For the past 50 years, Columbiana Baptist Kindergarten has been a place where teachers’ “hope and prayer is that each day children know that they are loved by us but more importantly by their Heavenly Father.”
Amy Rush said that’s the mission that drives her every day as she serves as CBK’s director, and it was the mission that First Baptist Church Columbiana celebrated Feb. 23 as it honored a half century of CBK.
“When children leave here, they will hopefully be somewhat equipped to know about Jesus and His love as they go out into the world,” Rush said.
In 1974, church members came up with the idea to start a kindergarten, and under the leadership of pastor Charles Stroud, they appointed committees to research whether it would be beneficial or not.
They decided it would be, and CBK was born.
“The actual start date was the fall of 1975,” Rush said. “They started with two teachers running a 4K and 5K program.”
Today, CBK has about 90 children enrolled from birth to 4K.
“It’s been a great ministry,” Rush said.
When her daughter was 4, Rush taught for a year at CBK.
“It was an amazing experience to be a part of a program that seeks to share the love of Christ and the gospel of Christ with little ones,” she said.
Now her daughter is out of high school, and Rush is back serving at the school, this time as director.
“It’s a joy to be a part of, and I don’t know why I get the privilege to sit in this position at the 50th year, but it’s a blessing beyond measure,” Rush said.
At the celebration service Feb. 23, CBK students sang songs, and Rush honored all of the preschool’s former directors.
Proclamations
A proclamation from Mayor David Mitchell declared that it was “Columbiana Baptist Kindergarten 50th Anniversary Day” in the City of Columbiana, and State Representative Corley Ellis presented proclamations from the Alabama House of Representatives and Governor Kay Ivey.
“All this is obviously worthy of celebration,” Ellis said. “But those kids who may not have had the opportunity to feel God’s love and get God’s word from somewhere else, and those kids that got to experience that here … that will carry them through life.”
For more information, visit fbccol.net/ministry/children/kindergarten or facebook.com/cbk.preschool.
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