Haddon Heights Christian School provides unique opportunity for South Jersey Kids | Ep 21

Public Schools, Worldview Indoctrination, and the Need for Christian Education

And one of the problems is, in the public schools, that worldview difference that we talked about is baked into everything.

Everything.

It's not like they just, in health class, have one lesson about LGBTQ.

Right.

It's snuck into the children's books.

That's right.

It's snuck into conversations, and even at some level, among the peers. You know, because the peer pressure can become a major issue there, too.

Yes.

So we would love to see as many kids as possible leave a public school and come to a private school. But there are a lot of parents that say, Look, I would love to do that, too, but we just can't afford that.

Right.

And so you're offering what's probably half the price of a lot of other Christian schools, and that might just be a big shining light from God saying, Here is your chance.

Here's an opportunity.

Here is an opportunity. A godly school to train your kids in Christian ethics and how to live the Christian life.

Haddon Heights Christian School’s Biblical Worldview and Teaching Model

And welcome to Tearin' Down High Places. My name is Joe Gormley. Average Joe, they call me. I've got here Pastor Jeff Kluwer, as per usual, and our special guest today, on-site Principal Kathy Entwistle, here to talk to us about a Christian school in Haddon Heights, New Jersey, that we want you to support, and we're going to tell you why.

So, Kathy, what do you want to tell us about your school?

Our school is brand new. Our school is based on the biblical worldview. Our kids are loved. They're taught by live teachers. They come in happy every day because they know that there's something ahead of them that's going to be exciting, and there's something there that they're going to learn.

We are biblically based. Scripture is integrated in everything that we do and everything that we say. The teachers have a wonderful testimony of a love of the Lord, and the kids see it every single day.

They are living Jesus Christ through them.

Wait a minute. I heard you're doing an online school hybrid What is that?

Our 6th through 12th graders are on Liberty University Online. They belong to the Academy because we are an affiliate. That's how we really began to open the idea of opening a Christian school here in Haddon Heights, is we started off with introducing Liberty University Online, but we have moved away from that with our elementary school, and our elementary school from K -5 is taught by a live teacher with hands-on activities, with outside, outdoor things for them to do.

Critical thinking is being built. Children who need remedial help are helped one-on-one with love. We've seen success. We have seen just joy in everything that's done here. We don't teach anything that is against God's Word.

It's all taught from Scripture, and we are creationists, and we teach the creationist view.

Pastor Jeff, I know you're a big Kathy Entwistle fan.

Oh, yeah. We go back a long way. I can offer my own personal testimony of our kids having been here when they were younger, that this school is just godly. The Scripture is worked into the curriculum.

You hear about Christian schools like, hey, they got a Bible class once a week. They do chapel or something like that, but then you'll have a poster of Charles Darwin.

Ha!

This is a great scientist. You think, wait a minute. We need the biblical worldview, not just in chapel service. I used to be a chapel speaker here.

That's right.

That was so fun, but that was awesome. But the biblical worldview has to be part of the curriculum. It has to be in your science, how you teach science, how you teach even mathematics nowadays, believe it or not.

That's right.

You're getting all Kuyperian on me, aren't you?

Yeah.

Every sphere.

Yeah.

So, yeah, the biblical worldview needs to be in every subject, not just one chapel service, and that's what I love about this school.

Yes.

The curriculum is fluid. It's always changing in that it's always improving. And in that process, we've actually picked up and are going to be using the Bob Jones curriculum, which is by far one of the best curriculums that has ever been published.

Wow.

So they are all, I mean, there is Scripture integrated in everything. There is the kids understand why something is the way it is. Because it comes from the Word of God, which is the truth and the only truth.

So if I'm a parent and I'm worried, I'm saying, you know, my kids during COVID didn't learn anything. It was all online. Like, what's the difference between just doing a Liberty online experience and coming here?

To come here, your kids will be worked with at the level they are. And if we find that they are struggling, we stop everything and go back to where they actually can see success and then build from that point.

Because many of our kids that have come in here have come in here with lacking in something. Mathematical skills, critical thinking is missing. The idea of writing is missing as far as putting down a comprehensive narrative or anything.

We take them all the way back to the beginning and start there and watch as they grow. And the end product is absolutely amazing because they get the personal one-on-one care from the teachers.

Right. Well, that's fantastic. So what's the history behind why did the school close down? I mean, you've got such a great facility and we're going to take a tour in a little bit, I guess. Yeah. We're going to walk around.

Where are we now?

This is our playground area. Okay. The kids come out here every day. The preschoolers are out here for a good half hour, 35 minutes because we believe in physical activity and it's good for them. It builds their core muscles.

It builds fine motor skills. All of that is taken care of when they come out here to play. They see God's creation. They draw on the chalk on the asphalt here because our driveway sort of kind of slopes.

So you can't really do much of anything here, but the kids play on the playground. Oh, they're just amazing. Now, the original school that was here was Baptist Regional School and that school was closed due to lack of enrollment and COVID.

It shut the school down. Our numbers went down so far that we couldn't sustain it. So the school closed and it was Pastor Eric Christensen's vision to open a new school and that's where we started. We started all the way from square one.

We began first with our vision, our mission, our philosophy of education. We met every week on Monday afternoons for two hours and put it together. It was Mr. Keith Anderson, Pastor Eric and myself and we worked diligently.

We picked out our mascot and our colors, presented it to the board and the board was ready to go with it and we're very fortunate. So here we are. This is now Haddon Heights Christian School using the same facilities because we're a ministry of Haddon Heights Baptist Church.

It's not a separate ministry at all. We are under, the deacons are my school board and I work under a school ministry team and we come together as a team and make decisions. I come up with an idea. I present it to them.

We talk about it. So it's not just me. It's a team of believers that are members here of this church that have come together with a passion for Christian education for the kids that today because the public schools aren't giving them what we all had at one time in our public education.

Pastor Jeff told me you've got a little experience. You know, you might know what you're doing. Tell us about that.

I taught at the King's Christian School for 25 years. I started in 1986. Our children grew up at King's. They went from K to 12 there. They both are graduates and from that point I went over to the academy, Christian Academy in Lakewood and was the assistant principal there and in the meantime I got my master's degree in curriculum and instruction.

I was there and was called by the principal here at Baptist Regional. She specifically called and asked me to follow her which to me was a great honor and so I've been here ever since. I was here for the two years and three months before COVID claimed us and then was asked to come back and be the administrator here at Haddon Heights Christian.

And this was a thriving school before COVID?

Yes, it was. 200 children from pre-K to 12. It was busy. And our heart's desire of course would be to have another large thriving school but we're letting God do that. We're doing our advertising. We're praying constantly and we're just asking God to bring the families in.

So that's just what we believe.

And right now you have an advantage that you won't have for long and that is you're a small school and you can give that private attention to each kid and really pour into them just to have access to yourself and the teachers.

And by the way, these facilities are still amazing. They are amazing.

There's a gym up there.

There's incredible classrooms. There's this playground. Like you said, the kids love just being outdoors here. It's a protected and safe little enclave. We are.

We're fully protected. The four houses that surround our property belong to the church. And so, yeah. And the building is secure. It's locked all the time. You only can get in by being buzzed. And if we don't recognize you, we don't open the door.

We have fire drills planned and security drills planned and crisis management things that we have in place. With so few children, we can get them out if we ever needed to. But if more children will join us, then it will be everything, fire drills and whatnot, would be implemented.

My police department is on speed dial if I need them. They patrol our area all the time. The numbers are in the building, in the windows so that if the fire department or police department needs to find what rooms are in jeopardy or whatever, it's all coded right there.

We've worked very, very hard in making sure that our kids are safe.

Tuition, Ministry, and the Public-School Worldview

So now, I've noticed, because I notice these things, you're charging half of what other schools in the area are.

That's right.

How are you doing that?

Because we're not in this to make money. We're in this to minister and come alongside families and help them to get their kids out of the indoctrination that they're receiving in the public schools now.

So our full-time price is only $4 ,800.

Wow.

If you have a preschooler and they come five days a week, it's $4 ,800. If they come three days a week, it's $3 ,800. Your $100 deposit goes towards your first month's payment. We're not here to become a prestigious, top-notch school in regards of our financial backing.

We're here because God called us to open this building and do what we're doing. So yeah, that's the only reason. That's the only reason is because parents need to know that there is a place to send their kids.

The government and the government's education can't touch them.

Well, Kathy, I don't know if you realize, but our podcast is called Tearing Down High Places.

Yes.

Because we love to pull strongholds down. And one of the problems is in the public schools, that worldview difference that we talked about is baked into everything.

Everything.

It's not like they just in health class have one lesson about LGBTQ.

Right.

It's snuck into the children's books.

That's right.

It's snuck into conversations and even at some level among the peers. You know, because the peer pressure can become a major issue there too.

Yes.

So we would love to see as many kids as possible leave a public school and come to a private school. But there are a lot of parents that say, look, I would love to do that too, but we just can't afford that.

Right.

And so you're offering what's probably half the price of a lot of other Christian schools. And that might just be a big shining light from God saying, here is your chance. Here's an opportunity.

Yes.

Godly school to train your kids in Christian ethics and how to live the Christian life.

And to give them the proper understanding of the rainbow.

Yes.

Amen. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

There's no such thing as pride month here.

Wouldn't it be great if like, if you had like a team uniform and it was all rainbow colors and it said like, you know, Noah's stewards or Noah's shipmates.

That would be wonderful.

Vacation Bible school.

You know, they always shipmates. They always have like, you know, the Knights. That's one of the ones you came from with the Knights.

With the Knights.

That's right.

Another like, you know, Noah's sailors.

Oh, I love it. Yeah.

All in rainbow. It's our rainbow.

True.

It's true. It's true.

Yeah. They don't, they don't hear that. And that's just because it's not of God. If it was of God, but it's not of God.

Peer Pressure, Family Conflict, and the Influence of Teachers

Yeah, I was recently talking to a parent who had their kids in homeschooling or Christian school most of the life. And then just the last couple of years, they ended up in a secular school and a government school.

And they didn't lose their faith. Praise God. But they were quickly indoctrinated in some really bad worldviews.

That's right. That's right.

Here, they'll build relationships with other kids who have the same, who have the same philosophy at home.

That's huge.

And that's huge. Yeah, because that's where it's, you know, that's where it starts. And so if we can reach parents through the children, through our education and our biblical worldview, then praise God.

Have you ever talked to parents that have kids in public school and go through what kind of conflict that causes in the home?

Yes, it causes angst in the children because they go home and say, Mommy, this is what the librarian read to me. But that's not what we believe, is it? And then the parent has to just has to take that apart and say, no, this is what we believe.

But then they go back into the school and once again are being taught something that is anti-Christian or anti-God. And they go home with it again. So it creates such a conflict in the child. So the child doesn't know what what's right and what's wrong because of what they're being taught in school.

And they love their teachers and they believe everything their teachers say. Then they take it home and they love their parents and they believe everything their parents say. So what are we doing to these kids?

What are we doing to these kids?

Yeah, and the freedoms of a child who is from a believing home have been squashed because they can't profess their beliefs without the fear of being criticized, ostracized, alienated, made fun of. But it seems that on the opposite side, if the child is wanting to dress up like a cat and meow, then that's okay.

So there's no litter boxes in the classroom?

No litter boxes because we don't answer to barks.

Noted.

No.

Do you bring your own?

Litter box? No, thank you.

Good.

Now, one of the things that really surprised me is that when I went to college, I took a religion class. And I thought it was supposedly Florida Presbyterian College before it was Eckerd College. And I thought, well, you know, I'm not going to be influenced by any kind of teacher or anything like that.

But this professor was undermining the accounts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was not a believer, but he looked the part. But here's the thing. I started to fall for what he was saying because he was so funny.

This teacher was he was hilarious. He was very personable. And I looked up to him and everybody just thought he was the coolest guy in the world. And that's when the influence started to take root.

Yeah.

And I think a lot of parents underestimate how influential a teacher can be.

Yes.

There are teachers that you think, well, I'm the parent. They're going to listen to me. They're not going to listen to this teacher. But there are certain ones that are so charismatic, not spiritual gifts, charismatic, but charismatic in their personality.

Yeah, that they can sway a kid that you thought was safe. I thought I was safe going to college. But this guy, Tim Beal, was his name. He started to have me hoodwinked.

Yes, yes.

And you'll see it, too. The children will go home and say, but my teacher says, and even if the parent disagrees with the teacher. But my teacher says. Because the teacher has such influence, you think a child is in the classroom six and a half hours a day.

That's a good chunk of their day.

Yeah.

And so they go home with all of this underlying stuff in their thinking. And they just, they come out wondering, which way do I go? What is it that I believe? Who do I believe? Mommy and daddy? Or my teacher that I love?

You know, and it's just, for a little person, that is so hard for them to discern.

Grace, Individualized Learning, and Homeschool Partnerships

Yeah.

Charis is so, so desirable. We all desire charis, right?

Grace.

Grace, yes.

And I'm thinking about that. And I'm thinking about Greek lessons and things like that. So the individual study, for me, this is like a personal thing for me. I think it's wonderful that you can get that individual attention.

Maybe if a kid needs to be caught up.

That's right.

But what about a kid that's bored and needs to excel? You can do the same thing, right?

Absolutely.

Let them fly.

You can throw in that Greek and other Hebrew, maybe.

Exactly. You can do any of that because we have that freedom to do that.

And you've got this curriculum, you've got this program where it seems like you're targeting homeschoolers, too, that want to add a higher level class.

Yeah, yeah. We're working towards, we are open to homeschoolers coming in. We have, homeschoolers are phenomenal. And what they do to take care of their kids and teach their kids is absolutely amazing.

And we're willing to have those, them come in and enroll their kids here. And then be aides in the classroom so that they can see what it is that their children are learning. We would love to have that, for that to happen.

We do have a homeschool group that does meet here two times a year for nine weeks in the fall and nine weeks in the winter, in the spring. And the group is called HIS. And they're a co-op. And they're run by believers.

Not all of the children that come here are believers. But every Friday, this building is full of 150 homeschooled kids that come together as a co-op and are taught various subjects, whatever the parent's expertise is.

And the kids take those classes. And they're here from 9 .30 until 12 .30 every Friday morning. And it's amazing to see. And I love it because there's noise in the hallways. Every 40 minutes, there's noise in the hallways.

And that's something that we can't wait to hear again. That we can't wait to be able to hear that noise again of happy kids. Kids that are comfortable in who they are, in who they were created to be.

And experiencing all God's gifts and really learning those gifts, Pastor. Jeff was just talking about one of our shorts that we did that we're encouraging all you Cornerstone people to share our shorts.

Because we're getting a lot of hits on those. Anyway, which helps us spread the word, right? So, you were talking about, you know, really taking what you're good at, figuring it out, and excelling in that.

That's right.

You know?

Exactly.

God gave you a gift and you got to excel in it. I remember my older daughter was inspired by a couple of kids that went to the school that played violin and were tutu girls.

Oh, absolutely. Yes.

You know?

And being around other kids and being inspired to do things is important, right?

Exactly.

Yeah.

Exactly. And one iron sharpens iron. One child is excelling. Another child is falling behind. That excelling child can come along. That child that's struggling a bit and just, it builds a friend relationship, but it builds an academic relationship that is, it's just amazing to watch.

It really, really is. Because it's not lorded over them. Well, I can do that and you can't. It's, let me help you.

Right.

And that child will learn from his or her peer because of the relationship that they've developed.

Athletics, Sportsmanship, and Christlike Competition

So I remember Baptist Regional before COVID had a very robust extracurricular.

We did.

Yeah, we were sports. We were, we dominated basketball, soccer, baseball, all of those subjects, all of those sports, even the girls in their softball and basketball. They had a great basketball team, but they also excelled musically too.

Yeah.

They had a great choir.

The music program was incredible.

It was incredible here.

Exactly.

Those marching girls.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So all that's coming back.

We pray and we're asking God to allow it. It's all whatever God wants.

Well, it's, and it looks like, I mean, Pastor Jeff, what do you think? I mean, were there other schools around here that shut down that need, I mean, do you think there's a lot of kids out there?

Oh, yeah.

I think there's thousands of kids in this region that they're on the, they're teetering between two worlds. Like, I really want to do Christian school, but just haven't found the right one. And different schools will be a different fit for different kids, but I think a lot of them need to be here.

So, yeah.

We would love it.

We would love it.

But we, every morning, my teacher, Lori, and one of the SMT, our school ministry team members, and myself, we get together. We open scripture. We read scripture. We have our kids' names on three-by-five cards.

And every child is a different, every day is a different child. And we pray through our cards.

Nice.

And we pray for the kids, the families, their financial abilities, their stabilities, their growth together as a unit. And that's every morning at 745.

Yeah.

And you're all welcome to join us. We'd love it.

I just have to share. I have seen this woman in action when families are maybe teetering within themselves, like families that are in trouble. I've seen this dear woman come along and counsel the families and help them get reestablished.

So this is like a treasure for a family, not just in the education of their children, but as such, as a family.

Oh, yeah.

And that family is very dear to me to this day.

Yeah.

I know they are.

Very dear to me to this day.

So Liberty Online for the older kids, what advantages do they have, maybe going to college, having some access to that? Because I know a lot of people in homeschool, they do their last year, they start accumulating college credits that are lower cost.

What's that look like?

Juniors and seniors can take dual enrollment and can take their college credits as well as their high school credits and graduate with a high school diploma as well as an associate's degree.

Wow.

And they have a list of topics, of subjects that the kids can graduate with an associate's degree. And then if they choose to want to go to another four-year program, they can apply and all their credits transfer.

If they want to go to Liberty to finish their education, they receive a substantial discount from going on to Liberty because they are a Liberty student.

Wow.

So we have all kinds of opportunities for that as well. The kids can come in if they want to take one class from Liberty Online, a chemistry class or something to excel or an advanced bio class or an engineering class.

All of those can be taken online by sitting in our classroom or by taking it home after becoming part of our affiliate. And becoming a part of our affiliation, they receive a discount. So there is a good 15 discount if they become part of our affiliation.

Location, Facilities, and the Church-School Partnership

It really seems like the best of both worlds. How do we fill the school? Where do we go to get, where are you located? So people are watching.

We're at 300 Station Avenue in Haddon Heights, New Jersey. We are a ministry of Haddon Heights Baptist Church which takes up an entire block between 4th Avenue and 3rd Avenue. We take up the entire block and we're very visible.

We try to make ourselves very visible by putting out Facebook messages and messages to the different town groups and market groups or whatever. So we make ourselves visible in that way. I've got signage coming in that I'm working on now.

I'm waiting for the stands to come in and we can put signs out all over. And don't worry Pastor Cleaver, there's one saved for you.

Alright.

So you can put it out right in front of your cornerstone.

Okay.

Just to advertise, we're here.

Let's do it.

We exist.

Yeah, we've got to get a map up and some links in the notes.

I'd love it.

For the program so that they can, what links are we going to share with people. Probably?

You can get a link to our website. You can get my own personal email. Here is open. The phone number we can give you and the extension. All of those things are accessible.

Okay, great.

Let's, why don't we get to walking around.

Let's take a look at it.

Let's do it.

Let's see what the school looks like.

Alright.

Great.

What's that big top part, the three story part? Is that the gym? Is that the gym?

That's the gym.

Okay.

That's where all those basketball championships were.

Yeah.

Well, it's not a full-size gym, but it's a good practice gym.

Yes.

But we have upward sports here in the winter and they use that gym for competitions.

Wow.

Maybe Pastor Clearwater could put on a basketball clinic or something.

Oh, I would love to.

Yeah.

Actually, me and Tim Robinson were just talking about doing that. We're talking about putting on a little basketball camp or something.

Okay.

Maybe we do it indoors here.

I don't know.

Absolutely.

We'll talk about it.

That could be an idea.

I can take you inside.

Pastor Jeff's no stranger to basketball, you know. I can tell. He's got a few inches on you, Kathy.

I've lost all the agility and all the speed and explosiveness, but all I can do now is just shoot threes.

That's not bad.

I just shoot them.

Anybody who played college ball knows more than most.

I'll take you upstairs and show you the gym.

Alright.

Here we go.

Before we go there, I'll show you the science lab.

Okay.

Science lab.

It's amazing, the facility here.

Pastor Jeff, are you good at science as you are at basketball?

Oh, no.

Science is my weakness.

Is it?

This is our science lab.

I don't have to study science much.

It's fully equipped.

Wow. Look at that.

Oh, man.

Incredible.

Physics.

I remember cleaning beakers.

There you go.

I used to try and do it to get extra credit.

So, yeah.

The anatomy and physiology was taught here. Biology, advanced biology, physics, chemistry.

Wow.

Dark hallway here.

Flip a light.

I want to be in the light.

We'll go to our art room.

Alright.

The art room. Oh, man.

Look at this.

What a great place.