School supporters and officials of Providence Christian Academy, a Christian school in conjunction with Crosspointe Church in Oxford, joined together to celebrate the growth of the school.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held by The Covington-Newton County Chamber of Commerce at the school on Thursday, where students, faculty, staff and supporters from the community watched as Alan Posey, senior pastor of Crosspointe Church, and Ty Hensley, headmaster of the school, officially opened the doors of a new building for students.

“It’s an honor to be a part of this announcement,” said Hunter Hall, chamber president. “We love having alternative schools. It gives parents another option.”

The Gainer building now houses the upper grades classes, which consist of sixth through 12th grade. All students originally attended classes in one building, which was in the auditorium and in classrooms at Crosspointe Church. However now, that building will become the grammar school building, which will be for Pre-K through fifth grade.

The Gainer building has seven full classrooms, a media center, a teacher resource room, a library, a cafeteria and several offices for staff.

Hensley said construction on the building has been ongoing for about a year and a half and finished on March 1. Students moved in to the building the following week. Hensley expressed his excitement about the expansion of the school.

“It’s awesome especially with the economy the way it is; it’s definitely a God thing because there are a lot of businesses and schools that don’t have that availability, so we are very blessed in that sense,” Hensley said. “We just pray that we continue to grow, keep the students that we have and continue to gain like-mind students and families.”

Providence Christian Academy has approximately 106 students enrolled at the school. Hensley said the school typically adds about 15 to 20 students each year. As enrollment continues to grow, the visionary of the school and church, Posey said he prays the growth is ongoing on the 65-plus acres of property.

“We will continue to build as God directs us and gives us resources. This building is debt free because of the generosity of all of our friends plus a lot of people who put hand to tool and to help build and construct,” Posey said. “The next step, I hope will probably be an athletic field, maybe behind this building, so that we can do soccer and other sports. Then eventually, we would like to see that move toward a gymnasium, so we can have indoor sports, volleyball, basketball and the church.

“The church and school will continue utilizing the property jointly, as we extend out ministry as a church as well as a school.”

The academy, which opened in 2005 at its Byrd Road location, has a purpose of providing a high-quality, college preparatory, classical and Christian education for its students. The school is fully accredited from the Georgia Accreditation Commission. Crosspointe Church opened in 2001, when Posey, with his family, started the church after pastoring at Oxford Baptist Church for 19 years.

“It really is humbling and exciting to see what God is doing and realize that this is just one more step in what he wants to accomplish here,” Posey said.