Today we commemorated 20 years since Glasshouse Christian College began. Looking around at the marvellous facilities we enjoy today, I thought it was an appropriate time to remember our humble roots.
Glasshouse Christian College is a ministry of the Glasshouse Country Baptist Church (GCBC) and we have the church to thank for what we are today. GCBC had a vision to build a school that provided affordable quality Christian education for everyone who wanted it for their children. This is one of the reasons that 20 years later our fees are still one of the lowest on the Sunshine Coast.
The church had been praying for years to establish a Sunshine Coast Christian school but didn’t have the land or know where to begin. Then one of its members, Miss Emily Lord who had retired from her missionary service in India, had a vision that the land would be in Roberts Road in Beerwah. This is the same Emily Lord who we name our most prestigious award to at the end of each year.
At that time, the land belonged to the council and couldn’t be bought so you can imagine how impossible that sounded to the church. However soon after the land became available for sale, the church purchased it and then the hard work really began.
People from the church gave up weekends and holidays clearing the land and erecting the first small demountable building that housed the whole school! Many of those people were parents of students who formed the first class of 2000.
We were honoured to have five of those founding students from that class attending our service this morning and I want to thank them for taking time off work and coming back to visit. They included: Elouyse Murray, Jackie Waddell, Sara Davis, Joshua Davis, and Mitchell Fraser. Thanks also to two of our founding staff members Muriel Pickles and Kirsty Newell for attending today.
Our other VIPs included Board Members Chris Johnson and Kevin Hine, our P and F representative Tracey Charleson (for Lisa Moyle) and it was great to see Cheryl Bryers back with us who is well known to most of our College community as the Head of Primary School and Principal from 2001 to 2007.
Twenty years later, God has blessed the College with a multitude of classrooms, a modern Library, Theatre, Industrial Technology and Engineering Workshops, a fantastic Gym, Hospitality Kitchens, Science Laboratories, brand new Dance and Drama Studios, a state of the art Music Centre, our Kitchen Garden, three playgrounds, two large undercover areas, two ovals, two courtyards and access to a full working farm!
This morning’s commemorative service celebrated 20 years of God’s goodness to us. We have been blessed beyond even the vision and imagination of our pioneers and I am truly thankful.
Mike Curtis, Principal