Mind and Spirit

Foundation Academy’s goal is not just to teach students information but to help them see how to think and process information. Josh Leonard, Foundation Academy’s new Executive Director for Spiritual Formation, sees the school’s role as one that encourages students not to compartmentalize their studies and spiritual life, but to see them as parts of a whole. “We’re seeking to continually foster an environment for the spirit to work in the lives of our students, so that through their growth process, students are able to learn and grow from a foundation that’s centered on Christ,” he says.

Today’s students already receive an overwhelming amount of information and from various sources right at their fingertips, but helping them learn to process that information and understand themselves can be a challenge, Josh explains. Students are being shaped by the information they receive and are seeking to find who they are through this sea of information and different voices. “There’s this yearning for wholeness, to be seen, to be known, to be loved,” he says.

That is where the emphasis on spiritual development at Foundation Academy can play a key role for young people. “Children and students are being formed by so many things,” Josh says, “and that is shaping the way they see the culture at large, it is shaping the way they see their purpose and their value. So at Foundation Academy, our heartbeat is to take these students and to ground their feet, to root their feet in the truth of who the Bible says they are, the truth of who Jesus is, ultimately, the truth of the gospel,” he explains.

Josh comes to his role at Foundation Academy after 15 years of serving in different ministerial roles, including a similar role as the Dean of Spiritual Formation and Discipleship at a Christian school in Raleigh, NC. “My heart has always been to minister to and to serve students in whatever way I can,” he says. He was drawn to the position at Foundation Academy after having the chance to work on initiatives around spiritual development with the school’s new president, Jeff Lawrence. He says the leadership team of the school impressed him. “Their heart for students is undeniable. It is something that you can recognize the moment that you step onto campus. Foundation Academy is a place that is led and served by people with a true heart for students and to see them grow into who God has called them to be. That’s something I cannot wait to be a part of,” Josh says.

Josh sees his new role at Foundation Academy as an opportunity to build on the work already being done at the school to support and serve the spiritual needs of students as well as teachers. “So my prayer is that we would continue to build on that foundation and the way that we apply that in programs and events and the ways that we are stepping into those spaces with our students,” he says. He views teachers’ roles as essential in this effort not just as educators but as models for a life of faith. “If students begin to see this come to life and be lived out by their teachers in the classroom, they’re able to begin to not only see the world through a biblical worldview, but they begin to also use their gifts, the passions that the Lord has given them to live out the calling that God’s placed on their lives,” he explains.