HOW WE BEGAN

The Amazing Grace School of Music began in 2002 with the donation of a piano by Andy and Becky Beard to the Bible Baptist Church.

Since the church already owned two pianos, Pastor Russ Boone asked me if I would like to accept the piano for my own personal use.  At the time I had only a keyboard at home on which to practice--and was stunned by the incredible timing and circumstances of the offer--so I eagerly embraced the gift, believing it to be divinely inspired.

Within an hour, the piano was in my house.  Several church members loaded the piano into a truck, drove it to my house, and delivered it to my living room, everything happening so amazingly fast I didn't know what hit me. 

In the months to follow, a hole started to burn in my soul.  I was continually being stirred inside to do something grateful in return for the wonderful treasure that had fallen into my lap, seemingly out of the blue.  But I know nothing happens out of the blue, especially wonderful blessings.  Did God have a plan for this piano?

Yes, He did.

I decided to offer free piano lessons to anyone who wanted to learn but couldn't afford it. And so I approached Pastor Russ with my offer and plan.  It turns out Russ and his wife, Tammy, had been praying their sons could learn to play the piano. Needless to say, this was an answer to their prayers.  
The rest is history.  I started giving free piano lessons and eventually, student by student, the enterprise grew into a "school."

Sometime in 2010, I was asked if I would come up with an official name to this "school" so that the participating homeschoolers could receive grades and credit for their school records.

Witnessing God's amazing grace in the birth, growth, and continuance of this venture--our home-spun little "school"-- made the choice for a name a "no-brainer."  I decided to give all credit where all credit was due--to God and Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ--hence, a most befitting name: The Amazing Grace School of Music.

OUR VISION

The Amazing Grace School of Music is, first and foremost, a state of mind: benevolence--teaching and sharing the gift of music through love and charity.

The Amazing Grace School of Music is not about tuition, degrees, grades, faculty, budgets, or state credentials. It's about opening doors of opportunity for individuals through music--primarily by teaching students how to play the piano or keyboard--free of expense to the student.

We operate through the donation of time, effort, knowledge, and resources of persons who wish to see others thrive by learning a skill of a powerful art we believe was created by God to draw us closer to each other and to Him.
 
We believe the piano or keyboard is to music what the typewriter used to be, and now the computer is, to writing: a tool that can open portals into worlds of creativity, imagination, and rewarding experience, hopefully with the ambition to bless others, all to the glory of God.

It is our goal to make music education an entirely positive experience that builds confidence, teaches discipline, stirs passion and increases knowledge in an art that is able to touch others in a highly universal way.

In our eyes, the highest degree one can obtain through our system is the desire and ability to pass on to others what one has learned in the same manner one has gained it--through love and charity.

That is our vision of The Amazing Grace School of Music.

-- Tom Baker, Director.