Mission
Our Mission Statement here at Liberty Christian Academy is “To lead students into a relationship with Jesus Christ while educating and equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and attitude necessary for effective Christian service.”
Philosophy
Families at Liberty Christian Academy don't have to choose between strong academics and a solid Christian education. We offer challenging instruction that is specifically designed to enhance education in the context of a Biblical Worldview. We spend four years (High School) preparing them to thrive socially and academically as they develop into young men and women of Christian character and influence.
History
THE FOUNDING AND EARLY YEARS OF LIBERTY CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
A Vision of Faith, Family, and Freedom by Dr. Manuel Salazar III
The story of Liberty Christian Academy began not with a building, a classroom, or an enrollment campaign, but with a calling. In 1997, Manuel and Lisa Salazar shared with Stoney Point Baptist Church their conviction that God was leading them to help establish a Christian academy where students could receive an academically excellent education grounded firmly in the Word of God. At the conclusion of a Sunday morning service, they publicly surrendered themselves to that calling before their church family.
At the time, Manuel was a commercial banking executive, a deacon at Stoney Point Baptist Church, and the teacher of a young married Bible class. The church affirmed the vision and committed to support the Salazars in prayer as they began exploring what would be required to establish a Christian school.
The church soon began setting aside funds for the future academy. With congregational approval, those resources were prudently invested with the goal of establishing the school on a strong financial foundation within approximately three years. During this same period, Manuel began graduate theological studies at Luther Rice Seminary, pursuing a master's degree with an emphasis in Christian education.
From Vision to Liberty Christian Academy
By the fall of 1999, years of prayer, preparation, research, and planning had brought the vision much closer to reality. Manuel presented Pastor Harold Herd and the church with a formal plan for organizing and launching a Christian school. Stoney Point Baptist Church subsequently approved the establishment of Liberty Christian Academy (LCA) as a ministry of the church.
In January 2000, at age 32, Manuel left his industry profession as a commercial bank executive to serve full-time as the founder and administrator of Liberty Christian Academy. During the school's formative months, he visited numerous Christian schools, studying their programs and learning from established ministries as he developed the educational and administrative foundations for LCA.
Lisa Salazar also played an instrumental role in the school's organization. She helped develop educational and administrative procedures and served as Liberty Christian Academy's first registrar during its initial year of operation. Lisa also had the distinct honor, as registrar, of enrolling their four elementary-age children at the time (Ashley, Jonathan, Brittany, and Matthew) as the very first students enrolled at Liberty Christian Academy. Together, Manuel and Lisa worked alongside the new faculty, staff, parents, church family, and other ministry partners to turn the original vision into a well-functioning Christian school.
In February 2000, Pastor Herd established an ordination council chaired by Dr. Ralph Richardson (President, Carolina Bible College) and composed of several senior Baptist pastors from the area. Following an in-depth examination of Manuel's Christian testimony, doctrine, and calling to ministry, he was soon ordained a minister of the Gospel. He subsequently served Stoney Point Baptist Church as their associate pastor and minister of education, overseeing such ministries as AWANA, Sunday School, Training Union, and other church educational and discipleship endeavors. That summer, Manuel also began doctoral studies (EdD) in educational administration at Pensacola Christian College.
The First Academic Year
Throughout 2000, the foundations of Liberty Christian Academy continued to take shape. Manuel helped form the school board, developed school policies and curriculum standards, met with potential new students and their parents, and hired the amazing faculty and staff who would serve LCA's first families.
In the fall of 2000, Liberty Christian Academy officially opened its doors with 64 students in K4 through 6th grade. The plan from the beginning was to grow purposefully by adding one additional grade each year until the academy eventually extended through the 12th grade by 2006.
During its first three years, Liberty Christian Academy operated in the main educational facilities of Stoney Point Baptist Church, but the increasing enrollment growth led the church and school to look toward the future once again.
Building for the Future
One of the memorable stories from Liberty's early years concerns the planning of its first dedicated school building. Manuel met a contractor for lunch one day, and they sketched out the vision for the future school facility on a napkin. That simple drawing became the starting point from which an architect developed formal plans for the new campus facility.
Drawing upon his previous banking experience and relationships, Manuel later met with the president of his former bank to present the plans. The bank agreed to assist with financing the remaining funds necessary to complete construction.
The financial groundwork established several years earlier proved especially important. Funds that the church had authorized investment toward the future school had appreciated substantially, providing significant resources for the launch and development of the academy. This allowed LCA to begin its
educational ministry from a position of financial strength and to invest in quality faculty, curriculum,
classroom equipment, and supplies.
What had begun as a vision shared before a congregation was becoming a permanent institution dedicated to educating future generations for the glory of God.
A Memorable First Open House
Liberty Christian Academy's first open house in the fall of 2000 featured a special guest: Congressman Jim Ryun of Kansas.
Before entering public service, Ryun achieved international recognition as one of America's greatest middle-distance runners. In 1964, while still in high school, he became the first American high school
It was an appropriate message for a new Christian academy beginning its own race of faith.
Why the Name "Liberty"?
The name Liberty Christian Academy was chosen intentionally. From the beginning, the founders wanted students to understand liberty through three important dimensions: spiritual liberty, national liberty, and the responsibility to steward liberty for future generations.
First and foremost, true and eternal liberty comes from God through Jesus Christ and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit:
"...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
2 Corinthians 3:17
Second, the school sought to teach students to appreciate the earthly liberty preserved through the courage and sacrifice of those who serve our nation. This held special significance in a community with close ties to Fort Bragg and generations of airborne forces, special operators, veterans, and military families. Liberty students would be taught to respect and honor those who had sacrificed to defend the freedoms they enjoyed.
Third, the founders wanted students to understand liberty as an important principle within America's Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Declaration of Independence, 1776
The name Liberty therefore represented more than a school name. It reflected a responsibility: to teach future generations to love God, cherish their families, appreciate their freedoms, and honor those who sacrificed on their behalf and steward those freedoms responsibly for those who follow them.
The ABCs of a Liberty Education
The educational philosophy of Liberty Christian Academy was summarized from its earliest years through three foundational commitments — the ABCs of Christian education:
Academically Excellent. Bible-Based. Character-Focused.
Academic excellence meant challenging students to develop the minds and abilities God had given them and to pursue excellence in their studies.
Bible-based education meant that Scripture would not simply be another subject within the curriculum. Biblical truth would provide the foundation and worldview through which students were taught to understand God, themselves, others, and the world around them.
Character-focused education recognized that preparing young people for life requires more than imparting knowledge. Liberty sought to cultivate integrity, wisdom, responsibility, courage, discipline, and a life of service.
The academy's early motto captured these commitments simply:
Faith. Truth. Honor. Go Knights!
The Liberty Knights and the Armor of God
Even the school's mascot was selected with biblical purpose.
Liberty students became known as the Knights, drawing inspiration from the imagery of the armor of God found in Ephesians 6. The Knight represented the school's desire for students to be spiritually prepared to stand for truth and live courageously for Christ.
Students were encouraged to: "Put on the whole armor of God..." Ephesians 6:11
The goal was never merely to produce successful students. Liberty Christian Academy sought to prepare young men and women who would carry their faith into their homes, churches, professions, communities, and world.
That conviction was also visibly incorporated into the new school facility. When the building was constructed, the Ten Commandments were prominently painted at the end of the main hallway, providing a daily reminder to every student, parent, teacher, and visitor that Liberty Christian Academy had been founded upon the Word of God.
The school also established the Liberty Code, a biblical standard of character and conduct that Liberty Knights could aspire to follow both inside and outside the classroom as they grew in His knowledge and grace. The initial Liberty Crest simply had three words with a picture under each Faith (Cross), Truth
(Bible), and Honor (Knight). Under this crest was the Liberty Code. It stated:
I will make God’s Holy Word, a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
I will honor and obey my parents.
I will respect and obey my teachers, and those in authority over me.
I will not lie, cheat, or steal.
I will treat others with respect and kindness, with my words and deeds.
I will do my best, in all that I do, for God’s glory.
Passing the Torch
As Liberty Christian Academy continued to grow, another important chapter began in 2003 when Manuel invited Duncan Edge to join the ministry as vice principal. Mr. Edge became an important part of the academy's leadership. When the Salazar family moved to California in 2005 to serve on staff at Lancaster Baptist Church and West Coast Baptist College, the school board passed the baton of the senior leadership role of Liberty Christian Academy to Mr. Duncan Edge.
What began as a transition became a remarkable story of continuity and legacy. Mr. Edge would faithfully carry forward the ministry of Liberty Christian Academy while also eventually becoming the senior pastor of Stoney Point Baptist Church. Under his leadership, and through the dedication of generations of faculty, staff, church members, parents, and supporters, the ministry that began with a vision in 1997 continues to grow and influence young lives for Christ three decades later.
A Legacy That Continues
The early history of Liberty Christian Academy is ultimately about far more than its founders, buildings, enrollment numbers, or programs.
It is the story of a calling answered, a church that believed in a vision, families who entrusted their children to a new school, teachers who invested their lives in students, and believers who desired to prepare another generation to live faithfully for Jesus Christ.
From a Sunday morning commitment in 1997, to a formal school plan in 1999, to 64 students walking through the doors in the fall of 2000, Liberty Christian Academy was established upon a simple but enduring conviction that:
Authentic Christian education should relentlessly pursue academic excellence, remain uncompromisingly grounded in biblical truth, and intentionally develop a Christlike character in the next generation who will impact our world for Christ.
Those principles remain worthy of every generation of Liberty Knights.
The prayer of Liberty's founders remains that God will continue to use Stoney Point Baptist Church, Pastor Edge, and the academy's dedicated faculty and staff to equip generations of young people with the knowledge, skills, character, courage, and biblical worldview necessary to impact their families, communities, and world for Jesus Christ.
Faith. Truth. Honor.
Go Knights!