Morris settling in as Atmore Christian’s new administrator
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Stephen Morris has been at Atmore Christian School (ACS) for about a month now, and so far, he likes what he’s seen. And, as the former Samaritan Ministries management team member settles into his new position as school administrator (or principal), at least one school official acknowledges that Divine Intervention led Morris to ACS.
“This is a God-driven moment,” Jerry Gehman, a member of the ACS Board of Directors, said of Morris, who replaced Randy Vanlandingham as principal of the local parochial school when Vanlandingham was called back into the ministry. “His application came the week of March 19, the same week Randy Vanlandingham accepted the pastor’s job in North Carolina.”
Gehman said Morris, an ordained Presbyterian minister with business management and IT experience, should be able to gain a solid idea by the current term’s end of how he will handle future administration of the school.
“He’s already been here about a month, so he will have a great view, and what’s more will have on-site training, from now until the end of school,” Gehman said. “He has focus and he has vision, and I like those things about him. He comes with a great deal of experience in management of people, and he also has the Biblical background as a minister, so he will be bringing those skill sets together.”
Morris grew up in Austin, Texas, where he spent his first 28 years. His career led him to St. Louis, where he lived and worked 15 years, then to Peoria, Ill., where in 2012 he became a customer service manager for Samaritan Ministries, a Christian healthcare sharing organization, while also serving as senior pastor for a Peoria church.
He and his wife Karen (who now teaches junior- and senior-level English classes at ACS) moved to Cantonment, Fla. to be closer to their two daughters who are students at Pensacola Christian College (PCC), and their son, who graduated from PCC last year.
Morris noted jokingly that his cross-country movements cost him, at least temporarily, an important part of his heritage.
“Three of our five children are in Pensacola, so we moved back to the South,” he said. “After living in the Midwest for all those years, I had almost completely lost my Southern drawl. I’m now transitioning to where my drawl is coming back.”
The new ACS administrator is currently teaching Bible classes and — he’s not quite sure how it happened — auto mechanics. By next term he will have to find someone to fill both positions.
“I’ve been teaching junior and senior Bible classes, and I inherited the automotive elective,” he explained. “I can fix some of the things on my car, but nobody is going to mistake me for a mechanic. As I am preparing for next year, I plan to move 100-percent into administrative duties, so we will be looking for a Bible teacher and a mechanics teacher.”
His administrative requirements will force such a move, as ACS has gained Cognia (formerly AdvancED) accreditation, and the new Creating Hope and Opportunity for Our Students’ Education (CHOOSE) Act is expected to generate a steady increase in the size of ACS’s student population over the next several years. (More on the CHOOSE Act will be published in a future edition of Atmore News.)
Morris agreed with Gehman that God’s hand guided him toward his new position, which ended a nine-month job search.
“The Lord opened the door,” he said. “My wife and I decided that if there ever was going to be an opportune time for us to head back South, this was the time, so we took a leap of faith. I have learned subsequently that His intention was to bring my experience and background to being a school administrator. I had no idea, but in hindsight I see the wisdom of God bringing us together.”
If things continue to go as planned, the Morrises will soon become Atmore residents. Their aim is to move here in the near future and to remain here for the long haul.
“We are in the process of selling the house we’ve lived in for the last nine months, eager to be living closer to Atmore,” Morris said. “My intentions are to be here for a long while. And Lord willing, within a month to six weeks, we hope to be living on the Alabama side of the state line.”