Craig and Wendy Rogers started Abundant Life Academy (December 2000) with absolutely no financial backing, no property, and no material support of any kind. They stepped out in faith and believed that God would prevail with His promises. At the time Craig and Wendy lived in a one-bedroom basement apartment with no furniture. There was no startup capital, no employees, no web site, and most importantly, no students. There was only a vision mixed with faith. To the outside world Abundant Life Academy looked like a pipe dream and a failure waiting to happen. When it comes to the ways of God, the outside world always has it wrong.
Three months after Craig and Wendy left their secular jobs and stepped out in faith God miraculously provided Abundant Life Academy a fully furnished Victorian home, three vehicles, full cupboards/refrigerator, and four students. Literally, all the Rogers did to move Abundant Life Academy from vision to reality was to pray and trust God. Along with the miracle provisions came tremendous opposition and persecution.
Right from the beginning the Rogers? own family members came against them, vehemently opposing the project. Craig and Wendy Rogers had built successful careers and had three young children to raise. Craig?s parents, who are believers, doubted the Rogers? decision to follow such a wild dream. Besides the opposition from the Rogers kin, the local body of believers failed to stand behind the Rogers, instead choosing to watch the development of the ministry from afar. Lastly, the city that the school was first located also opposed the project and were successful in stopping the first attempt of ALA to expand beyond four students. Thus, the pattern of opposition and persecution began.
Had the Rogers realized the depth of the opposition and persecution they would face over the next five years they might not have stepped out in blind faith and started ALA. Right from the beginning the opposition and persecution pattern begun. Opposition came from family, fellow believers, as well as local authorities (same pattern developed for the apostles as recorded in the Book of Acts). In the second attempt to expand Abundant Life Academy the Rogers were met with tremendous opposition from neighbors who lived in the vicinity. The Rogers expected the opposition from the neighbors, but they did not expect the persecution from the church (local congregation that the Rogers attended). The Rogers? describe this opposition as betrayal from those who stated publicly that they support the ALA ministry, but behind the scenes worked to undermine the project. The Rogers? testify that the hurt and pain that came with the betrayal was immense to say the least, but that God?s grace and peace followed them every step of the way.
Eventually, by fighting for the very life of ALA the Rogers prevailed in their second attempt to expand the ministry, experiencing miracle after miracle. Additionally, the peace of God did go beyond all understanding. The Rogers will state that the most amazing thing about their early experience of ALA is that God moved through the most unusual ways, where in the end the only person that could receive the glory and praise for the accomplishments was God Himself! But again, the persecution had only just begun and the road ahead had wind?s that were contrary to the vision.
In June of 2002 Abundant Life Academy expanded into Mexico, near Guadalajara. The vision of the Mexico campus was to provide an opportunity for ?entitled? American teens to serve in the mission field; building houses and churches for the poor, feeding the hungry, clothing the homeless, and participating in other worth outreach projects. The school grew from 6 students to 70 students in just under one year. The opposition from the Mexican government was nothing compared to the opposition from US Citizens who lived near the ALA campus in Lake Chapala, Mexico. The US Citizens, mostly retirees, came against Abundant Life Academy with a vengeance. They used the corruption within the Mexican government to constantly harass ALA, bringing false claims at every turn. ALA weathered the storm and prevailed for a season.
Soon thereafter, ALA was struck from within, experiencing the first of several betrayals from employees of ALA. These betrayals were from people who were born again believers who supposedly loved Jesus. The inside betrayals were the hardest to endure. By this time ALA was much more then just the Rogers as God had sent many Spirit-led believers to the ministry. All those in leadership suffered the blow of being betrayed and persecuted by the very people they had grown to love and trust. However, with each betrayal or persecution, the leadership of Abundant Life Academy grew stronger, operating with more resolve and commitment then ever before.
The Leadership of ALA will admit that many times individuals within the strong group wavered. At times these trials and testing were horrific. Operating a ministry for rebellious teens takes it toll after a while, and what we have found is that only those who are truly ?called? will be able to withstand the storms and battles. The faith it takes to stand firm and wear the Armour of God can only come from God? as the pretenders fall away and run at the first glimmer of opposition. As the opposition came, several buckled under the weight and turned against us. ALA had its Judas. If it could happen to Jesus then it could happen to any ministry. However, what the enemy meant for destruction God allowed to bring about His glory!
It would be nice to stay that the persecution and opposition to the Abundant Life Academy ?calling? ended in Mexico, but it did not. Eventually, the persecution from the corrupt Mexican governmental officials grew to the point that it was in everyone?s best interest to close down the Mexican campus and relocate all the students to the United States. We just could not trust that the Mexican government would act in good faith and we did not want to put the students safety at risk. We made the move to relocate our base campus back within the US in December 2004. Unfortunately, we left behind many awesome ministries that we either started or supported. It seemed like a tremendous disappointment at the time, but in the effort to secure the students safety we felt as though we had no other choice. The retreat against the opposition was painful and disappointing.
Craig and Wendy Rogers had first looked at Hidden Canyon in April 2001 as a possible site for future growth. The Rogers kept in contact with the owners of Hidden Canyon over the next few years. Finally, in December 2004, with the pressure building from the Mexican authorities, Abundant Life Academy was relocated to the beautiful Hidden Canyon Ranch. Immediately, the leadership of ALA began to set a course to develop the HCR campus and plans were underway to build a 20,000 sq ft school to provide for 80 additional students. HCR seemed to be the ideal place for our permanent campus site (Leadership Training Center), where we could then send out short-term student led missionary trips to Mexico and Europe. We called our Nevada campus the Abundant Life Academy Leadership Training Center and our mission was to restore the troubled teen through advanced Christ-based leadership curriculum and prepare the student to serve in the mission field, participating in substantial mercy ministry projects to poor and impoverished countries.
6 months later Abundant Life Academy was hit with the biggest attack of all to date. Child Protective Services of Nevada had received a false report of neglect and abuse from a former disgruntled parent of ALA (late April of 2005). For whatever reason, this parent submitted several false claims (totally fabricated) to CPS of Nevada, who then launched an attack of epic proportion against Abundant Life Academy. On May 2nd, 2005, CPS illegally, without investigating the false allegations, removed 33 ALA students from Hidden Canyon Ranch. Due to the uproar from the ALA parents CPS immediately launched a strategy to cover up their actions. To justify their illegal actions CPS filed a series of false reports against Abundant Life Academy that were eventually found to be unsubstantiated.
In early June of 2005, at the White Pine County Courthouse, Abundant Life Academy valiantly defended itself (as led by the Holy Spirit) and the judge who proceeded over the case ruled from the bench that Child Protective Services failed to conduct an investigation of the false allegations and acted in an improper/hasty manner by removing the ALA students. However, by removing the ALA students from the campus CPS effectually, albeit temporarily, closed down Abundant Life Academy. The damage was already done.
The ALA attorney?s were able to prove that CPS was not concerned about the validity of the false allegations that came from the disgruntled parent, and they were not concerned about the safety and welfare of the ALA students. The attorney?s were able to show that from the first moment CPS received the complaint from the disgruntled parent they acted with an agenda. CPS took advantage of the false allegations used their authority to exercise their political agenda. What the ALA attorney?s were able to show is that CPS acted under the agenda to shut down ALA?s Christ-centered school. The judge also stated that CPS acted was reckless in their actions. Through interactions with the highest ranking CPS department heads the Leadership of ALA believes that CPS acted with an extreme political agenda and committed itself to stop the development of a faith-based program for troubled teens regardless the cost. CPS of Nevada clearly defended their interpretation of Nevada?s ?child?s rights?. CPS of Nevada believed that they were justified in taking the students out of ALA because no parent has the right to expose children to Christian teaching when it is not the child?s desire to do so.
However, it is our pleasure to report that there was a small miracle that helped ALA fight against the reckless and illegal actions of CPS. One of the CPS workers left behind their entire case file they had built against Abundant Life Academy. In the file were all the notes of all the conversations between the various department heads of DCFS (CPS). This case file was admitted into evidence during the hearing and with it ALA was able to show that CPS acted with an agenda to shut down Abundant Life Academy before any investigation. Within the file there was no discussion about the allegations from the disgruntled parent, the discussions focused on closing the school down.
Furthermore, Abundant Life Academy attorneys were able to prove that CPS ignored mounds evidence that would have led to a favorable outcome for ALA had CPS actually conducted an investigation. As all the facts were presented it was clear that almost every person from CPS who took the witness stand lied and distorted the facts. Each of these CPS witness were impeached as they were caught in one lie after another. The Leadership of ALA believes that CPS workers lied to cover up and justify their illegal actions. It was also clear that CPS purposefully rejected any evidence that would have hindered their agenda to shut the school down. In the end CPS offered no explanation for their illegal actions and failed to make any apologies to ALA, theWith this latest attack of persecution it would have been easy to quit. It would have been justifiable to state that ALA had lost the favor of God, and it would be time to retreat and give up. However, through prayer, the leadership of Abundant Life Academy decided that God had not removed His favor and that the adversity that we endured was meant to build our faith and strengthen our resolve. After dealing with the devastating loss from CPS?s actions we went to our knees seeking God?s will. What we came out of that time of prayer is that God?s favor would grow and He would led us to greater and grandeur levels of anointing. We are now more committed to the ministry of ALA then ever before. We are committed to restoring troubled teens to their destiny in Christ, to their families, and to their future. We are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and will not be deterred by those who persecute, betray, or oppose our calling. students, or the parents.
Thus, in faith, Abundant Life Academy committed to re-establish our campus in Kanab, Utah. In doing so, in stepping out in faith to continue the work and ministry given to us, the leadership of Abundant Life Academy learned a valuable lesson that very few have the honor to realize. What we discovered is that any ministry willing to be totally obedient to the calling of God, serving Jesus Christ as Lord, Master, and Savior, will go through tremendous opposition, betrayal, and persecution. What we learned is that God is calling us to be ?overcomers?. He is not promising us a walk in the park, He is promising us death to ourselves and life through the Spirit. What we learned is that this trail should be no surprise, and that this persecution could be noted as our ?validation? from God. Through the trials God is validating the ministry, trying our faith, and bringing forth sanctification. God loves those who are humble and those who obey. Because of these trials we are truly humble and ready to follow Him to our death if need be. This persecution, which was good enough for His Son Jesus, is good enough for us!
