The Friday Finish - Chiller Arrives! - "memories... before we graduate" - Even More Potatoes - 3,426 Years Ago - The Magic Treehouse - Knoxville Nurses Spread Joy
- Tim Crawford
- Mar 28
- 9 min read
March 27, 2026
Breaking News – The Chiller Arrived!
It took several days to coordinate the crane for delivery, but Infinity Design and Construction employees arrived this morning to supervise the removal of the old chiller and set the new chiller in place. Students took advantage of class change to look out the window and school staff were slipping out for a peek at history being made at Red Bird Christian School. And the best news - the Infinity project lead said they expect to be back Monday to make connections so that the chiller is in use as temperatures continue to rise in the days ahead.
We are so grateful for everyone that gave to make this first phase of our Cool the School campaign to improve the environment for learning during the hot days at the beginning and end of each school year.
Cool the School – Phase II
We now enter Phase II of our Cool the School campaign – replacement of the 40-year old classroom air handler units for each room, hallway and stairwell. These units have been also been in service since the school building first opened in 1983. These units, too, have been repaired and maintained over the years, but are in need of replacement before they completely “die” leaving students without heating or cooling in classrooms. Teachers are using screwdrivers to adjust the temperature of the 40-year old units where plastic knobs rotted years ago.
The average cost to buy and install each classroom unit is $10,000. Sponsors donating a minimum $1,000 for a classroom unit will have their name placed on a recognition plaque mounted in the classroom. Donors interested in sponsoring a classroom unit for a particular teacher, grade or subject can access the list online from our website, or request the list via email or USPS mail.
Please help now with an online donation, or mail your check to Red Bird Mission, Inc., 70 Queendale Ctr, Beverly, KY 40913-9607 marked, “Cool the School”. If you’d like to designate a particular room, add that to the check memo line, or the comment box with your online donation.
“Memories… before we graduate”
Not everyone in the Class of 2026 at Red Bird Christian School (RBCS) was able to make the week-long Senior Class Trip to Gulf Shores in October, but a day-trip to the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area in Tennessee last Friday included them. The class travelled as a group to Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, Dolly Parton’s Pirates Voyage Dinner and Show, and Wonderworks, an indoor experiential attraction that was also educational. After returning, they described the entire trip as “great”, “Awesome” and “fun”.
This spring trip actually is the beginning of several events over the next few weeks leading up to the culmination of graduation on May 17th that sparks varied emotions for students, families and staff of RBCS. Following are comments from the seniors about the trips.
“I loved the trip and I’m really glad I got to make some fun memories with my class before we graduate.” – Annie
“I love getting to hang out with my classmates. Everyone feels like family to me. It makes me think that might be one of the last times I’ll get to spend time with just them before graduation.” – Landon
“The [Gulf Shores] trip was absolutely fantastic and I had such a fun time. Even though we didn’t get to go fishing, I had a great time with my friends.” – Nathan
“I had a great time with my friends on the trip. Happy this is my last year.” – Alex
“I liked both of the trips. They were both amazing. We got to spend so much time together, just making memories and having a ton of fun.” – Bryleigh
“I really liked the trip and it makes the time we have now feel like less.” – Hollie
“The activities were very, very fun. And, we had a lot of free will.” – Dustin
There’s a familiarity and security that will be left behind after graduation for this RBCS Class of 2026. Trever came to RBCS in First Grade so his evaluation was tempered. He said,
“I’m looking forward to it [graduation] and starting to work to make money, but at the same time I’m not looking forward to it.”
Bryleigh added,
“Knowing we are about to graduate is a bittersweet feeling. It is a fun time but also sad to think about graduating high school.”
Potatoes, Even More Potatoes
Bill and Dale got up well before breakfast in Murfreesboro on Saturday to make a trip to Concord United Methodist Church in Farragut, Tennessee to load a pickup bed and trailer with seed potatoes. Then, they headed north to Red Bird Mission to unload just past noon at Red Bird Mission before heading straight home. This is the first delivery of seed and plant stock that St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Murfreesboro is contributing this spring to help folks at Red Bird grow food to alleviate hunger.
The 96 bags of seed potatoes didn’t stay long in God’s Storehouse on the Queendale Campus of Red Bird. Most of them went out to community gardeners on Tuesday as Red Bird Mission Community Outreach staff and volunteers loaded commodity boxes in vehicles. And, these potatoes won’t be eaten right away because they’ll be planted to make even more potatoes!
3,426 Years Ago
That was the answer that Red Bird Christian School students learned was how long God has been redeeming His people from bondage when the Israelites first celebrated the Passover before leaving Egypt. Efraim Goldstein, a Jewish Christian missionary with Chosen People Ministries in Israel, made a visit to RBCS on Monday for a special chapel to explain the connection of the Jewish Passover to the Last Supper that Jesus shared with the disciples prior to his crucifixion and resurrection that is still celebrated by Christians today.
Five boys and five girls were chosen from the student body to sit at tables in front of the chapel seating to participate in eating of the essential Passover Seder foods – matzah, parsley, horseradish, charoset, and a hard-boiled egg. Mr. Goldstein explained the significance of each food and the lamb’s shank bone on the table as a reminder of the Israelites flight from Egypt.
Mr. Goldstein then shared in detail the new symbolism of redemption revealed for Christians when Jesus shared the Passover, or Last Supper, with the disciples. He connected prophecy in Isaiah and the act of Jesus offering the matzah saying, “This is my body which is broken for you.” He went on to explain the other act Jesus performed just before his death when he took the Passover cup of redemption and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood for the House of Judah.”
Mr. Goldstein further explained, “Jesus was saying that I am making a covenant between men and God that if you believe in me you’ll have new life.
That’s the most important covenant we could ever have – between God and men. And, God was saying if you’ll accept Jesus as my Son, you’ll have new life.”
In closing, he gave his personal testimony and experience of the 3,426 year old Passover tradition saying,
“When I think of Easter and I think of the Passover, and I think that Jesus died for me when he didn’t know me, and I realize that is the greatest story ever told, that He died for our sins.”
The Magic Treehouse
Reading has a way of opening doors most of us never knew were there. At Red Bird Christian School’s Literacy Night, those doors looked a lot like a magic treehouse.
Tuesday night, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., students stepped into “The Magic Treehouse” and let reading take them on a journey around the world. Instead of traveling with Jack and Annie from the beloved book series, our kids took that journey with their classmates, exploring new places, ideas, and stories together. The goal was simple and big all at once: get our kids excited about reading, because reading can take you anywhere, expand your mind and thinking, and broaden your horizons far beyond these hills.
With “Miss Rebecca” Smallwood, students stepped inside the school library, transformed for the night into the Cardinal Airlines Room, a busy plane terminal where the destination was God’s Word and a love of learning. There, they made art, received their own Bible study journal, and were reminded how important it is to lean on God and never stop learning about Him. Just down the hallway, ceilings and walls became a jungle canopy, layered with leaves, vines, and tiny details that kids notice and remember. You could see the care in every piece of construction paper and tape. How wonderful that our teachers care this much, putting so much time and effort into our school and our children.
Inside the school cafeteria, students moved into full creative mode with arts and crafts. There were snacks, fun drinks, and even a station where they could “adopt” a plush puppy to read to, complete with adoption papers. In the chapel, the story came to life again as a live theater. Student actors dressed up and read a story onstage, turning the words on the page into something you could see and feel. These three stations, and all the thoughtful activities wrapped around them, made reading feel like an adventure instead of an assignment.
For me, it all started in the library at Red Bird Christian School. “Bigfoot and Other Legendary Creatures” was the name of the book I checked out more times than I could count. Sitting right there among the shelves, I was taken out of my normal everyday life and pulled into the life of the main character, tagging along on mysterious and unforgettable encounters with creatures who may or may not be real. That book lit a spark. From then on, I was curious. I never stopped searching for more, wanting to learn more, and most importantly, wanting to read more.
That's what Literacy Night is really about---planting that same kind of curiosity in a new generation of Red Bird Kids. Thank you, Red Bird Christian School, for giving our kids the world, right here at home, on Literacy Night.
- Kayla Smith, Development Gifts & Media
Knoxville Nurses Spread Joy
Nursing students from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville finishing up the accelerated program this spring will be moving on to a variety of positions that can be weighty like cardiac and cancer care in some of the leading hospitals and clinics in our country. It was quite clear, though, that this group was spreading life and joy at Red Bird Mission this week.
The group worked in three principal areas at Red Bird – Red Bird Christian School, Community Outreach and the DeWall Senior Center. They screened vision, hearing and measured BMI for students in addition to updating bulletin boards and the walking track with new health education material. They lent a hand to all the tasks of sorting, packing, loading food boxes, and organizing that staff need done to respond to clients coming daily to Community Outreach. The activities they shared with the participants at the DeWall Center gave our elderly new paths to better physical, mental and emotional health.
Kendall told about a new activity shared at the DeWall Center on the Beverly Campus:
“We ended up doing a project that was called Stitcher Story where we had a bunch of questions that we put on little quilt squares. And the questions were name someone or something that you're grateful for, a piece of advice that you would give your younger self, your favorite childhood memory, your favorite childhood toy, and what brings you joy. And we wrote down all of their answers and hung them up to make a quilt shape.
Everyone's answers are all posted, and it was beautiful.”
Kendall said that they also received from the DeWall Center patrons. “We also played some of the games that they really enjoyed, and then
I feel like I took a lot from just getting to hear more about them and their stories.”
Kelton grew up in Knoxville so the mountains are familiar, but added, “I love the mountains, this is,
it's still a little more excluded out here, so I think that's really a cool experience but it's peaceful.”
Kelton related his experience saying, “I've been to the school, been to preschool, Senior Center, and here [Community Outreach] doing a lot of service here of organizing and just making their job easier. But I just love to just to see the community, just to see the people.
And there's a lot of joy here, a lot of joy and a lot of grace.”
Kendall and Kelton are carrying positive and lasting experiences with them from Red Bird.
Kendall said,
“Today [Thursday] was really sad when we had to leave. I really enjoyed hanging out with them every day. It was awesome!”
Kelton came back to the idea of joy spread saying, “What's the best about everything is seeing the look on someone else's face when I can do something that helps her life or helps her situation, helps their job [at Red Bird].”
It makes me feel like I have a purpose, and that is to serve others.
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