The Spartan Blog

Dear Spartan Families,

Welcome to the 2026–2027 school year! Whether your family has been part of Calvary Christian School for many years or you are joining us for the first time, we are grateful that God has brought you into our school community. A new school year always brings excitement; new teachers, new friendships, new opportunities, and new ways for our students to grow. With that being said, our mission goes far beyond preparing students academically. We desire to help students know God, understand His truth and character, develop a biblical worldview, and become equipped to serve Him faithfully wherever He leads them.

This year brings several exciting additions to our school. We are launching a new entrepreneurship course that will encourage students to think creatively, solve problems, and develop the skills needed to turn ideas into meaningful action. We are also adding a new missions course designed to help students better understand God’s heart for the nations and consider how they can participate in the Great Commission. Students will also benefit from our new computer lab, which will provide additional opportunities to strengthen skills and support learning across multiple subject areas. This fall, we will also install a new flagpole area in front of the school which will include a beautiful walking path that will enhance our campus while providing another visible reminder of our gratitude for the freedoms God has given us. 

We are also excited to welcome our Urbana families that will be joining us through our newest bus route that will meet at Life Net Christian Fellowship in Urbana. Our daily Urbana route extends access to Calvary families and becomes our second in-house route, joining the Marysville route which launched last year.

Another important focus this year will be completing our ACSI accreditation process. The ACSI accreditation team will visit Calvary next spring, marking the culmination of an intensive, multi-year process of self-evaluation, documentation, reflection, and improvement. Accreditation is about much more than earning a designation. It requires our entire team to examine every area of our school; from academics and spiritual formation to governance, student services, safety, and organizational effectiveness. The process helps us identify what we are doing well, recognize areas where we can grow, and establish clear plans for continued improvement. It is demanding work, but it ultimately makes us a stronger school and improves the experience we provide for our students and families. We are also excited to begin our first year as a Colson Fellows Academic Affiliate. We are one of only 30 Christian schools in America that have launched a Colson Fellows Academic Affiliate! Our inaugural class includes 15 dedicated staff and school parents who have committed themselves to significant spiritual formation, biblical worldview development, and personal growth. This investment will strengthen not only those involved but also the students, families, and colleagues they influence. We believe that spiritually healthy and biblically grounded adults are essential to forming spiritually healthy and biblically grounded students.

Over the past year, I have also been blessed with the opportunity to coach and support Christian schools across the country through the Herzog Institute. While I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the work of other schools, one of the greatest benefits has been what I have been able to bring home to CCS. This work has allowed us to build relationships, exchange ideas, and learn alongside some of the strongest Christian schools and leaders in the country. Those experiences challenge us to keep growing while also helping us recognize just how special the CCS community truly is. It can be easy to assume that what we experience at Calvary is normal. The reality is that a school community marked by dedicated teachers, a healthy staff culture, strong enrollment, supportive families, spiritual unity, and a shared commitment to the mission is more the exception than the rule. What God has built here is a tremendous blessing. That does not mean we are perfect or that our work is finished, but it does mean we should be grateful for the flourishing community God has entrusted to us.

We do not take that blessing, or the responsibility that accompanies it, for granted. Christian education is most effective when the home, church, and school work together. Thank you for trusting us to partner with you in the education and spiritual formation of your children. As we begin this year, my prayer is that our students will grow in wisdom, character, courage, and faith. I pray that every lesson, relationship, challenge, and success will help point them toward Christ and prepare them for the purposes God has for their lives.
 

Thank you for being part of the Calvary Christian family. We are excited to see what God will do in and through our students, families, and staff this year.
Welcome back!

1 Tim 4.12
Ryan Hyde
Head of School

In an effort to better serve our school families, we are excited to announce that we will officially launch a new daily bus route to Urbana starting this fall! 
Transportation is frequently one of the most significant barriers to keeping Calvary accessible to families in our region, so we’re thrilled to offer this route, which will make a Christ-centered education more accessible for families in Champaign County and the surrounding communities.
Pastor and Calvary dad Art Weisenbarger will drive the Urbana route and will meet each day at LifeNet Church (142 Dellinger Rd), providing a centralized and easy pickup and drop-off location for families. Parents can now sign up for transportation directly through the school app. Just click on the “Register for our satellite bus routes” link.
We are also pleased to share that our Marysville transportation route will continue next year exactly as it has this year, with pickup and drop off taking place at The Well Church.
The transportation fee for the upcoming school year will be $650 per family for either route.
This represents another step forward in our mission to partner with Christian families throughout the region, as we believe families should not have to choose between accessibility and Christian education. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue extending the reach of our mission and making a Calvary education available to more students across west central Ohio.
If you have a friend in the Marysville or Urbana area, let them know a Christian education at Calvary has never been more accessible!
 

A Testament to God's Provision: $250,000 Grant Received!
In moments of reflection on this incredible journey to build our new school, we can’t help but stand in awe of God’s provision. The dream of a new facility, one that will build a biblical worldview, nurture young minds, and shape future leaders seemed daunting at the outset. Yet, here we are, having just received another miracle…a $250,000 grant—an amount that is nothing short of miraculous.

The Power of Faith and Community
When we embarked on this mission, we did so with faith in God’s plan and confidence in our community’s support. Time and again, we’ve seen how God moves through the hearts of His people, prompting generosity and a shared vision for what this school represents. Each donation, large or small, has been a testament to the power of collective faith and the willingness to invest in the future. This recent grant was the result of a senate fund that was earmarked for projects that were community based. We went through the application process last spring and followed up with several meetings both at Calvary and in the Ohio Statehouse. We are thankful to be 1 of only 5 school in Ohio that received any funding! 

A Milestone Worth Celebrating
Raising $250,000 is no small feat and we are thankful for the continual miracles that are making this new campus a reality. Our plan is to use the $250,000 to pay for items in the gym including our new gym floor and gym bleachers. But just as importantly, this achievement stands as a reminder that when we place our trust in God, He is faithful to provide!

The Finish Line is Near: $300,000 More to Go
While we rejoice in this accomplishment, our journey is not yet complete. We now turn our focus to the final phase of initial funding for the phase 2 project, raising the remaining $300,000 needed to equip the inside of the building. The kick here is we need to raise this money by the end of December! This timeline is crucial because that's when our invoices for the inside of the building items will be due.  

Stepping Out in Faith
As we look ahead, we do so with the same faith that has brought us this far. We believe that God, who has provided for us so abundantly already, will continue to move in the hearts of those who share our vision. Whether through financial contributions, prayers, or spreading the word, there are many ways to be part of this final push!

A Call to Action
We invite you to consider how you might contribute to reaching this final goal. We know this is going to be a campus that transforms the lives of students and families for decades to come. Your support will not only help us complete the physical building but will also play a vital role in shaping the lives of countless students who will walk through its doors.
Let’s continue to trust in God’s provision as we work together to see this dream fully realized. With $300,000 more to raise, we know that with God’s guidance and your support, we will cross the finish line.Thank you for being part of this journey, and for believing in the future we’re building together!
 

Anyone wishing to donate online can do so here Race to the Finish of Phase 2!
 

We’d also love to meet with you! Meet with our Development Director Dan Bragg and hear more about this project by emailing dbragg@calvarybellefontaine.org

Hello Calvary family! 

We wanted to put together an update to briefly detail some of the happenings with the new campus as well as share some fun new photos of the big building project! It’s been one month since we received occupancy to use the unfinished phase 1 addition at CR9. The construction crew added a few temporary heaters to make this space comfortable and usable for the remainder of this school year as one large open area. This addition is currently playing host to activities like indoor recess, lunch, art classes, music classes, and library. It’s a nice temporary bonus space that we hadn’t originally planned to use! Once the school year ends, the walls will go up and the classrooms will be finished. Our K5 classrooms will move over this summer to fill two of the three new rooms (the other room will have various uses in the fall and will be a science lab next spring).

At the same time those classrooms are getting finished, another crew will be working hard putting together a freshly paved driveway (ooooooo-ahhhhhhhh). The crews will be moving fast in the summer months to asphalt the entire drive, the phase 1 parking lot, the new phase 2 parking lot, and the lane that will surround the campus. There will be an overflow lot where our busses will sit behind the phase 2 building that will remain stone for the time being. At the completion of these paving jobs we’ll have a few more parking spaces at CR9 than currently exist at the Rush campus. (and a big thank you to Joe Spiers for helping make the current stone driveway drive-able in the meantime!)

As the work on the big building continues, you’ll soon see the plumbing going in as well as getting it all enclosed. Wade Wylie at Link Construction has been working on 3D models of the project to assist the team in planning and design. We’ll share more renderings of the very soon-to-be Home of your Calvary Christian Spartans as they become available!  

(the stage can present to either the gym or cafeteria area which you can see in the background)

(Bleacher area has seating for 600. With floor covering to protect the gym floor and chairs on the gym floor we could fit 1,000 in this space!)

(Below are views from the main entrance which will face north. As you drive down our long drive you'll see the flat facing part of the building that has the academic C icon)