“I think we’re supposed to be here.”
John Purnell has driven past 700 E. 170th Street too many times to count. But it was in the spring of 2014 that the multi-acre property that was once home to Holy Ghost Church and School sparked this thought in his heart: “If we do this high school thing, that would be a cool place for it to be.”
10 years, hundreds of decisions, millions of dollars, and countless prayers later, the property at the corner of 170th and Cottage Grove will be the new home of Unity Christian Academy.
When the thought first came to him, Purnell was fresh off a meeting with other local community stakeholders devoted to cultivating Christian education at the high school level. In 2018, Unity Christian Academy welcomed its first freshman class as a result of those initial conversations. Serving as a UCA board member — and eventually chair — for years, Purnell had to focus on more immediate needs of the school. But his original notions never left him.
“Every day I’m driving past this property. I’d tell my wife, ‘You know, I really think we’re supposed to be here,” Purnell said. “We wanted to be a school that was accessible. And this property is right here in the heart of South Holland.”
In God’s timing, after UCA had started, the Archdiocese put the property up for sale, and a long process of UCA pursuing the property began. After UCA put a final offer in for the location, Purnell drove into the parking lot on the day he knew the archdiocese would make a decision on whom to sell it to, and prayed.
“I just prayed, ‘God, if it’s not for us, I don’t want it to happen, but if it is, we’ve done everything you could ask for,’” he said. “And we got the call the next day that it was accepted.”
“If it didn’t happen yesterday, it can happen today. Look for it.”
John Purnell holds the UCA logo moments before it gets installed in front the future home of Unity Christian Academy.
In 127 days, UCA received all the money necessary to purchase the beautiful property, and the demolition, fundraising, and architectural work began. UCA plans to begin the second semester in the location on January 8, 2024.
“Every day I drive by and I see the UCA sign and I’m like, ‘Lord we’re going to move in,’” Purnell said. “My church has a saying, ‘If it didn’t happen yesterday, it can happen today. Look for it.’”