Dear parents,
We are all very excited about three major events on the horizon. The first of course is our Ice Cream Social/Spring Open House on Tuesday, March 17th. This is a year of celebration for many reasons. The first is that we have just completed our 18th year of providing quality Christian Education here in the West Kendall area. We began Lifted Academy, formerly Miami Baptist School, in 2008, as a preschool with the goal of eventually adding elementary and middle school. This next year we will be continuing to add middle school students up through 7th grade, and we have been privileged to see our school grow from 12 students to 140 students, which is our capacity. We invite you to come and celebrate with us and bring the whole family to have some fun, fellowship, and visit the classrooms with your children. Sign-up sheets for various desserts will go out for each class. We do hope that you will make every effort to attend, as the students will also be performing some of their favorite songs for you as well.
The second event that I want to bring to your attention is that of our annual Gala and other fundraising activities. We are currently in a building campaign, The Brave 300, to raise over $3 Mil to create a bigger facility for our church and school that will add an additional 250 students and create an auditorium that will seat over 800. Our PTF has been doing a fabulous job of doing monthly fundraisers through each class and last year raised just over $10,000. This year, they have received $8.6K, year to date, and I know they aren’t finished yet.
We so appreciate the efforts of our PTF and all of our parents participating in these school fundraisers. In addition, we sponsor an annual Gala that has typically been in the fall of each year. However, many people requested we try doing it in the Spring, as Christmas and other holidays seem to overshadow this event. So, this year our Gala will be held on April 17th at the Hilton Miami Dadeland, from 6-10:30 PM. The theme of our Gala is “Rise and Build”, as we are hoping to break ground on our new facility by year’s end. Our goal for this year’s Gala is $500,000, and for us to be able to reach this goal each year, we will need your help in the following ways: 1) Pray for this event, 2) Purchase a ticket, 3) Donate an auction item to be sold at the Silent Auction, 4) Invite others to participate in the Brave 300 Building Campaign by donating whatever amount they are able, 5) Invite local businesses to help sponsor our Gala or Building Campaign.
I have been working with our church staff and the PTF to put together some type of a fundraising app to help parents personally do what I am requesting above in a very simple fashion. The app is called OneCause: Lifted Lions Fund, and you can download it by copying the QR code above. Once you are inside the app, underneath “Donate Now”, you will see another line that says, “Become a Fundraiser”, this line is for you! Please click on that line and set up your own personal fundraising goal for the school and personalize it with a picture of your family and/or your child in uniform, to let your family and friends know that you are in the process of obtaining funds to help your child’s school grow. We are asking each school family to set a goal of at least $1000 to enter you into our contest that will allow the family that raises the most funds to win a 3-day cruise for a family of 4, free of charge.
But this is more than just a fundraiser; this is an invitation to you, your family, and your colleagues to invest in Kingdom purposes and establish a legacy that will affect generations for years to come. The following verse in Psalm 98:4-7 outlines our purpose in having a Christian School and why we are asking others to invest their monies in this way: “We will not hide them from our children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.”
Our investment in our school and this building program is more than just adding more space; it is building a legacy for your children and for generations to come. Could there be any greater investment of your time, treasures, and talents? Which brings me to our 3rd event – Easter 2026.
This year, Easter falls on April 5th, and we want to invite you and your family now to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord with us. Our theme is “For His Glory”; this is so reflective of everything we do here at Lifted Church and Academy. This particular holiday is the single greatest event on the Christian calendar. Why? Because without the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, we would all be lost. Scripture and history tell us why Jesus came in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” This, in essence, is the mission statement for Jesus Christ. The apostle John puts it this way:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten so, that whosoever believes in him would not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16
