With its first school year down, Lynwood Christian Academy in Cape Girardeau finally has a headmaster who plans to start sometime next month.

It was announced on the academy's Facebook page Monday its new hire is pastor Benjamin Rhodes, who is obtaining a Ph.D. in Christian Education at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

He and his family of six will be relocating from New Orleans to Cape Girardeau in the upcoming months.

"[Benjamin] is very well educated. He's held both pastoral roles and leadership roles in a school, and he kind of had all the things we were looking for, all the boxes were checked," said Hayes Howell, executive pastor at Lynwood Baptist Church. In addition to his experience, Howell said he thinks Rhodes will mesh well with the team because of his personality.

The school relocated and rebranded itself in January 2020 when it was essentially absorbed by Lynwood Baptist Church after almost 50 years of operation as Cape Christian Community School. The academy has been searching for a headmaster since.

Rhodes described his background leading him to accept the position as a journey.

"Honestly, I did not really picture myself going into education," he said.

He elaborated by saying he studied music and youth ministry for his bachelor's degree and then pursued a master's degree in worship ministry, all because he felt called to ministry. It wasn't until he applied for an athletics position at a Christian school and instead ended up training under its principal to replace her that he first got a start in education.

From there, he wanted to further his understanding of Christian education, which led him to study for a Ph.D. he is currently half-way through completing.

Rhodes said he and his wife, Brittany, were looking for job opportunities in Christian education when she saw a post about the headmaster opening at Lynwood. Rhodes said he didn't give it much thought at first glance, but Brittany urged him to look into it more. After watching videos about the church and school on their Facebook page, it piqued his interest.

Rhodes said he thought to himself, "Man, this could be a place I want to be a part of. I think I can get behind the vision that pastor Mark has laid out for the school and it looks like a promising situation."

Howell said Rhodes fit the bill for what the church was looking for in a headmaster.

"We really want somebody that values the local church, that wants to work, really, alongside the church," he said. "And Ben is a guy who really wants to be in a school that is connected to a local church. In with just talking with him, we could tell that he had a high regard for the church," Howell said.

Because the school is about to finish its first academic year as Lynwood Christian Academy, there is room for change and growth. In regard to that, Howell and Rhodes expressed similar goals for the school in the new academic year, saying they hope to expand the number of extracurricular activities and create clubs and sport teams in the future.

Howell said he is excited to see Rhodes start to create a focused approach to the curriculum.

"You know, we're going to start really trying to speak to the issues students are dealing with day in and day out through a biblical worldview," he said. "And so, seeing that ball get rolling, with somebody who can champion all that, is huge."

Howell said Lynwood Christian started the school year with 46 students enrolled and now has 64. The school also recently hired two new teachers and expects to hire another.

Rhodes said he hopes to meet the entire school staff and members of Lynwood Baptist Church. He said the best days of the academy are ahead and he wants to prepare students with important life skills and to teach them to be life followers of Jesus.

"I'm just very thankful for the opportunity to serve in this way. I'm looking forward to what God has planned for the school and for the church," he said.