In 2015, some leaders in the community came to Michell and talked with him about the idea of starting a school in the center of a town where it was very dangerous for kids to even cross the street and accidents occurred regularly. 

Michell was very intrigued by the idea but before they approached him with this idea, starting a school had never crossed his mind. Michell responded to them that he didn’t have the resources and that he thought it would be too much for the ministry. However, he did tell them he would think and pray on it. Michell prayed one time about it and then continued to put it off because he wasn’t too interested in the idea. 

The leaders talked with Michell about the school a few more times but he continued to feel the same. It wasn’t until Michell received a call from the director of Casas por Cristo at the time, Josh Crabb. He asked Michell, “Do you know someone that is building or is interested in building a school? Because I have someone here that would really like to help.” Without much thinking, Michell responded, “Yes, I have a location for a school.” Michell could hear God in the back of his head saying, “Continue talking with him about this.”

They picked a day and time to meet at the potential location for the school. They walked around the grounds while sharing ideas. When they left that day, they both said they would pray on it. At that time, Michell didn’t know what to expect and he honestly didn’t have much of a plan but he was sure of one thing, God already had everything planned.

A few months went by and Michell got a call from Josh saying that they had gathered the first $20,000 for the start of the school. Michell was very surprised. The next thing he said/asked was, “What do you want to do first?” Michell responded, “Let’s get started on the area for the first few classrooms.” After that conversation, the wonderful story and journey of starting a Christian school in the middle of a dangerous town that needed to be reached with the Gospel of Jesus began.