Two weeks ago thirty friends of the school converged on the Heathman Lodge in Vancouver for a weekend of strategic planning. The majority of our board and a sampling of teachers and parents gathered together with a very specific mission. The first goal was to confirm the validity and potential impact of our vision and the second was to prepare a detailed plan to realize that vision. We have specifically been praying for the past year that the Holy Spirit would lead us to a vision that was in line with our historic mission, yet still fresh and relevant to the needs of the current generation of young people.

As we discussed the vision on Friday night there was a sense of God’s leading and a unity among the group. There is much more to come in the near future regarding the outcome of this strategic planning retreat.

One of the natural next steps is to begin to communicate our mission with this vision and plan in mind. I believe we have an important story to tell. I have heard it said that you should have an elevator talk, a ten minute talk, and a more extensive presentation when representing a movement or organization. So, here we go. Here’s my four minute elevator talk that I would share with a potential parent or friend of the school. Step inside and let’s take a ride to the 100th floor. You get to start us off be saying, “So, tell me about Westside.” And I respond with:

We are a school community of nearly three hundred students, almost forty staff, and our average classroom has less than twenty students. I’ll start by bragging a bit. This year we learned that our seniors scored an 1127 on the SAT compared to a 1052 and 1021 for the state and national average. Nearly all of our graduates go on to further education, some being accepted for admission to elite institutions such as the Georgetown, Princeton, and Westpoint. We offer Advance Placement tests in a number of classes, and 80% of the students taking these exams earn college credit.

Most of our sports teams and extracurricular groups are in the top 10% in the 3A division for their GPA, some teams have even been at the very top. Last year our golf team won the state championship. This year our girl’s basketball team finished sixth place in the state. Our boys and girls cross country team finished 2nd and 3rd this season at the state meet. In recent years our choir has won two state championships. Last year they sang by invitation at Carnegie Hall. Each year we put on two major theatrical productions with nearly a third of our student body involved.

Our Business/Marketing club (DECA) has experienced success with locally and nationally honored student projects. Over one third of our student body participates in local or international missions during their time as a student. Every student participates in some kind of community service while attending Westside.

We are proud of these successes, but we are also thankful that the story does not end there. We will have students that will graduate from our school and become doctors, attorneys, parents, teachers, executives, pastors, and engineers. The question we feel we must ask is, “For what purpose do they serve in these capacities?”

We believe that our vision as a school is quite unique. Our mission is to equip servant leaders in God’s kingdom for the next generation by educating and developing the whole person for the glory of God.

So, there are really three primary purposes that drive our school.

1. Equipping leaders who think, feel, and live like Jesus
2. Discovering the nature of God’s Kingdom
3. Inspiring the whole person through our educational process

When we say that we want to educate the whole person we mean that it is not enough to just impact our students to think. It is not enough to make them feel deeply about something, and it is not enough to have them do something or respond with action to learning. But rather reaching the whole person demands that we engage the entire educational triangle, what they know, what they feel, and what they do.

We live in a culture with very different values from God’s Kingdom. One of the most important things that we can do is to continually present opportunities where students can discover what is important in Gods economy.

Life is a gift. Some may see life as purely a gift to be used for themselves. I believe it is a gift from God to be given back to Him for the sake of others. That view completely changes the way followers of Christ approach education (or anything really). In this view students are not consumers seeking a school that will give them the best opportunity to promote themselves; Rather, they are stewards with a responsibility to equip themselves to serve God and others..

Yes we have experienced success in academics, arts, and athletics. We have won championships, sung in famous halls, and been accepted into elite colleges and universities. That is fantastic, but if that’s all there is, we have failed..

I believe that once we make a decision to follow Christ, we join in His mission to reach the world. We believe that our students will change the world. For that reason we take our vision very seriously.

Well, I’m sure we’ve arrived at the one hundredth floor by now. My hope would be that this four minute talk (ok, maybe five minute talk) would generate some questions along the way and inspire further conversation.

Our strategic planning retreat generated a very exciting and comprehensive plan that will be fleshed out even further over the next few months. As we begin to execute the plan it will address the following questions.

In order to more completely live out our mission we must know:

1. What are the best ways to teach?
2. How do we help students discover God’s Kingdom?
3. How do we equip them to lead from a Christ-centered focus?
4. What do we need to do to acquire a facility to fulfill our vision?

Join us in prayer as we continue to discern answers to these questions.

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