Mission Valley Christian Academy

Fall 2016
Our mission is to provide a Christ-centered quality education to prepare students to be lifelong servant leaders

Directors Letter
Blessings.
Youve seen me finish much of my correspondence with this valediction, but I want to share why I use this word so often. I feel God
has abundantly and extravagantly poured out His blessings on my life, my family, and our school and it is my intention to pass that
blessing on to others. Living a life of gratitude, encouragement and recognizing Gods great goodness has been an intentional part of
my walk with Jesus. I have the choice to bless or curse, and so I choose to bless.
As we look back on Gods blessings over the past three school years, MVCAs enrollment has averaged over seventy students, we have
finished in the black each year and have built some reserves to help cast vision and provide future growth. Gods hand on MVCA has
been a testimony to His provision and blessings.
In 2016, we experienced a number of important milestones. We embraced an accredited high school online program that convinced
us that we can have the educational quality they offered with the student relationships we value. We plan to continue to use online
resources as supplements but will focus on our current staff delivering the content. We graduated six seniors in May that are all enrolled in Salish Kootenai College, Flathead Valley Community College, Seattle Pacific University and Grand Canyon University.
We were thrilled to host Susan Gianforte, the wife of Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte, for our spring fundraising
brunch. Susan shared her life experiences and how Christian education impacted her family. She was inspiring, engaging and encouraged the attendees to support MVCA with a matching grant from her family foundation. That contribution was the catalyst that helped us purchase the van in May, that we had been needing. We are
grateful for the many individuals and businesses that contributed to this much needed transportation.
This summer, God provided two additional staff members who completed our need for the upper
school. Im convinced we finally have the teachers on the K-12 staff that Ive been praying for the
past four years! Last month, our auction raised more support than any event we have ever hosted.
Gods blessings went above and beyond our wildest imagination and expectations.
We will host an accreditation team next April and are excited to be partnering with ACSI and AdvancEd as we move into this new
phase. I believe this step will continue to help us improve the quality of instruction, provide accountability and resources, insure our
viability and sustainability in our community and assist us to provide the Christ centered quality education we desire in our mission.
Let me finish by saying its not about accreditation, enrollment, students in college, fundraising or any material things I could list, but
Gods presence at MVCA. If we build anything without God, we build in vain. God and only God gets the glory for the great things He
has done and what God has in store for the future of MVCA. Thank you for investing in the opportunity for families and students to
receive a Christian education in the Mission Valley.
Blessings to each of you,
Christian Bumgarner MVCA Director

Curriculum Director

Upcoming Events:

Carolyn Hall
Carolyn has served MVCA for six
years, currently as curriculum director
and is a valued resource. She obtained
her Elementary and Bilingual education degree from
Eastern New Mexico University. She has her teaching

Nov: 18th Grandparents Day

Dec: 20th Christmas Program
May 19th-MVCA Graduation

and administrative certification in the states of Montana and New Mexico.

Susan Gianforte Benefit Brunch. Spring of 2016

Kindergarten-Teresa Larivee: This is Ter esas fifth

year teaching at MVCA. She holds an AA in Early
Childhood Education and a BS in Elementary Education from Liberty University.

1st & 2nd Grade-Amy Westphal: This is Amys

second year teaching first and second grade at
MVCA. She was in the 100th class to graduate with
a BS in Elementary Education from Western Montana College.

3rd & 4th Grade- Sara Brookman: This is Sar as

third year teaching at MVCA. She has ten years of
teaching experience in California public school. She
has a BS and MA from Azusa Pacific University.

5th & 6th Grade Mallory Witham: This is Mallorys

third year of teaching at MVCA. She has an AA in Child

Psychology from Cottey College in Nevada , Missouri. She received her BA in Elementary Education
from the University of Montana.

2016-2017 MVCA Staff

7th & 8th Grade Randy Adcock: This is
Randys fourth year teaching at MVCA. He is
also our Athletics Coordinator. Randy obtained
his K-8 teaching degree from Montana State
University Billings, with a secondary focus on
Special Education.

Upper School English Tyler Taylor: This is

Tylers first year teaching Upper School English. He
completed his BS in Literature and an MA in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Montana.

Upper School Math & Science Charles Lutz:

This is Charles second year teaching at MVCA. He attended
Purdue University and earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering. Charles
later attended Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and earned an
M.A. in Religion and then obtained an Elementary and Secondary
Education certification from Georgia Association of Christian
Schools.

Upper School History Al Onsager: This is

Als first year teaching at MVCA. He retired last year
from teaching history for 33 years in the Ronan school
system. Al received his teaching degree from Concordia and Western MT College.

Director Chris Bumgarner: This is

Chriss fifth year directing MVCA. He
received his Music Education Degree from the
University of Montana. He earned his MA in
Choral Conducting from the University of
Missouri at Kansas City.

Resource Denise Dawson: This is Denises fourth year teaching at MVCA. She
received her Special Education degree
from California State University and
Montana State University.
Bookkeeper Jennifer Shipley: This is
Jennifers first year working at MVCA.
Jennifer and Wade currently have two
children attending MVCA. We are blessed
to have her here.

Administrative Assistant Julie Conrad:

This is Julies fifth year working at MVCA,
where she loves to serve and interact with
the students, parents and staff.

MVCA Senior s

Last spring our seniors headed to Juarez, Mexico for a mission trip.
They served the community by handing out lunches to area neighbors, they poured a concrete slab for a
community center and shared Gods love and hope to many local people. As one of our seniors Rachel
shared, One thing that stuck out to me the most was how happy everyone was down there. That
happiness didnt come from wealth but came from Jesus in their heart and being content.
Juarez, Mexico March 2016

The class of 2016 graduation was a beautiful celebration of the great accomplishments of these
seniors. All six seniors have been accepted to colleges across the western United States. They
plan to pursue careers in medicine, education and counseling. God has great plans for them!
Our class of 2017 is working hard to finish strong. They are in the process of planning their
mission trip and look forward to finalizing it soon. Some have plans for college and others have plans for vocational trades.
We look forward to watching God work in each of their lives.

2016 MVCA Auction

We are so blessed by the huge outpour of support at this years Island Dreams
auction benefit dinner. We raised over $40,000! The donations from local and distant
businesses as well as individuals was amazing! Disneyland tickets, local skiing getaways,
fresh seafood delivered to your door, handmade quilts, Seahawks tickets and a world class
fish carving were just a few of the donated items. We had over 200 guests come and enjoy a prime rib and
salmon dinner catered by Finley Point Grill. A heartfelt thank you to every person that made this years auction a success!
A special thank you to Mission Valley Printing for the beautiful posters,
tickets and auction book. Thanks to Marc Vassar our talented auctioneer, Finley Point Grill for providing a delicious meal, Anderson
Broadcasting for running ads on the radio and Brandon Smith for being
our MC for the night.

Our web site missionvalleychristianacademy.net is

an easy way to keep up to date on the current happenings. Our weekly newsletter-As Days, Bulletins,
upcoming events, teachers profiles and PayPal to
make donations, are just a few of the resources you
will find.
38907 Hwy 35
Polson, MT 59860
406-883-6858