A word from … Jerry Nixon

Editor’s note: Jerry Nixon is the FRCS Board Chairman.

Not a Product, but a Project

Choosing Christian education is a declaration of how deeply you value the mind, character, and faith of your child. You sacrifice your money, time, energy, and comfort because you believe their future is worth whatever it takes. At Front Range Christian School, you are a customer, but you are not simply purchasing an educational product. You are joining an extraordinary project that grows and changes every day. This process prepares your child for that future when your role shifts from control to coaching, when they will navigate life’s inevitable hardships, embrace their faith, and discover the purpose and ministry God has prepared for them. You are not, and cannot be, merely a consumer of Christian education. You must be a contributor.

I see this in my own daughters, who have now graduated and follow their own trajectories. One is choosing classes based on her passions, not mine; she’s signing up for mission trips, Bible studies, and campus activities because she feels called to them, not because I am directing her there. With my older daughters, I see how this can unfold, how guidance becomes trust, and how their own wisdom, shaped by their own experiences, produces their own decisions that bring glory to Christ and honor to their mother and me.

That is the fruit of years of investment, not only from us, but from their teachers, grandparents, youth pastors, and the entire choir of different influences we intentionally welcomed into their lives. Not influences we purchased and hoped for the best. They are, instead, influences we supported, reinforced, and worked shoulder to shoulder with to impress upon each girl the best experiences, lessons, and role models. Raising those kids was not a service to consume, nor a science to measure, but a daily process we were part of. Those relationships were never transactions. They were partnerships.

This school is the same. Behind every classroom is an enormous system of people, responsibilities, sacrifices, and countless unseen acts of service that keep the entire mission moving forward. Like the members of one body, every part matters. Your tuition helps make the school possible, but your participation helps make it exceptional. Your service, generosity, encouragement, involvement, and willingness to show up are not optional extras. Your goal is not simply an excellent school experience today, but a foundation that continues bearing fruit long after graduation.

But contributing to your student’s education means more than volunteering your time or supporting a fundraiser. It also means extending grace to the people around you.

As a familiar saying often attributed to Robin Williams reminds us, everyone we meet is fighting a battle we know nothing about. Everyone, it’s worth remembering, includes your student, fellow parents, teachers, staff, and administrators. These are people who pour themselves into your kid, often at considerable personal sacrifice, yet they also live real lives with real struggles, disappointments, and pain.

Perhaps this morning your child’s teacher learned troubling news about her mother’s health. Perhaps a staff member is facing a financial crisis, or another parent in the pickup line is dealing with an illness that has left her unusually impatient. You rarely see those burdens, especially when you are carrying your own. Maybe your own kid broke his arm yesterday or flooded the basement, and you are running on little sleep and even less patience. Every family has a story, every person has difficult days, and every one of us needs grace.

Where a consumer evaluates what they receive, a contributor considers what they can give. Where a consumer sees an inconvenience and asks who is responsible, a contributor sees a need and asks how they can help. Where a consumer expects a product to meet expectations, a contributor works alongside others to pursue excellence.

Can you see it?

This does not mean lowering standards or ignoring problems. Quite the opposite. It means caring enough about the mission to participate in making it better, approaching challenges with empathy, compassion, forgiveness, and a commitment to assume the best of one another.

The people behind this school are not simply providing a service. They are standing beside you in one of the most consequential responsibilities God has entrusted to you.

Your investment in Christian education is about far more than what happens in a classroom. It is about the people your children will become, the faith they will carry, the lives they will touch, and the calling they will someday pursue without you directing every step.
You have chosen something extraordinary for your children, and you have an opportunity to help make it extraordinary for everyone else.

Be the parent who shows up, serves, encourages, extends grace, and assumes the best.

Remember, FRCS is not a product you purchase. Look at it like that, and you or your student can miss it. And when we all contribute rather than consume, the community grows stronger, and students are the winners. So, I’ll see you out there, hand in hand, doing the best we can together for God’s glory and the families He’s given us.