00:01:44
Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm David Chadwick and this is News Talk 107.9 FM WBT Charlotte's FM News Talk Radio. Great to have you with me today. If you don't know, this is a faith and values program that tries to intersect faith and values with what's going on locally and globally. It's a show I've been doing now for over 26 years and I've enjoyed every second of it. Many thanks to Perry's Fine Jewelry. Without you and your sponsorship of this show, I could not do this show on a weekly basis. Most thankful to you for your support. Well, today I have a special friend in studio with me that I wanted all of you to meet, but mostly to hear about his work and what he's trying to do. When you hear about this kind of work, it gives you hope for our city and for the difficulties that are often going on in the inner city, in those vulnerable, underserved areas. His name is John Murray. He is the principal, the overseer of Brookstone Schools here in Charlotte. And John, it's a pleasure having you on the show today. Welcome.
00:02:42
Speaker 2: Thank you, David. It's a blessing to be here.
00:02:44
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about you. Who is John Murray? Tell us about yourself, and then we'll get into the Brookstone Schools and their unique calling in life. Sure.
00:02:53
Speaker 2: Well, I was just thinking this is my 24th year as a head of school. This is my fifth school that I've led in my career. My wife and I and our four children have lived all over the country. But this has been a unique school, Brookstone Schools, unlike any school I've led before, and it's just been one of the most rewarding experiences One of the most amazing communities I've ever been a part of.
00:03:16
Speaker 1: And your background is in education, I assume? Well, yes.
00:03:21
Speaker 2: I got my double major in English and History from Vanderbilt University and then a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies at Dartmouth College. I tried to leave education multiple times, but God kept bringing me back in different leadership roles. But I became a head of school when I was 32 years old. and when you were talking about the Proverbs earlier, it was God had me on my knees every day because I had a lot to learn, but it's been a just tremendous privilege to be in education.
00:03:51
Speaker 1: Well, tell us your faith journey, if you would, please.
00:03:54
Speaker 3: Sure.
00:03:55
Speaker 2: Well, I grew up in the church. I was raised by Christian parents in Huntsville, Alabama, but it really wasn't until my freshman year in high school that I gave my life to Christ, and it was just a tremendous turnaround. I think Like all of us, we struggle with the performance trap of trying to please others and just surrendering my life to Him to live for Him and be on that journey, which obviously there's always tension there, right? Of just pleasing the world versus pleasing the Lord. But just when I've lived in His will, I've just seen just His blessings and peace.
00:04:30
Speaker 1: How'd you meet your wife? Tell us about her.
00:04:32
Speaker 2: We actually met... And teaching in the same school in Atlanta that she had actually graduated from. She came back as she went to University of Virginia. And I was her brother's young life leader. Oh, interesting. And knew her family actually before I knew her. But yeah, she's been just a tremendous partner, just a godly soulmate that has been such a blessing in my life and just my biggest cheerleader and supporter. And I couldn't have done this work without her.
00:04:58
Speaker 1: Now, when you got a good one, it's reason to applaud God and say, thank you so much. And One who's always there, no matter what you're going through. I have one of those myself. And four children. Tell us about them, please.
00:05:10
Speaker 2: Yeah. So my son is working in Manhattan for a clothier up there. My daughter, my oldest daughter lives in New England. She's going back to graduate school, University of New Hampshire, to get a master's in fine arts there. My middle daughter is actually a senior at Carolina.
00:05:28
Speaker 1: Go Heels, baby. Go Heels, yay.
00:05:29
Speaker 2: She's in the Hussman School of Media and Journalism. And matter of fact, did her first color commentary with the UNC women's soccer game a couple weeks ago, which was fun. She has our grandson, Crew, who just turned five, started kindergarten this year. And then our youngest daughter, Sarah Kate. Just graduated from Samford this past year as a Knoxville Fellows Program, and she's doing campus ministry at the University of Tennessee.
00:05:54
Speaker 1: Wow. Rich life. And you got grandkids. I mean, there is life that's no better when there are grandkids. I use the joke a lot, I know, but if I had known grandparenting was so much fun, I'd just get parenting altogether. That's right. Just love them, give them back, and you don't have to worry about disciplining them at all. And you've been in Charlotte again how long?
00:06:12
Speaker 2: This is our seventh year. So we came during COVID, which is, you know, that's the kind of They don't teach you in graduate school how to lead through a pandemic, but it was a challenging time to be here, but we felt called for sure.
00:06:26
Speaker 1: So you've been at Brookstone School for how long?
00:06:28
Speaker 2: This is my seventh year.
00:06:29
Speaker 1: Seventh year. So through the pandemic and experiencing all that that school represents as well is really interesting. As we move toward trying to understand Brookstone, I think it was in the late 1990s, John, I had Several people make an appointment with me and came by my office and said, we have a dream. And our vision is to start an inner city school that could help at-risk kids be able to get an education and be able to go to college and make it in life. And one of those people was former Panther place kicker John Casey. Ray and Carol Artisone were a couple of the others who I remember came into my office. And I said, that's a great vision. That is a great idea. And then began the fundraising that's always there. Uh, but you know where there's God's vision, there's God's provision and he did supply the needs. And that school was birthed. I can't remember exactly when, but it was late 1990s, early two thousands.
00:07:28
Speaker 4: That's right.
00:07:28
Speaker 2: We started in 2000 and you know, David, you inviting them into your office to pray for close to a year was just a huge part of God bringing two groups of people that he had given this vision to earlier. You were talking about vision. Um, And just brought them together to help birth this school. And what's so amazing, the name Brookstone comes from the story of David taking stones out of the brook to slay Goliath, God using him. And that was their goal to give students the chance to slay the giants in their life, ultimately through Christ. But whether it's poverty or poor education, but just to give them opportunity to really be all that God wants them.
00:08:12
Speaker 1: Well, if I could add this too, David took five smooth stones. And the reason for that is because Goliath had four brothers who were as big as he was. And I think he knew that. And I think he knew he had to go to Goliath first. He thought the others would retaliate. He wanted enough stones for the other guys as well. But you know where God guides, he gives the stones necessary to slay the giants. Let's talk about Brookstone School when we come back, and we'll do so in just a moment.
00:09:45
Speaker 4: Glory be to the Father. Glory be to the Son. Glory be to the Spirit. God is three in one as it was in the beginning. When God works, he starts doing amazing things. Giants are slayed and people are set free and his work is done.
00:10:19
Speaker 1: What great news. Hi everyone, I'm David Chadwick and this is 107.9 FM WBT Charlotte's FM News Talk Radio. Great to be with you today with a very special guest and her friend in studio with me, John Murray. He is the headmaster of Brookstone Schools and there are just a lot of ministries, folks, that are going on behind the scenes in our city that nobody much hears about, but they are impactful, they're changing lives, and for those of us who realize that Jesus and the Bible itself has a huge heart for the needy, for the underserved, and for the poor. We know that's a call upon our lives and the church's life to help care for them. Well, John Murray has stepped into that place in educational spheres in order to help kids be educated who are underserved. John Murray, again, thank you for being with me today. Great to have you here. And let's talk about Brookstone Schools, established in 2000 or so, and How has it impacted this city? Tell us about what you're trying to do.
00:11:21
Speaker 2: Well, again, I just am so thankful for our founders and the vision they had starting the school in 2000, 2001. We just celebrated our 25th year this past year. We're going into our 26th year. And honestly, David, it was just a celebration of God's faithfulness. We started with 18 students and we were the Brookstone schools because we had a school in East Charlotte and West Charlotte. But after a year, we decided it made more sense to merge into West Charlotte. But today we are at 262 students.
00:11:51
Speaker 1: Wow. What grade level?
00:11:53
Speaker 2: So we have grown initially, it was kindergarten through fifth grade, but we have now grown from adding junior kindergarten through eighth grade.
00:12:00
Speaker 1: Through eighth grade. Okay. And you're really trying to get the kids in these vulnerable situations, but really give them the great foundation they need in order to move forward in life.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
00:12:11
Speaker 1: Could you divide up those kindergarten, elementary, and middle school levels? Absolutely.
00:12:17
Speaker 2: Well, one of the things that we realized early on is that the earlier we can get the students, the better. Just because when we start reading to them and getting them in the classroom, getting exposed to that structure is so important. Because sadly, a lot of kids in our community are not read to growing up. They're put in front of a lot of screens, which we know does not develop the brain properly.
00:12:41
Speaker 1: And that's not educational screens necessarily. That's just looking at the stuff that is available on screen that can entertain, but not necessarily educate. Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:12:51
Speaker 2: So we just saw that as a huge game changer because there were so many kids coming to us in kindergarten that never been in the classroom, that obviously didn't know how to read, that we weren't even positioned to take. So now that we have junior kindergarten and actually added a transitional kindergarten program this year, this allows us to take more students early on. But what's been amazing with our teachers is just how they have them reading by the end of kindergarten. And just the foundation that lays for them through the rest of the educational career. I mean, you know, you see the statistics and they're true. If a child's not reading at grade level by third grade, the likelihood of them graduating from high school is like 10%.
00:13:32
Speaker 1: And isn't it the greatest predictor for prison later on in life as well?
00:13:35
Speaker 3: It is.
00:13:36
Speaker 2: It's a sad reality. And that's one of the things that we've seen, just that we are phonics-based, so we teach what's called the Orton-Gillingham method, and that has been transformative for our kids. Because we bring in kids that may be a year or two years behind, and we have what we started two years ago called a bridge program, because We, again, were having to turn away a lot of kids who had just been socially promoted. We were getting fourth graders from CMS who couldn't read. It was just heartbreaking. And we didn't know what to do. And we had some donors come forward. Moments of Hope contributed to our program, which was such a gift. And we brought in reading and math interventionists who we meet with these students three hours a day, every day. But we keep them at their age grade level so they can go back in the afternoons and not be held back and be a 10-year-old in first grade, right? But what we've seen, it's been so amazing to see kids get caught up that a year and a half, two years behind in one year. And it's life-changing. And we had a fourth grader we shared at his testimony at our banquet who was over two and a half years behind. And just these kids, if they're sadly in the public school, they either fail out, drop out, or are socially promoted with no education to show for it. And so this is literally... changing the direction of lives.
00:14:58
Speaker 1: So you could have fifth, sixth graders in the public school who can't read, and we hear those stories, and they are true.
00:15:03
Speaker 2: Right.
00:15:03
Speaker 1: Sadly so. So where is your school located?
00:15:08
Speaker 2: Well, what's amazing, I want to tell this story, David, because we, as we were in West Charlotte, and it kind of moved around as we grew into different churches, and then we landed upon A. May James, which was a formerly used elementary school in CMS, and that we used, we signed a lease with We poured like $ 40, 000 into this school, upgrading it. In the middle of the school year, CMS came to us and said, you have to leave. No reason. And by God's grace, one of our board members, New Market, First Baptist, and they said, bring it, come on. And what's been amazing about First Baptist Church, it sits in the heart of Uptown, which is dead center of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County.
00:15:50
Speaker 1: It is indeed.
00:15:51
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:15:51
Speaker 1: And that mark is Mark Harris when Mark was the pastor at First Baptist Church.
00:15:55
Speaker 2: That's right.
00:15:55
Speaker 1: Make that clear.
00:15:56
Speaker 2: Yes. So, but honestly, that in God's providence, that is what's allowed us to grow. We are reached now East Northwest Charlotte, where the great need is, where Sadly, where our failing school, the majority of our failing schools are, where our lower income families are that are literally stuck in their neighborhood schools without an alternative. And so it's just been fantastic. And especially since we got a grant to start our bus program, we have over 100 students coming to school on buses now, which again is just, it was a lifesaver for these kids who just were stuck in their neighborhood failing schools.
00:16:35
Speaker 1: Now, how do kids find out about you? How did they- get accepted by you? What's that process?
00:16:41
Speaker 3: Sure.
00:16:41
Speaker 2: Well, we had never really done a lot of marketing until a couple of years ago. A lot of it had been word of mouth. But when I was talking with different ministries in the community and realizing more people need to know about us, and actually I talked with a ministry that gave me some great advice on doing direct mail pieces My daughter actually encouraged me to do radio ads. And so I was like, radio? They're like, yes, radio.
00:17:07
Speaker 1: People do still listen to it, I hope, since we're doing a radio show today.
00:17:11
Speaker 4: Exactly.
00:17:12
Speaker 2: I'm like, radio is amazing. But literally the phone started ringing off the hook. And we've done digital billboard ads, but a lot of it just is word of mouth and equipping our parents and going back into their churches and neighborhoods and sharing about the school. But Our enrollment over the last few years has grown by almost 100 students. And a lot of that is due to our bridge program starting and advertising about that and what that does.
00:17:38
Speaker 1: Now, what's the bridge program?
00:17:39
Speaker 2: This is the program that gets kids caught up that may be a year or two years behind.
00:17:43
Speaker 1: Okay, like in reading.
00:17:44
Speaker 4: Right.
00:17:44
Speaker 2: And these are kids not with diagnosed learning disabilities. These are kids who have just fallen through the cracks. And I will say this. You know, I feel for a lot of our public school teachers because they're against tremendous odds of having 30 kids in the classroom, limited resources, limited support. I grew up in the public school system and was blessed with a great education. But so this is not, I just want to say we're not anti-public school. It's just seeing the need and trying to meet it in our community.
00:18:15
Speaker 1: And you would say public schools probably would support you and say, we know we can't do everything. You're coming alongside us to help us do this particular work?
00:18:24
Speaker 2: I mean, that would be my prayer, right? Because these are students that, you know, we're able to better serve and we have smaller classrooms. Our average classroom is 13 and that's intentional. You know, we, our teachers are all qualified. Over half our staff have masters. And just, I think the average teaching years experience is 13. So, We have a great balance of young teachers right out of college and education school are excited and seasoned veterans that can train them and mentor them. So it's been a great balance.
00:18:56
Speaker 1: Yeah. But you're faith-based. Absolutely. Unashamedly faith-based.
00:18:59
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:19:00
Speaker 2: We are a Christ-centered school. We are non-denominational. So we lease from First Baptist, but we have considered them a tremendous partner and just a great blessing as we have grown into their facility and But we have a lot of partners in this community that's been amazing. We are actually getting ready to celebrate Charlotte FC and Ally Bank. And Moments of Hope helped with this too, built a mini pitch in Uptown. But it's been an amazing transformation of our playground that we're going to celebrate this coming Monday.
00:19:34
Speaker 1: So that gets into how in the world do you begin to raise money for this? Let me tease. and let the listeners know this is what we're going to talk about on the other side of the break. But every institution, every church, whoever it might be, needs funding. And wherever there's vision, you have to pray for and trust for God's provision. And that's something you got to do annually, I would think. So what I'd love to do, John, on the other side of this break is talk to us about how much your budget is, how you raise that budget, and I'd love to hear stories about how God has provided for your budget because, again, as I've said so often, where there's vision, there's God's provision. We'll be right back.
00:21:47
Speaker 3: Christ is my firm foundation The rock on which I stand And everything around me is shaking I've never been more glad That I put my faith in Jesus Cause He's never let me.
00:22:15
Speaker 1: Down All of us are building our life on some foundation. The question is, what's that foundation? All the rest of this stuff in the world on which we think is important, that's not a good foundation. It will be wiped away in the first hurricane. But when you build it on Christ, the firm foundation, it stands forever. Hi, everyone. I'm David Chadwick, and this is 107.9 FM WBT, Charlotte's FM News Talk Radio. Great to be with you with my guest, John Murray, who is the headmaster of the Brookstone Schools here in Charlotte. We'll talk about that more in just a second, but let me remind all of you, if you'd like to hear this program in its entirety, go to WBT.com, scroll down to the weekend shows. You can see the David Chadwick show there and be able to listen to it in its entirety from beginning to end with just a couple of commercials. or send it to some other friends who might want to know about this particular wonderful ministry called Brookstone Schools, again with John Murray, the headmaster. John, we talked about before that you're trying to give the kids a biblical worldview, and I can't emphasize that enough because everybody has a worldview. Everybody has a foundation upon which they're building their life. This biblical worldview means that you're trying to help kids look at their world through the lenses of the Scripture and You unashamedly teach your kids at Brookstone School the scriptures themselves, correct? Yes.
00:23:44
Speaker 2: And matter of fact, one of the things that our kids learn is a set of 20 scriptures that is called Who I Am in Christ, just to root their dignity and their worth in Christ. And what that means is an image bearer of God.
00:23:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so important to understand that, who you are. And we try to find our identity in so many things that don't last, like success and fame and Fortune and all those things, they just don't last. It's only in Jesus and Christ alone do we find our life's purpose and meaning. So let's talk about your vision with these. How many kids, again, do you have?
00:24:18
Speaker 2: 262. Wow.
00:24:20
Speaker 1: From vulnerable communities, 12 different bus stops on the east and west side of Charlotte. Parents take them there. They get picked up and then taken to First Baptist Church, where you meet right in the center city, and then they're taken back to their homes. And you then have to raise the money. annually for the school? Is that how you do it?
00:24:39
Speaker 2: That's correct.
00:24:40
Speaker 1: Okay. And I know that I went to one fundraiser where I think Ben Carson was the primary speaker of the hundreds of people there. And I know you raised a lot of money with that. Is that how you do it primarily with a guest speaker come in?
00:24:51
Speaker 2: Well, actually that is a huge help, but that's only a small part of what we raise. Um, Our budget this year is $ 6. 4 million.
00:25:00
Speaker 1: My goodness.
00:25:01
Speaker 2: Which is amazing when you think about when we started in 2001, our budget was $ 363, 000 with a staff of six people. Today, we are over 50 faculty and staff, and our fundraising goal is $ 4. 2 million this year.
00:25:15
Speaker 1: And how are you doing that? You're just going to a bunch of people, bunch of churches like Moments of Hope who gladly help you because we want to, but is that how you do it?
00:25:24
Speaker 2: Well, I just want to say Charlotte's one of the most philanthropic cities I've ever been a part of. I mean, we have the majority of our donors are individual donors who believe in the mission of the school and what we're doing and the Lord's work. We have corporations that have been very generous to support us, secular as well as faith-based foundations has been a huge part of our fundraising. And then obviously churches as well. So it's, It's a full-on team effort, and we couldn't do it. It's really seeing the body of Christ, and it's the Lord's provision. But it truly takes a team to do this work.
00:26:02
Speaker 1: Well, I live by the phrase where God guides, God provides. And every year he does it in a strange and different way, but he always does it. He always comes through, and those stories are wonderful to tell as we move forward in life. And you just think every year you've got 230-plus kids that are being impacted with the Scripture, with the Lord Jesus with hope in their hearts, a new identity, and that can make an impact long-term, especially as you've now been in existence 26 years or so. John, let me ask you this. What are some of the stories? Tell us some of the kids you've impacted over the years, maybe where they are right now, because people love stories. People give to people is what I've learned as well, and when you hear these kind of stories, it moves our hearts to give. Absolutely.
00:26:46
Speaker 2: Well, we have been blessed with just so many amazing alumni. I know I met one of the first alumni I met when I came was in our first graduating class and when we only went through fifth grade, but she had been there for six years, class of 2007. And she ended up graduating from high school in the National Honor Society. She graduated cum laude from Virginia State University, ended up going back and getting a lot of science classes from Penn State. post-grad work at University of South Carolina, but now she is a STEM teacher, sixth grade science at the Governor's Village STEM Academy. And she just enjoys bringing, you know, learning to life for her students. But she is a woman of faith, strong believer, and just being a light in the educational world. So it's just, and I was in our first graduating class. Several years later, we had was our first alumni that we hired to work at Brookstone. And he credits Brookstone for turning his trajectory on in math. He was so far behind in math, but went on to CPCC's Cato Middle College dual enrollment program, finished high school with 35 college credits, went on to get his undergraduate and graduate, his master's in family counseling and came back to be our first school counselor. uh, and worked with us for three years before joining a private practice and was just so beautiful because he got the Brookstone experience. He grew up, uh, amazing single mom, um, one of, I think four children and, uh, just did amazing work with our kids, such a godly role model, wise counsel, encourager, uh, and tremendously needed. I mean, we, we are a trauma informed school. So many of our kids have suffered trauma where there's been loss of a parent, parent in jail, uh, experiencing being unhoused, food insecurity, and just being able to train our teachers to understand what are called ACEs, Adverse Childhood Experiences, which if a child has experienced two or more of these, then their brain, they can't think. They come into school and we expect our kids to perform in the classroom, but their social emotional needs have to be met. as well as their educational and their spiritual needs, right? So that has been a huge game changer for us is having, and now we have an amazing new counselor that's doing social work as well. It's coming alongside the families. We just had a tragic death of a parent this summer that had five children, and we've been working with their family to help them land on their feet. And so it's just some really, these are very different challenges that I've never faced in my other private schools, but it's been so redemptive to see the body of Christ. come together and come alongside these students and to have the qualified staff and then have alumni like John come back and serve in our school. And now we have alumni who are bringing their kids to our school after going into our 26th year, which has been so rewarding as well. But yeah, we had a student who, um, went on to Clark Atlanta university was named the 2024 NCAA division two men's basketball national player of the year.
00:30:10
Speaker 1: Really? Yeah.
00:30:11
Speaker 2: Chris Martin, just an amazing young man and credits just Brookstone and really, uh, changing his faith and, and his relationship with God and just a godly role model. Um, still working to try to play internationally played international ball. Um, But just, again, he's come back to work with our kids and his family has been such a blessing to our school, the Davis family in so many ways. But yeah, it's just, we've been so thankful for our older alumni, but even our most recent who've gone on to schools like Carmel Christian, Charlotte Christian, Covenant Day, Cannon School, Charlotte Latin, and just thriving in those schools. I mean, I will say a lot of times it's a huge culture shock going in when you go from being in the majority, we're 96% students of color to very much the minority, and just being exposed to some pretty wealthy families and community. So it's a big transition. But I think we come and we support them through high school. We have developed partnerships with these schools to help our students and families navigate that change. And it's just been amazing to see our students thrive and go on to try to you know, reach their dreams of being a doctor or a lawyer or a businessman.
00:31:29
Speaker 1: And you've seen that happen. Your kids actually become these high-end professionals who really do serve our society well.
00:31:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have just learned about alumni who's working at Bank of America. We have some at Wells Fargo. Again, it's just these kids have their equal image bearers of God. They have the talents, the abilities, and it's just giving them this opportunity to see their identity rooted in Christ, and give them a quality education to give them the tools to succeed.
00:31:58
Speaker 1: And my wife helped start a program some years ago called Seeds of Hope, and it's to help kids who want to go to college who are right under that ability to have enough money to be able to do so. And I know we've partnered some together in that Seeds of Hope ministry with Brookstone Schools, and some of your kids have actually gone to college as well through that Seeds of Hope ministry. It's just been exciting to see. John Murray is my guest, the headmaster at Brookstone Schools. We're talking about this amazing ministry to the underserved. And when we come back, John, I want to ask you this question. Any hope to go beyond just middle school? Would you like to go to high school? And I know that brings on a whole new different challenge, but you know where God guides, God provides. I'm David Chadwick, and we'll be right back. Fill me, O God.
00:34:17
Speaker 4: Fill me, O God. Pour out your holy love and fill me.
00:34:33
Speaker 3: O God.
00:34:34
Speaker 1: I think it was the Catholic theologian Ignatius Loyola who said, give me a child until he's five. and he is the Lord's for the rest of his life. And I think that's true. Fill all of our children, Lord, with yourself. Hi, everyone. I'm David Chadwick, and this is 107.9 FM, WBT, Charlotte's FM News Talk Radio. Welcome back. And my friend John Murray is my guest today. He is the headmaster of the Brookstone Schools. And John, the next question I want to ask you is you take kids from pre-K up through middle school. Any hope to go to high school? I mean, that sounds like a whole new animal, but you know where God guides, God provides, and is that part of your vision?
00:35:25
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, it's definitely something we've talked about, and there are a lot of arguments for doing that, but I think one of the things we have prayed through is that would we be better served by doing satellite canvases and growing our reach to younger kids.
00:35:41
Speaker 1: Finding other churches like First Baptist, where you are right now, who'd be willing to do this kind of thing in their locale.
00:35:46
Speaker 4: Correct.
00:35:47
Speaker 2: Matter of fact, this was amazing. We applied for a cohort of Duke MBA students several years ago and were chosen. It's a very competitive process and worked with them to identify the neediest areas of Charlotte based on the low-income, failing schools, and the lack of alternatives in those areas. And so we identified four areas in Charlotte that if we were to do this, where we would try to find a church to partner with and then how we would finance that. So it's a tremendous need, as y'all know, and just great opportunities. So as we have grown our main campus, which we consider the location in Uptown to be, would be our main campus to capacity, which we're almost there. Then we would be looking at doing satellite campuses that would probably be like K-4, and then we would bus them potentially to Uptown for the middle school years. But I just go back to the partnerships we've been able to develop with a number of the high schools, private Christian schools.
00:36:50
Speaker 1: And that's been positive. The public schools have accepted your folks, I'm sure, with open arms.
00:36:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, charter schools, magnet schools, like I said, CPCC's high school program. I mean— Our kids, we've had close to half go to public and half go to private. But again, it's just been neat to see how God has used them in those schools. But the partnerships with the Christian schools of providing scholarships for our kids, which is a tremendous blessing for them to make that possible, has been just a game changer for our kids, especially as we've grown. This is going to be our largest... graduating class in the history of the school. We have 27 eighth graders this year. So helping them get plugged in to schools. We have a person, Michelle Baldwin, who's over what we call our Pathways Program, which is helping our kids transition from eighth to ninth grade and our families. And for those who want to apply to magnet or charter schools or obviously private schools to walk them through that process.
00:37:51
Speaker 1: Well, what would be the cost per kid per year generally?
00:37:55
Speaker 2: So for Brookstone, yeah, this is a great question. So One of the things that I just want to say that how we see the dignity of our students is that we want them to get the same education they would get at any private school. The cost to educate one student at Brookstone, which includes bus transportation, breakfast and lunch, after school program is $ 24, 000 a year per student. The annual family contribution is about $ 1, 200. So about $ 200 a month. We have some families that our minimum is $ 50 a month. the average North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship we're getting per student is about $ 6, 000. So that means we need to raise about $ 16, 000 per student. So that's the difference. And that's what we're committed to because we really want them to have that quality education. We're not running on a shoestring. We've added sports. We have a school nurse. We have, as I said, a school counselor. We have a learning program for kids with diagnosed disabilities. We have a bridge program, again, for kids who've falling behind in the public schools that need to be caught up. I mean, again, God has provided such amazing resources and partners like Moments of Hope to help make these programs possible. We have a group of men from the Country Club of Longview who came alongside us six years ago to help raise money to provide over seven to 10 scholarships for kids coming from ministries like A Better World or Neighborhood Hope, which has been amazing. So it's just, you see all these partnerships coming together. And that's one of the things I've loved about your work, David, and what you're trying to do in the city with Cities of Hope, and just bringing ministries together, make sure they know about each other, how they can better work together. They're not competing against one another. And that is such a gift to us.
00:39:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, and shared learning. We have, in case people don't know, eight different vulnerable communities that we have brought together called City of Hope. And we get together on a regular basis to talk, share ideas, and help support one another, but also outside get support as well for them. And it's been a great thing to do.
00:39:57
Speaker 2: Amen. And, you know, in Charlotte has a huge legal immigrant population, you know, and we at Brookstone, sir, we have 15 native dialects in our school.
00:40:06
Speaker 1: Oh, wow.
00:40:06
Speaker 2: We have 39% of our kids are Asian immigrant students coming from Myanmar, from Vietnam, Malaysia. And that's been another tremendous gift. And just, you see the different cultures in our school. We're 48% African-American, 4% Hispanic. And just the diversity, the richness of God's tapestry of humanity is amazing. But enabling these kids to know each other, love one another, not be fearful of their culture, but get to know them and embrace them has been beautiful. I And you really see Revelation 7-9, right?
00:40:44
Speaker 1: Ah, the color of all the nations coming together and worshiping the Lord. Well, John, this is so exciting to hear about. If anybody would want more information about Brookstone Schools, how do they get it, and how do they get involved? If they want to get involved, volunteer, etc., how could that happen?
00:41:00
Speaker 2: Yes, it's great. Obviously, our website, brookstoneschools.org, is a great way to get to know more about us. We do have many volunteers that come. We have lunch buddies who partner with our kids that maybe once a month or twice a month come in and eat lunch with the students. And it's like a mentor program. And we've had partners with our students. We have partner days where groups come in and just do a lot of fun activities with our students. We have tutoring, which is huge.
00:41:27
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:41:28
Speaker 1: Sitting down and reading with a kid makes all the difference in the world. Absolutely.
00:41:32
Speaker 2: We bring in high school students from an area of high school, Christian high schools that come in and just are tremendous role models to our kids. But again, it's a mutual blessing, right, when you come in and serve and see God work in the life of a child and be a part of that. Again, I just have been amazed at just the amount of people who've really poured into our school.
00:41:54
Speaker 1: Well, it's been a pleasure having you on the show today, and I appreciate your insights. Hope listeners might get involved in a great ministry, not just a good ministry, a great ministry. We've only got a minute or so left, John. If you could take 30 seconds and Say anything you want to say to our listeners. How would you want to end the program?
00:42:11
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:42:12
Speaker 2: I just think just my heart for racial reconciliation is just there is a tremendous need in our community. And these are kids who deserve a quality education just like anyone else. And just to be able to provide this has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. And just seeing the challenges that kids face but just to coming alongside them and sharing the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but also providing a way out of the challenges and brokenness.
00:42:44
Speaker 1: Well, God bless you and what you're doing. May he give you more energy and finances and help like never before. May this show help you in some small way continue to advance forward because the truth is Jesus did say, let the little children come unto me. He loves them. from all different backgrounds, from all different colors, wants them all to come together, be educated, and then be sent out into the world to help magnify his name. John Murray, thank you for being with me today. I'm David Chadwick. This is 107.9 FM WBT, Charlotte's News Talk Radio. Talk with you all next week.
Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm David Chadwick and this is News Talk 107.9 FM WBT Charlotte's FM News Talk Radio. Great to have you with me today. If you don't know, this is a faith and values program that tries to intersect faith and values with what's going on locally and globally. It's a show I've been doing now for over 26 years and I've enjoyed every second of it. Many thanks to Perry's Fine Jewelry. Without you and your sponsorship of this show, I could not do this show on a weekly basis. Most thankful to you for your support. Well, today I have a special friend in studio with me that I wanted all of you to meet, but mostly to hear about his work and what he's trying to do. When you hear about this kind of work, it gives you hope for our city and for the difficulties that are often going on in the inner city, in those vulnerable, underserved areas. His name is John Murray. He is the principal, the overseer of Brookstone Schools here in Charlotte. And John, it's a pleasure having you on the show today. Welcome.
00:02:42
Speaker 2: Thank you, David. It's a blessing to be here.
00:02:44
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about you. Who is John Murray? Tell us about yourself, and then we'll get into the Brookstone Schools and their unique calling in life. Sure.
00:02:53
Speaker 2: Well, I was just thinking this is my 24th year as a head of school. This is my fifth school that I've led in my career. My wife and I and our four children have lived all over the country. But this has been a unique school, Brookstone Schools, unlike any school I've led before, and it's just been one of the most rewarding experiences One of the most amazing communities I've ever been a part of.
00:03:16
Speaker 1: And your background is in education, I assume? Well, yes.
00:03:21
Speaker 2: I got my double major in English and History from Vanderbilt University and then a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies at Dartmouth College. I tried to leave education multiple times, but God kept bringing me back in different leadership roles. But I became a head of school when I was 32 years old. and when you were talking about the Proverbs earlier, it was God had me on my knees every day because I had a lot to learn, but it's been a just tremendous privilege to be in education.
00:03:51
Speaker 1: Well, tell us your faith journey, if you would, please.
00:03:54
Speaker 3: Sure.
00:03:55
Speaker 2: Well, I grew up in the church. I was raised by Christian parents in Huntsville, Alabama, but it really wasn't until my freshman year in high school that I gave my life to Christ, and it was just a tremendous turnaround. I think Like all of us, we struggle with the performance trap of trying to please others and just surrendering my life to Him to live for Him and be on that journey, which obviously there's always tension there, right? Of just pleasing the world versus pleasing the Lord. But just when I've lived in His will, I've just seen just His blessings and peace.
00:04:30
Speaker 1: How'd you meet your wife? Tell us about her.
00:04:32
Speaker 2: We actually met... And teaching in the same school in Atlanta that she had actually graduated from. She came back as she went to University of Virginia. And I was her brother's young life leader. Oh, interesting. And knew her family actually before I knew her. But yeah, she's been just a tremendous partner, just a godly soulmate that has been such a blessing in my life and just my biggest cheerleader and supporter. And I couldn't have done this work without her.
00:04:58
Speaker 1: Now, when you got a good one, it's reason to applaud God and say, thank you so much. And One who's always there, no matter what you're going through. I have one of those myself. And four children. Tell us about them, please.
00:05:10
Speaker 2: Yeah. So my son is working in Manhattan for a clothier up there. My daughter, my oldest daughter lives in New England. She's going back to graduate school, University of New Hampshire, to get a master's in fine arts there. My middle daughter is actually a senior at Carolina.
00:05:28
Speaker 1: Go Heels, baby. Go Heels, yay.
00:05:29
Speaker 2: She's in the Hussman School of Media and Journalism. And matter of fact, did her first color commentary with the UNC women's soccer game a couple weeks ago, which was fun. She has our grandson, Crew, who just turned five, started kindergarten this year. And then our youngest daughter, Sarah Kate. Just graduated from Samford this past year as a Knoxville Fellows Program, and she's doing campus ministry at the University of Tennessee.
00:05:54
Speaker 1: Wow. Rich life. And you got grandkids. I mean, there is life that's no better when there are grandkids. I use the joke a lot, I know, but if I had known grandparenting was so much fun, I'd just get parenting altogether. That's right. Just love them, give them back, and you don't have to worry about disciplining them at all. And you've been in Charlotte again how long?
00:06:12
Speaker 2: This is our seventh year. So we came during COVID, which is, you know, that's the kind of They don't teach you in graduate school how to lead through a pandemic, but it was a challenging time to be here, but we felt called for sure.
00:06:26
Speaker 1: So you've been at Brookstone School for how long?
00:06:28
Speaker 2: This is my seventh year.
00:06:29
Speaker 1: Seventh year. So through the pandemic and experiencing all that that school represents as well is really interesting. As we move toward trying to understand Brookstone, I think it was in the late 1990s, John, I had Several people make an appointment with me and came by my office and said, we have a dream. And our vision is to start an inner city school that could help at-risk kids be able to get an education and be able to go to college and make it in life. And one of those people was former Panther place kicker John Casey. Ray and Carol Artisone were a couple of the others who I remember came into my office. And I said, that's a great vision. That is a great idea. And then began the fundraising that's always there. Uh, but you know where there's God's vision, there's God's provision and he did supply the needs. And that school was birthed. I can't remember exactly when, but it was late 1990s, early two thousands.
00:07:28
Speaker 4: That's right.
00:07:28
Speaker 2: We started in 2000 and you know, David, you inviting them into your office to pray for close to a year was just a huge part of God bringing two groups of people that he had given this vision to earlier. You were talking about vision. Um, And just brought them together to help birth this school. And what's so amazing, the name Brookstone comes from the story of David taking stones out of the brook to slay Goliath, God using him. And that was their goal to give students the chance to slay the giants in their life, ultimately through Christ. But whether it's poverty or poor education, but just to give them opportunity to really be all that God wants them.
00:08:12
Speaker 1: Well, if I could add this too, David took five smooth stones. And the reason for that is because Goliath had four brothers who were as big as he was. And I think he knew that. And I think he knew he had to go to Goliath first. He thought the others would retaliate. He wanted enough stones for the other guys as well. But you know where God guides, he gives the stones necessary to slay the giants. Let's talk about Brookstone School when we come back, and we'll do so in just a moment.
00:09:45
Speaker 4: Glory be to the Father. Glory be to the Son. Glory be to the Spirit. God is three in one as it was in the beginning. When God works, he starts doing amazing things. Giants are slayed and people are set free and his work is done.
00:10:19
Speaker 1: What great news. Hi everyone, I'm David Chadwick and this is 107.9 FM WBT Charlotte's FM News Talk Radio. Great to be with you today with a very special guest and her friend in studio with me, John Murray. He is the headmaster of Brookstone Schools and there are just a lot of ministries, folks, that are going on behind the scenes in our city that nobody much hears about, but they are impactful, they're changing lives, and for those of us who realize that Jesus and the Bible itself has a huge heart for the needy, for the underserved, and for the poor. We know that's a call upon our lives and the church's life to help care for them. Well, John Murray has stepped into that place in educational spheres in order to help kids be educated who are underserved. John Murray, again, thank you for being with me today. Great to have you here. And let's talk about Brookstone Schools, established in 2000 or so, and How has it impacted this city? Tell us about what you're trying to do.
00:11:21
Speaker 2: Well, again, I just am so thankful for our founders and the vision they had starting the school in 2000, 2001. We just celebrated our 25th year this past year. We're going into our 26th year. And honestly, David, it was just a celebration of God's faithfulness. We started with 18 students and we were the Brookstone schools because we had a school in East Charlotte and West Charlotte. But after a year, we decided it made more sense to merge into West Charlotte. But today we are at 262 students.
00:11:51
Speaker 1: Wow. What grade level?
00:11:53
Speaker 2: So we have grown initially, it was kindergarten through fifth grade, but we have now grown from adding junior kindergarten through eighth grade.
00:12:00
Speaker 1: Through eighth grade. Okay. And you're really trying to get the kids in these vulnerable situations, but really give them the great foundation they need in order to move forward in life.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
00:12:11
Speaker 1: Could you divide up those kindergarten, elementary, and middle school levels? Absolutely.
00:12:17
Speaker 2: Well, one of the things that we realized early on is that the earlier we can get the students, the better. Just because when we start reading to them and getting them in the classroom, getting exposed to that structure is so important. Because sadly, a lot of kids in our community are not read to growing up. They're put in front of a lot of screens, which we know does not develop the brain properly.
00:12:41
Speaker 1: And that's not educational screens necessarily. That's just looking at the stuff that is available on screen that can entertain, but not necessarily educate. Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:12:51
Speaker 2: So we just saw that as a huge game changer because there were so many kids coming to us in kindergarten that never been in the classroom, that obviously didn't know how to read, that we weren't even positioned to take. So now that we have junior kindergarten and actually added a transitional kindergarten program this year, this allows us to take more students early on. But what's been amazing with our teachers is just how they have them reading by the end of kindergarten. And just the foundation that lays for them through the rest of the educational career. I mean, you know, you see the statistics and they're true. If a child's not reading at grade level by third grade, the likelihood of them graduating from high school is like 10%.
00:13:32
Speaker 1: And isn't it the greatest predictor for prison later on in life as well?
00:13:35
Speaker 3: It is.
00:13:36
Speaker 2: It's a sad reality. And that's one of the things that we've seen, just that we are phonics-based, so we teach what's called the Orton-Gillingham method, and that has been transformative for our kids. Because we bring in kids that may be a year or two years behind, and we have what we started two years ago called a bridge program, because We, again, were having to turn away a lot of kids who had just been socially promoted. We were getting fourth graders from CMS who couldn't read. It was just heartbreaking. And we didn't know what to do. And we had some donors come forward. Moments of Hope contributed to our program, which was such a gift. And we brought in reading and math interventionists who we meet with these students three hours a day, every day. But we keep them at their age grade level so they can go back in the afternoons and not be held back and be a 10-year-old in first grade, right? But what we've seen, it's been so amazing to see kids get caught up that a year and a half, two years behind in one year. And it's life-changing. And we had a fourth grader we shared at his testimony at our banquet who was over two and a half years behind. And just these kids, if they're sadly in the public school, they either fail out, drop out, or are socially promoted with no education to show for it. And so this is literally... changing the direction of lives.
00:14:58
Speaker 1: So you could have fifth, sixth graders in the public school who can't read, and we hear those stories, and they are true.
00:15:03
Speaker 2: Right.
00:15:03
Speaker 1: Sadly so. So where is your school located?
00:15:08
Speaker 2: Well, what's amazing, I want to tell this story, David, because we, as we were in West Charlotte, and it kind of moved around as we grew into different churches, and then we landed upon A. May James, which was a formerly used elementary school in CMS, and that we used, we signed a lease with We poured like $ 40, 000 into this school, upgrading it. In the middle of the school year, CMS came to us and said, you have to leave. No reason. And by God's grace, one of our board members, New Market, First Baptist, and they said, bring it, come on. And what's been amazing about First Baptist Church, it sits in the heart of Uptown, which is dead center of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County.
00:15:50
Speaker 1: It is indeed.
00:15:51
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:15:51
Speaker 1: And that mark is Mark Harris when Mark was the pastor at First Baptist Church.
00:15:55
Speaker 2: That's right.
00:15:55
Speaker 1: Make that clear.
00:15:56
Speaker 2: Yes. So, but honestly, that in God's providence, that is what's allowed us to grow. We are reached now East Northwest Charlotte, where the great need is, where Sadly, where our failing school, the majority of our failing schools are, where our lower income families are that are literally stuck in their neighborhood schools without an alternative. And so it's just been fantastic. And especially since we got a grant to start our bus program, we have over 100 students coming to school on buses now, which again is just, it was a lifesaver for these kids who just were stuck in their neighborhood failing schools.
00:16:35
Speaker 1: Now, how do kids find out about you? How did they- get accepted by you? What's that process?
00:16:41
Speaker 3: Sure.
00:16:41
Speaker 2: Well, we had never really done a lot of marketing until a couple of years ago. A lot of it had been word of mouth. But when I was talking with different ministries in the community and realizing more people need to know about us, and actually I talked with a ministry that gave me some great advice on doing direct mail pieces My daughter actually encouraged me to do radio ads. And so I was like, radio? They're like, yes, radio.
00:17:07
Speaker 1: People do still listen to it, I hope, since we're doing a radio show today.
00:17:11
Speaker 4: Exactly.
00:17:12
Speaker 2: I'm like, radio is amazing. But literally the phone started ringing off the hook. And we've done digital billboard ads, but a lot of it just is word of mouth and equipping our parents and going back into their churches and neighborhoods and sharing about the school. But Our enrollment over the last few years has grown by almost 100 students. And a lot of that is due to our bridge program starting and advertising about that and what that does.
00:17:38
Speaker 1: Now, what's the bridge program?
00:17:39
Speaker 2: This is the program that gets kids caught up that may be a year or two years behind.
00:17:43
Speaker 1: Okay, like in reading.
00:17:44
Speaker 4: Right.
00:17:44
Speaker 2: And these are kids not with diagnosed learning disabilities. These are kids who have just fallen through the cracks. And I will say this. You know, I feel for a lot of our public school teachers because they're against tremendous odds of having 30 kids in the classroom, limited resources, limited support. I grew up in the public school system and was blessed with a great education. But so this is not, I just want to say we're not anti-public school. It's just seeing the need and trying to meet it in our community.
00:18:15
Speaker 1: And you would say public schools probably would support you and say, we know we can't do everything. You're coming alongside us to help us do this particular work?
00:18:24
Speaker 2: I mean, that would be my prayer, right? Because these are students that, you know, we're able to better serve and we have smaller classrooms. Our average classroom is 13 and that's intentional. You know, we, our teachers are all qualified. Over half our staff have masters. And just, I think the average teaching years experience is 13. So, We have a great balance of young teachers right out of college and education school are excited and seasoned veterans that can train them and mentor them. So it's been a great balance.
00:18:56
Speaker 1: Yeah. But you're faith-based. Absolutely. Unashamedly faith-based.
00:18:59
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:19:00
Speaker 2: We are a Christ-centered school. We are non-denominational. So we lease from First Baptist, but we have considered them a tremendous partner and just a great blessing as we have grown into their facility and But we have a lot of partners in this community that's been amazing. We are actually getting ready to celebrate Charlotte FC and Ally Bank. And Moments of Hope helped with this too, built a mini pitch in Uptown. But it's been an amazing transformation of our playground that we're going to celebrate this coming Monday.
00:19:34
Speaker 1: So that gets into how in the world do you begin to raise money for this? Let me tease. and let the listeners know this is what we're going to talk about on the other side of the break. But every institution, every church, whoever it might be, needs funding. And wherever there's vision, you have to pray for and trust for God's provision. And that's something you got to do annually, I would think. So what I'd love to do, John, on the other side of this break is talk to us about how much your budget is, how you raise that budget, and I'd love to hear stories about how God has provided for your budget because, again, as I've said so often, where there's vision, there's God's provision. We'll be right back.
00:21:47
Speaker 3: Christ is my firm foundation The rock on which I stand And everything around me is shaking I've never been more glad That I put my faith in Jesus Cause He's never let me.
00:22:15
Speaker 1: Down All of us are building our life on some foundation. The question is, what's that foundation? All the rest of this stuff in the world on which we think is important, that's not a good foundation. It will be wiped away in the first hurricane. But when you build it on Christ, the firm foundation, it stands forever. Hi, everyone. I'm David Chadwick, and this is 107.9 FM WBT, Charlotte's FM News Talk Radio. Great to be with you with my guest, John Murray, who is the headmaster of the Brookstone Schools here in Charlotte. We'll talk about that more in just a second, but let me remind all of you, if you'd like to hear this program in its entirety, go to WBT.com, scroll down to the weekend shows. You can see the David Chadwick show there and be able to listen to it in its entirety from beginning to end with just a couple of commercials. or send it to some other friends who might want to know about this particular wonderful ministry called Brookstone Schools, again with John Murray, the headmaster. John, we talked about before that you're trying to give the kids a biblical worldview, and I can't emphasize that enough because everybody has a worldview. Everybody has a foundation upon which they're building their life. This biblical worldview means that you're trying to help kids look at their world through the lenses of the Scripture and You unashamedly teach your kids at Brookstone School the scriptures themselves, correct? Yes.
00:23:44
Speaker 2: And matter of fact, one of the things that our kids learn is a set of 20 scriptures that is called Who I Am in Christ, just to root their dignity and their worth in Christ. And what that means is an image bearer of God.
00:23:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so important to understand that, who you are. And we try to find our identity in so many things that don't last, like success and fame and Fortune and all those things, they just don't last. It's only in Jesus and Christ alone do we find our life's purpose and meaning. So let's talk about your vision with these. How many kids, again, do you have?
00:24:18
Speaker 2: 262. Wow.
00:24:20
Speaker 1: From vulnerable communities, 12 different bus stops on the east and west side of Charlotte. Parents take them there. They get picked up and then taken to First Baptist Church, where you meet right in the center city, and then they're taken back to their homes. And you then have to raise the money. annually for the school? Is that how you do it?
00:24:39
Speaker 2: That's correct.
00:24:40
Speaker 1: Okay. And I know that I went to one fundraiser where I think Ben Carson was the primary speaker of the hundreds of people there. And I know you raised a lot of money with that. Is that how you do it primarily with a guest speaker come in?
00:24:51
Speaker 2: Well, actually that is a huge help, but that's only a small part of what we raise. Um, Our budget this year is $ 6. 4 million.
00:25:00
Speaker 1: My goodness.
00:25:01
Speaker 2: Which is amazing when you think about when we started in 2001, our budget was $ 363, 000 with a staff of six people. Today, we are over 50 faculty and staff, and our fundraising goal is $ 4. 2 million this year.
00:25:15
Speaker 1: And how are you doing that? You're just going to a bunch of people, bunch of churches like Moments of Hope who gladly help you because we want to, but is that how you do it?
00:25:24
Speaker 2: Well, I just want to say Charlotte's one of the most philanthropic cities I've ever been a part of. I mean, we have the majority of our donors are individual donors who believe in the mission of the school and what we're doing and the Lord's work. We have corporations that have been very generous to support us, secular as well as faith-based foundations has been a huge part of our fundraising. And then obviously churches as well. So it's, It's a full-on team effort, and we couldn't do it. It's really seeing the body of Christ, and it's the Lord's provision. But it truly takes a team to do this work.
00:26:02
Speaker 1: Well, I live by the phrase where God guides, God provides. And every year he does it in a strange and different way, but he always does it. He always comes through, and those stories are wonderful to tell as we move forward in life. And you just think every year you've got 230-plus kids that are being impacted with the Scripture, with the Lord Jesus with hope in their hearts, a new identity, and that can make an impact long-term, especially as you've now been in existence 26 years or so. John, let me ask you this. What are some of the stories? Tell us some of the kids you've impacted over the years, maybe where they are right now, because people love stories. People give to people is what I've learned as well, and when you hear these kind of stories, it moves our hearts to give. Absolutely.
00:26:46
Speaker 2: Well, we have been blessed with just so many amazing alumni. I know I met one of the first alumni I met when I came was in our first graduating class and when we only went through fifth grade, but she had been there for six years, class of 2007. And she ended up graduating from high school in the National Honor Society. She graduated cum laude from Virginia State University, ended up going back and getting a lot of science classes from Penn State. post-grad work at University of South Carolina, but now she is a STEM teacher, sixth grade science at the Governor's Village STEM Academy. And she just enjoys bringing, you know, learning to life for her students. But she is a woman of faith, strong believer, and just being a light in the educational world. So it's just, and I was in our first graduating class. Several years later, we had was our first alumni that we hired to work at Brookstone. And he credits Brookstone for turning his trajectory on in math. He was so far behind in math, but went on to CPCC's Cato Middle College dual enrollment program, finished high school with 35 college credits, went on to get his undergraduate and graduate, his master's in family counseling and came back to be our first school counselor. uh, and worked with us for three years before joining a private practice and was just so beautiful because he got the Brookstone experience. He grew up, uh, amazing single mom, um, one of, I think four children and, uh, just did amazing work with our kids, such a godly role model, wise counsel, encourager, uh, and tremendously needed. I mean, we, we are a trauma informed school. So many of our kids have suffered trauma where there's been loss of a parent, parent in jail, uh, experiencing being unhoused, food insecurity, and just being able to train our teachers to understand what are called ACEs, Adverse Childhood Experiences, which if a child has experienced two or more of these, then their brain, they can't think. They come into school and we expect our kids to perform in the classroom, but their social emotional needs have to be met. as well as their educational and their spiritual needs, right? So that has been a huge game changer for us is having, and now we have an amazing new counselor that's doing social work as well. It's coming alongside the families. We just had a tragic death of a parent this summer that had five children, and we've been working with their family to help them land on their feet. And so it's just some really, these are very different challenges that I've never faced in my other private schools, but it's been so redemptive to see the body of Christ. come together and come alongside these students and to have the qualified staff and then have alumni like John come back and serve in our school. And now we have alumni who are bringing their kids to our school after going into our 26th year, which has been so rewarding as well. But yeah, we had a student who, um, went on to Clark Atlanta university was named the 2024 NCAA division two men's basketball national player of the year.
00:30:10
Speaker 1: Really? Yeah.
00:30:11
Speaker 2: Chris Martin, just an amazing young man and credits just Brookstone and really, uh, changing his faith and, and his relationship with God and just a godly role model. Um, still working to try to play internationally played international ball. Um, But just, again, he's come back to work with our kids and his family has been such a blessing to our school, the Davis family in so many ways. But yeah, it's just, we've been so thankful for our older alumni, but even our most recent who've gone on to schools like Carmel Christian, Charlotte Christian, Covenant Day, Cannon School, Charlotte Latin, and just thriving in those schools. I mean, I will say a lot of times it's a huge culture shock going in when you go from being in the majority, we're 96% students of color to very much the minority, and just being exposed to some pretty wealthy families and community. So it's a big transition. But I think we come and we support them through high school. We have developed partnerships with these schools to help our students and families navigate that change. And it's just been amazing to see our students thrive and go on to try to you know, reach their dreams of being a doctor or a lawyer or a businessman.
00:31:29
Speaker 1: And you've seen that happen. Your kids actually become these high-end professionals who really do serve our society well.
00:31:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have just learned about alumni who's working at Bank of America. We have some at Wells Fargo. Again, it's just these kids have their equal image bearers of God. They have the talents, the abilities, and it's just giving them this opportunity to see their identity rooted in Christ, and give them a quality education to give them the tools to succeed.
00:31:58
Speaker 1: And my wife helped start a program some years ago called Seeds of Hope, and it's to help kids who want to go to college who are right under that ability to have enough money to be able to do so. And I know we've partnered some together in that Seeds of Hope ministry with Brookstone Schools, and some of your kids have actually gone to college as well through that Seeds of Hope ministry. It's just been exciting to see. John Murray is my guest, the headmaster at Brookstone Schools. We're talking about this amazing ministry to the underserved. And when we come back, John, I want to ask you this question. Any hope to go beyond just middle school? Would you like to go to high school? And I know that brings on a whole new different challenge, but you know where God guides, God provides. I'm David Chadwick, and we'll be right back. Fill me, O God.
00:34:17
Speaker 4: Fill me, O God. Pour out your holy love and fill me.
00:34:33
Speaker 3: O God.
00:34:34
Speaker 1: I think it was the Catholic theologian Ignatius Loyola who said, give me a child until he's five. and he is the Lord's for the rest of his life. And I think that's true. Fill all of our children, Lord, with yourself. Hi, everyone. I'm David Chadwick, and this is 107.9 FM, WBT, Charlotte's FM News Talk Radio. Welcome back. And my friend John Murray is my guest today. He is the headmaster of the Brookstone Schools. And John, the next question I want to ask you is you take kids from pre-K up through middle school. Any hope to go to high school? I mean, that sounds like a whole new animal, but you know where God guides, God provides, and is that part of your vision?
00:35:25
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, it's definitely something we've talked about, and there are a lot of arguments for doing that, but I think one of the things we have prayed through is that would we be better served by doing satellite canvases and growing our reach to younger kids.
00:35:41
Speaker 1: Finding other churches like First Baptist, where you are right now, who'd be willing to do this kind of thing in their locale.
00:35:46
Speaker 4: Correct.
00:35:47
Speaker 2: Matter of fact, this was amazing. We applied for a cohort of Duke MBA students several years ago and were chosen. It's a very competitive process and worked with them to identify the neediest areas of Charlotte based on the low-income, failing schools, and the lack of alternatives in those areas. And so we identified four areas in Charlotte that if we were to do this, where we would try to find a church to partner with and then how we would finance that. So it's a tremendous need, as y'all know, and just great opportunities. So as we have grown our main campus, which we consider the location in Uptown to be, would be our main campus to capacity, which we're almost there. Then we would be looking at doing satellite campuses that would probably be like K-4, and then we would bus them potentially to Uptown for the middle school years. But I just go back to the partnerships we've been able to develop with a number of the high schools, private Christian schools.
00:36:50
Speaker 1: And that's been positive. The public schools have accepted your folks, I'm sure, with open arms.
00:36:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, charter schools, magnet schools, like I said, CPCC's high school program. I mean— Our kids, we've had close to half go to public and half go to private. But again, it's just been neat to see how God has used them in those schools. But the partnerships with the Christian schools of providing scholarships for our kids, which is a tremendous blessing for them to make that possible, has been just a game changer for our kids, especially as we've grown. This is going to be our largest... graduating class in the history of the school. We have 27 eighth graders this year. So helping them get plugged in to schools. We have a person, Michelle Baldwin, who's over what we call our Pathways Program, which is helping our kids transition from eighth to ninth grade and our families. And for those who want to apply to magnet or charter schools or obviously private schools to walk them through that process.
00:37:51
Speaker 1: Well, what would be the cost per kid per year generally?
00:37:55
Speaker 2: So for Brookstone, yeah, this is a great question. So One of the things that I just want to say that how we see the dignity of our students is that we want them to get the same education they would get at any private school. The cost to educate one student at Brookstone, which includes bus transportation, breakfast and lunch, after school program is $ 24, 000 a year per student. The annual family contribution is about $ 1, 200. So about $ 200 a month. We have some families that our minimum is $ 50 a month. the average North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship we're getting per student is about $ 6, 000. So that means we need to raise about $ 16, 000 per student. So that's the difference. And that's what we're committed to because we really want them to have that quality education. We're not running on a shoestring. We've added sports. We have a school nurse. We have, as I said, a school counselor. We have a learning program for kids with diagnosed disabilities. We have a bridge program, again, for kids who've falling behind in the public schools that need to be caught up. I mean, again, God has provided such amazing resources and partners like Moments of Hope to help make these programs possible. We have a group of men from the Country Club of Longview who came alongside us six years ago to help raise money to provide over seven to 10 scholarships for kids coming from ministries like A Better World or Neighborhood Hope, which has been amazing. So it's just, you see all these partnerships coming together. And that's one of the things I've loved about your work, David, and what you're trying to do in the city with Cities of Hope, and just bringing ministries together, make sure they know about each other, how they can better work together. They're not competing against one another. And that is such a gift to us.
00:39:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, and shared learning. We have, in case people don't know, eight different vulnerable communities that we have brought together called City of Hope. And we get together on a regular basis to talk, share ideas, and help support one another, but also outside get support as well for them. And it's been a great thing to do.
00:39:57
Speaker 2: Amen. And, you know, in Charlotte has a huge legal immigrant population, you know, and we at Brookstone, sir, we have 15 native dialects in our school.
00:40:06
Speaker 1: Oh, wow.
00:40:06
Speaker 2: We have 39% of our kids are Asian immigrant students coming from Myanmar, from Vietnam, Malaysia. And that's been another tremendous gift. And just, you see the different cultures in our school. We're 48% African-American, 4% Hispanic. And just the diversity, the richness of God's tapestry of humanity is amazing. But enabling these kids to know each other, love one another, not be fearful of their culture, but get to know them and embrace them has been beautiful. I And you really see Revelation 7-9, right?
00:40:44
Speaker 1: Ah, the color of all the nations coming together and worshiping the Lord. Well, John, this is so exciting to hear about. If anybody would want more information about Brookstone Schools, how do they get it, and how do they get involved? If they want to get involved, volunteer, etc., how could that happen?
00:41:00
Speaker 2: Yes, it's great. Obviously, our website, brookstoneschools.org, is a great way to get to know more about us. We do have many volunteers that come. We have lunch buddies who partner with our kids that maybe once a month or twice a month come in and eat lunch with the students. And it's like a mentor program. And we've had partners with our students. We have partner days where groups come in and just do a lot of fun activities with our students. We have tutoring, which is huge.
00:41:27
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:41:28
Speaker 1: Sitting down and reading with a kid makes all the difference in the world. Absolutely.
00:41:32
Speaker 2: We bring in high school students from an area of high school, Christian high schools that come in and just are tremendous role models to our kids. But again, it's a mutual blessing, right, when you come in and serve and see God work in the life of a child and be a part of that. Again, I just have been amazed at just the amount of people who've really poured into our school.
00:41:54
Speaker 1: Well, it's been a pleasure having you on the show today, and I appreciate your insights. Hope listeners might get involved in a great ministry, not just a good ministry, a great ministry. We've only got a minute or so left, John. If you could take 30 seconds and Say anything you want to say to our listeners. How would you want to end the program?
00:42:11
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:42:12
Speaker 2: I just think just my heart for racial reconciliation is just there is a tremendous need in our community. And these are kids who deserve a quality education just like anyone else. And just to be able to provide this has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. And just seeing the challenges that kids face but just to coming alongside them and sharing the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but also providing a way out of the challenges and brokenness.
00:42:44
Speaker 1: Well, God bless you and what you're doing. May he give you more energy and finances and help like never before. May this show help you in some small way continue to advance forward because the truth is Jesus did say, let the little children come unto me. He loves them. from all different backgrounds, from all different colors, wants them all to come together, be educated, and then be sent out into the world to help magnify his name. John Murray, thank you for being with me today. I'm David Chadwick. This is 107.9 FM WBT, Charlotte's News Talk Radio. Talk with you all next week.
