In August of 2000 we started Heritage with just five kindergarteners and ended the year with ten children. Each year we have added a grade and this past May 2010 graduated our first 8th grade class. Our graduates have been accepted at the best magnet public schools and highest achieving private preparatory schools. Our enrollment has steadily increased over the years and this fall we began with 145 children.

In my early adult years I was constantly searching for fulfillment and contentment. I thought the way to happiness and success was through personal achievement – represented by material possessions and by how I was perceived by others. By the time I was 26 years old and engaged to be married, I had achieved some measure of success in business. However, this accomplishment did not bring me the inner peace and contentment that I desired. I always seemed to be searching for “the next thing” to bring this elusive happiness.

I saw in my sister and her husband the kind of marriage relationship and joy that I wanted. My fiancé Jan and I talked with my sister and her husband and asked them about the secret of their happiness and purpose in life. They shared that it was Jesus Christ that made the difference in their marriage and every aspect of their lives. We both knew in that moment that what they had, we wanted. Two days before we were married 41 years ago we received the best wedding gift anyone could ever have – the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Our marriage got off to a new start as the direction of our lives changed dramatically. God gave us peace with Himself and one another.

We have three married children and six precious grandchildren. Our family has been built on the solid foundation of eternal life in Christ. God has been gracious and faithful to us.

Over the years Jan and I have had the opportunity to go on many short-term missions trips. The first was in 1989 to Quito, Ecuador. During this trip we prayed for God’s leading and direction for our future. We made a decision while in Quito to pursue full time Christian ministry.

My job experience was in the greenhouse and nursery business. I owned and operated Fireside Greenhouses. I talked with Ben Wilkinson, Executive Director of PEF, and we began to formulate how planting gardens in Augusta’s public housing communities while sharing Christ would be a fit for me.

I was accepted and commissioned by PEF on November 5, 1992, as an Agricultural Evangelist to the city of Augusta. The truth of John 12:24 has been experienced in many different ways in the ministry God has given us. To help out during this transition time of raising support, Jan began teaching middle school.

From 1994 to 2005 God allowed us to have a weekly Bible study ministry with incarcerated youth at the Youth Detention Center in Augusta. Most of the youth in prison had come from very dysfunctional homes and had a very poor educational foundation. It was heartbreaking for us to see how many young boys had dropped out of school and turned to a life of crime.

In 1997 Jan was able to commit full time to the ministry and developed a GED tutorial on the computer. We worked with youth and adults who had dropped out of high school. Many lasting relationships were formed during this time. Our first GED graduate is doing well and has been working at First Presbyterian Church in Augusta over 13 years. The second grad was a grandmother who adopted her two granddaughters the same year that she received her GED.

In 1999 Linda Tucciarone, a teacher at a private Christian school for 12 years, was tutoring urban children in an after school program. She asked Jan and me our thoughts on starting an urban Christian school. We had no clue how to do this but knew through our experience that beginning early in a child’s life was crucial. Prevention is far more effective than intervention. We began to pray together and gather information and statistics about our local school systems to see if there was a need for an urban Christian school. There was and is a glaring need. Georgia schools ranked next to the bottom in the United States, and Richmond County was, and still is, at the bottom of the state of Georgia.

In the spring of 1999 Linda, Jan, and I traveled to Chicago and observed Circle Rock, an urban Christian school, in one of the city’s neediest neighborhoods. We were encouraged by all that we saw. It was clear that the children loved learning, and the teachers had high expectations for them. We returned to Augusta energized and more enthusiastic than ever to pursue the vision of starting a quality, affordable urban Christian school. Vernard Gant, Director of Urban School Services for the Association of Christian School International, provided valuable guidance and direction for us. He was our featured speaker as we presented our vision to Augusta in September of that same year.

We formed a board and began to raise money. Broad Street Baptist Church in downtown Augusta offered us their facility to begin Heritage Academy. In August of 2000 we started Heritage with just five kindergarteners and ended the year with ten children. Each year we have added a grade and this past May 2010 graduated our first 8th grade class. Our graduates have been accepted at the best magnet public schools and highest achieving private preparatory schools. Our enrollment has steadily increased over the years and this fall we began with 145 children.

Seven years ago we started a violin program with five students at Heritage Academy. Today we have four classes totaling 50 students. The children come to school at 7:30 am (an hour before school starts) and receive professional violin lessons. They are asked frequently to perform for various venues throughout our Augusta area. Some of our violin students have auditioned and been accepted at the top fine arts magnet school in Georgia.

In addition to our involvement with Heritage Academy I have loved to work with men who are unemployed or homeless. We have developed through the Salvation Army a job skills program known as the Enterprise Team. We work side by side with the men in building projects teaching a good work ethic and sharing Christ as we work together. In the afternoons the men are tutored with life skills and GED preparation.

This fall Jan and I celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary, 18 years with PEF, and the 10 year anniversary of the formation of Heritage Academy. The school had an old fashioned western barbeque with Heritage partners. Approximately 200 people attended and celebrated with us. It was a grand evening recalling our journey from 5 to 145 students and all that God has done. It is our desire to honor God in all that we do and bring glory to His name. (Isaiah 61:1-4)

Jan and I are deeply gratified all the people and blessings God has brought into our lives through Fireside Ministries. If you desire to continue to receive our newsletters and partner with us, please send us your email address and contributions to Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship; 425 State Street, Suite 312; Bristol, VA 24201 and designate for Fireside Ministries.

For more information on Firesdie Ministries and Heritage Academy visit their website at:

www.pefministry.org/hitchcock.htm

Phin Hitchockand his wife Jan are Affiliate Evangelists with Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship and are involved with an outreach ministry in the August, Georgia area. The following article first appeared in the PEF Magazine, Come…..Follow and is used with their permission.