles. Or things could go well. The farmers could continue to be careful working out ways to grow the farm without destroying the crop. They could prosper and grow fruits and vegetables fit for kings. We do not know where the story will go, but a lot of it will turn on what is in the heart of the farmers.

Well, maybe you have seen through my little parable. That story is about this school. When I showed up at Veritas Academy thirteen years ago, we had 23 students. God has blessed our work and we are now—only now—tasting the first fruits of a lot of careful farming done by our faculty. We have grown slowly and carefully. We are not the tiny little farm, with tiny little fields any more. That growth means that we have to continue to be careful if we want to produce the same good crop. I believe that it means that we have to be even, pardon my grammar, carefuler than we have been. We have to both change and adapt what we do to recognize that, by the grace of God, our fields have been enlarged, if we want to serve Christ—and you—well. We want to produce godly leaders for the next generation. To do that we have to know our pickles, pumpkins and potatoes just like we always have.

Tonight, you are going to see some exciting changes that we are making. Changes that will help us, I believe, to serve your family even better than we have before. The biggest change that we have this year is RenWeb. I and the office staff have spent a good portion of the off season learning about this new software program. We are unwrapping some of it for you tonight. The part called ParentsWeb. RenWeb can do much more than we are opening up tonight. We will be slowly and steadily implementing aspects of this program this year—and next year. We are committed to being like the careful farmers in the parable. We are going to watch each step as we implement it. We are going to see how these changes affect our school community. We believe that they will have an extraordinarily positive impact. We know, however, that computer programs, technology and efficiency are, in the end, only a means to an end. The end, the purpose, the telos, of this school is, in the words of the parable, to grow the best crops. This is our great task and we will continue to diligently be about it this year.

Note well what our fundamental enduring commitments continue to be. First, we are a Christian school. We serve Jesus Christ first. If He is not pleased with us, then it does not matter if all of our parents and students believes that everything is wonderful. It is my hope that as a community we would drink even more deeply from the well of His love and goodness this year. Also, we are a classical school, we teach Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric. I will continue to push our faculty and staff to ponder how we can more deeply fulfill our vision for classical Christian education. Next, we will continue to work In Loco Parentis. We work for you helping you fulfill your calling as parents by giving your children an education that will encourage them to love and serve Christ and that will prepare them to for whatever calling the Lord would have for them. Finally, note that we intend to endure but know that standing still is not an option. Last year, our board worked through a reflective study on our school’s statement of faith and educational philosophy. I wanted to make sure that our board was still on board and still understood those foundational commitments that were made many years ago. Note, that these commitments have not changed. We are still committed to the same principles and the same philosophy. But, as I mentioned a few sentences ago, we know that we can not stand still. To fulfill our vision and serve our Lord, the Christ who presently has all authority in heaven and on earth, we need to grow and expand—and we are. As we do this, however, we need to be faithful and we need to adapt. As you walk around tonight, I hope that you are excited. I hope that you get a taste of how we can serve you better with RenWeb. I hope that you enjoy how we have thought through our classroom space in Omnibus. I hope that you are excited when you peruse the new spelling curriculum. Realize this, however, all of these things are simply a means to an end. The end, the purpose remains the same. If you want to share my hope, I encourage you tonight to look first and most deeply at the hearts of the faculty members and staff members that your interact with tonight. That, more than anything else, will help you to have good hope that this story has a happy ending.