Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
"And the Lord said to him, 'I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before me; I have consecrated this house which you have built, and put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.'"
- 1 Kings 9:3
WINONA LAKE -ÊKuert Concrete delivered the first pouring of cement Friday to the future site of Lakeland Christian Academy's new home.
Through prayer, supplication and the hard work of volunteers, the construction is coming along. Not as fast as hoped, but the organizers say they realize God works in his way.
"It looks like we may not meet the deadline (of September), but we're going to push as much as we can," said Warren Zellner.
"If we get enough volunteer help, we may be able to make it."
"This project," said Jerry Landrum, "just goes along and there's wrinkles, but somehow God works out those wrinkles."
Zellner and Denny Shively have been two driving forces in the construction of LCA's future home.
"Warren is in charge of figuring things out and I'm in charge of getting things done," Shively said.
Zellner said late July and August is when they will need the most volunteers, but they will still need volunteers in the upcoming weeks for digging the foundation and other tasks.
"Take your summer vacation right now and prepare to come in, in July," said Zellner.
"There are some contractors that will come in later, and our goal is to have some volunteers to help them to speed up the work," said Shively.
Many companies have provided gifts-in-kind to help the project along, said Steve Perry. Companies like Ace Hardware, True Green, Stafford Waste and Penguin Point, among many others, have provided some type of assistance.
"There's a lot of community sponsors," Perry said. "If a lot of people can do a little, then it's not a burden to many."
Currently, LCA has 124 students and anticipates 150 this fall. Their three facilities don't have the capacity to hold that many. Three years ago, LCA saw they were growing faster than their buildings could maintain. A building committee got together and began trying to come up with remedies.
As by a miracle, Leon Horn had 32 acres become available on CR 250E, Warsaw. He was approached and LCA contracted with him for the land. The building committee needed to figure out what facilities needed to be built.
By the time a price tag was put on the project, it was a multi-million dollar project for all phases. It was decided the new building wouldn't be able to be built with bricks and mortar. But another miracle happened.
A man whose mission is to build affordable Christian schools across America had a "cookie-cutter" plan with steel.
The final cost would be $2.2 million for 60,000 square feet, a cost reduced through contracts and negotiations. With the community behind the school, they hope to reduce that cost even further
A nondenominational school, Petty said, there are 35 churches in the county represented at LCA. Some students even attend LCA from outside the county.
For more information about donating to the building fund or other ways to contribute, call 267-7265.
