Camden-area Baptists pitch in to finish church’s new Christian academy building

As far as Charles Autrey is concerned, he doesn’t need any ties or shirts under the tree this year. Just in time for Christmas, the greatest present he could hope for will land practically on his church’s doorstep — a new school building.
   
It’s not your typical Christmas gift but Autrey, pastor of Christian Way Baptist Church, Camden, said the building — soon to house the newly formed Camden Christian Academy (CCA) — is a glimmer of hope in a desperate situation. 
   
It’s a chance for children who might not normally be exposed to Christ’s teachings to be trained up in the way of the Lord, he said.
   
“I have a burden for the people of this area — many are spiritually bankrupt. They are in a mold where they just don’t care,” said Autrey, whose church is the only black Southern Baptist church in the Pine Barren Baptist Association. “We need to start from the ground up. If we can train the kids, the kids will help the parents.”
   
Autrey, born and raised in Camden, spent 40 years in Birmingham before returning to his roots to reach his former neighbors.
   
“After receiving the call to the ministry, I received a Macedonian call to come back home where I was reared,” he said. “I have a heart for the people of this area.”
   
It’s an uphill battle, introducing a new Christian school into an area in which one private academy has already staked its claim and the public school’s students are in moral crisis, Autrey said. “But God is our focus, and we know He is faithful.”
   
This fall, CCA opened to six students — two preschoolers, two first-graders and two second-graders. Classes are meeting in a loaned space a few blocks from the site where its permanent building is being constructed — a lot adjacent to the church on Fail Street.
   
Despite a slow, rocky beginning, the Fail Street school is anything but a failure, said Autrey, who serves as chairman of the CCA board and temporary headmaster.
   
“We couldn’t get the building done in time for the semester’s opening, so many of the parents planning to send their children here sent them on to public school,” he said. “But the kids we have are very intelligent and are being taught by two certified teachers with 20 years experience each, plus two teacher assistants.”
   
Though Autrey is hoping to get an influx of transfers from the public school next semester, the six CCA children love the current ratio, he said. “They are getting plenty of attention.”
   
As for the unfinished building, a tentative opening date is set for around Christmas. The delay came when, just after being constructed, the building’s block walls were toppled to the ground — most likely vandalism, according to Wayne McMillian, director of missions for Pine Barren and Bethlehem associations.
   
“The concrete walls were lying flat and even the bottom brick was turned up,” McMillian said. “Charles tried to lighten the mood and said maybe it was the wind.”
   
Autrey affirmed that with a laugh. “We like to keep a positive outlook.”
   
His positive outlook caught on as area Baptist churches took hold of his vision for the school, an outreach McMillian said is targeted toward low-income families in the area.
   
“He (Autrey) saw that school as an opportunity to take a few and start building there, teaching them morality and wisdom as they learn the knowledge,” McMillian said.
   
And members of area churches began taking that opportunity seriously, organizing prayer walks and building projects to help get the school ready to go, he added.
   
“Charles Autrey came to our (associational) meeting in late summer and told us about the school and the things it was up against,” said Bill Phillips, brotherhood director at Mineola Baptist Church, Uriah, in Bethlehem Baptist Association. “It touched my heart that night.”
   
Phillips agreed to head up the effort to roof the school building and in two weekends in September — with 10 or 12 men from several churches in the two associations working each day — finished the job. Now the school’s walls are up, the roof is on and all that’s left is the plumbing, electrical and finishing work inside.
   
Phillips said all the men couldn’t be more pleased with the Camden mission. “All the men worked really hard and were very touched by the project,” he said. 
   
What touched them all the most, Phillips added, was the way the school was going up on faith and donations alone and how God always came through abundantly — and just in time.
   
“The morning we needed to have a little more than $5,000 in roofing supplies delivered, a man in the community came and gave Bro. Charles a check for $6,000. We were blessed by that,” he said.
   
God may look like He’s running late but He’s always faithful, Autrey said. 
   
“We have seen Him do some remarkable, unbelievable things since we have undertaken this vision,” he said. “It’s taken shape and we don’t take any of the credit — we give it all to Him.” (Jeremy Henderson contributed)