Amy Atteberry witnessed the beginnings of Covenant as families prayed over the grounds and worked together to complete our current building.
THROUGH AMY’S EYES // REFLECTING ON 25 YEARS AT COVENANT
Covenant Christian is honored and blessed to be celebrating its 25-year anniversary this fall. Covenant’s story is one of continuity. “We started off as a family, and that feeling has continued,” says Amy Atteberry. Atteberry has worked at Covenant Christian High School for the entirety of the existence of the school, so on the cusp of this important moment, it seems prudent to get the story of the transformation of Covenant from the person who has seen it all. “We started off as a family, and that feeling has continued,” said Atteberry. In the early days of Covenant, classes were held in the basement of Chapel Rock Christian Church, and a group of 10 or so teachers and staff did whatever they had to provide a quality Christian education to the students whose families had decided to entrust their kids with this new institution. Atteberry said, “The Word was always first and foremost in what we taught; making sure it was authoritative and what we rooted everything in, our foundation is set in that, and from there we did education.” “From day one, it felt like a real school. Jim [Spencer] had taught in the public schools for 35 years, so he knew education so well. His leadership was a combination of simplistic and deep. He was very intentional about who he hired. All of us who worked there taught a variety of subjects and coached, so we all took the job seriously because we had to make it work. We loved and fought like family. The students fought like brothers and sisters, too,” said Atteberry.
“I remember Jim [Spencer] coming in and saying, “I don’t know if you’re going to get paid, so pray it in. I don’t know where it’s going to come from.” But it always came. Atteberry remembered in particular that there was a time where she realized she needed a speaker or PA system to facilitate her classes well, and someone independent delivered a check into the school for that explicit purpose. “It was all like that.
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The Word was always first and foremost in what we taught.
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In the early days, Atteberry said the experience at Covenant was marked with continual provision from God. When there were needs for supplies or finances, prayer and responsibility reigned supreme.
