The nonprofit organization Bible in the Schools is working with parents and churches in eastern Hamilton County to fund Bible history teachers at East Hamilton Middle/High School and at Tyner High Academy.
Organized by 13 area churches, the Oct. 3 East Hamilton Gathering fundraiser featuring a meal and prayer service will give local families an opportunity to learn more about the project.
Bible in the Schools President Ralph Mohney said local parents saw the success of the organization’s efforts for Signal Mountain Middle/High School, which also paid for a teacher at Howard High School, and approached him to do the same for schools in their area.
East Hamilton School teacher Jeff Fairbanks teaches Bible history to middle and high schoolers. His position, new this year, is funded by Bible in the Schools.“Really it was driven by the community itself,” Mohney said. “Our response was that as long as the churches would come together and support it and the principal would want a Bible class, we would do it.”
He said plans for the eastern Hamilton County area have been in the works since Christmas. He said he hopes the East Hamilton Gathering will raise awareness of the project and secure pledges to fund a full-time Bible history teacher at EHS – already in place this year – and another at Tyner next year, for three years each.