A Mighty Fortress is Our God

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
By Head of School Dr. Michael Dewey

Inspired by the title of the 2025–2026 Passages yearbook, I’d like to take 5 minutes of your time to reflect upon the past five years of our school’s history. At times, it may seem hard to believe that Evergreen is just five years young. It is easy to look at our school and get the impression that we’ve been at this for much longer. After all, we finished this school year with 197 students, 111 separate sections of courses, 58 colleges and universities that offered acceptances to this year’s class, 53 juniors (our largest class ever), 50 graduates, 48 faculty and staff, 30 elective courses, 17 clubs, 15 sports teams, 14 AP classes, 3 Dual Enrollment classes, and 1 State Championship. 

Those numbers, while impressive, don’t capture the full story. Those 197 students include young men and women who have come to ECS precisely because of the challenge it offers. They have chosen a rigorous path of study because they know that to live for Christ in today’s world it takes a faith that is battle tested. Those 50 graduates include students who were recruited by top universities and colleges across our nation (three of them being accepted to William & Mary this year). In just three years of commencement ceremonies, a total of 110 colleges and universities have offered enrollment to our 106 graduates. Yes, it has a great deal to do with how well our students perform academically. Those 14 AP classes have established a program that was awarded the highest level of recognition by the College Board––the Platinum AP Honor Roll. But I believe that colleges want our students and ROTC wants our students because of the caliber and character of our students. 

So, why have we been able to accomplish so much in so little time? The only answer I think appropriate, is one given by Martin Luther in 1529 when he penned the words to one of the greatest hymns in Church history: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. The second stanza proclaims, 

Did we in our own strength confide, 
our striving would be losing, 
were not the right Man on our side, 
the Man of God's own choosing. 
You ask who that may be? 
Christ Jesus, it is he; 
Lord Sabaoth his name, 
from age to age the same; 
and he must win the battle. 

The wording of this great hymn has evolved over the centuries, but in going back to the original German, we can bring to light the beauty and power of Luther’s words. In the original, the second verse begins, “With might of ours can naught be done, soon were our loss effected.” The meaning of both the modern version and the original is the same. If we try to live for Christ trusting in our own power, we will fail. For Luther, this hymn was the battle cry of the reformation. As such, he is declaring that any effort to call the church to return to scripture, to restore her to preaching the grace of God, will not succeed unless we step aside and let Christ fight the battle for us. Likewise, the same can be said of the first five years of Evergreen Christian. The men and women whom God called to start this school were told by the experts, "The best way to start a Christian high school is to begin with an elementary school, or at the very least, join up with an already established K—8 program that will have an existing student population from which to draw students." Their message was that a high school only program would not succeed unless it was built a certain way. I was initially one of those experts, pointing out that, “The cost of high school education is too expensive to start with just grades 9–12.” Or that, “being a covenant model school limits the number of students you can enroll.” Of course, I was wrong. 

The response to all these experts was resolute: “But, that is not how God wants us to do things.” The founders of ECS spent five years praying and seeking God’s wisdom before the school began in the fall of 2021. They didn’t want to establish the kind of school the experts wanted them to build—they wanted to build the kind of school God wanted to build. The only reason ECS has been able to succeed is because of that initial commitment to doing things God’s way, in his strength. 

Returning to Luther’s great hymn, instead of lines three and four above, he originally wrote, “but for us fights the valiant one, whom God himself elected.” Luther identifies this “valiant man of God’s own choosing” as Christ Jesus. He then ascribes to him the title “Lord Sabaoth.” While not commonly used today, the Hebrew word Sabaoth is a fitting term to ascribe to Christ—it conveys the idea that Jesus commands and directs all the hosts of Heaven in the fight for his people. With such a force on our side, how can we possibly fail? But it is how Luther ends this stanza in the original that I love the most: “And there’s none other God—He holds the field forever.” God not only employs all of the power of Heaven in fighting for us, but he ensures that the victory is forever kept. Hence, the title of this great hymn: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. The message should be clear––we have not accomplished anything. All the glory is God’s! The full story of Evergreen is God’s story.  

Luther’s hymn was inspired by Psalm 46, and you can hear the psalmist’s words echoed clearly: “The Lord of Hosts is with us! The God of Jacob is our stronghold…Come behold the works of the Lord!” Without God, Evergreen Christian School would be nothing. The day we forget this truth, the day we stop confiding in Christ’s strength and begin trusting in our own, is the day we cease to be what God wants us to be. Let it never be on our watch!  

Here’s to the next five years. May it be all that God wants it to be.