Quick thinking, dedicated members, and generous gifts helped an Alaskan school stay open and continue to offer a Christian education to its community.

One week before Grace Lutheran School in Kenai, Alaska, was scheduled to open for the 2009–10 school year, the State Fire Marshall closed the school because it didn't have a sprinkler system that September 2007 legislation required for all educational buildings. Grace had built an addition in July 2007 that complied with the old regulations but did not receive the paperwork to prove this until the new regulation went into effect. The school was allowed to stay open for the 2007–08 and 2008–09 school years, but when Grace asked for another year—so city water could be used with the sprinkler system making the installation much cheaper—that appeal was never considered.

With only one week to find an alternate location, the leadership at Grace secured two different unused schools but learned those locations wouldn't work because those buildings also did not have sprinkler systems.

This left two options: either close the school until a sprinkler system could be installed or convert the principal's and pastor's garages into classrooms. "We hesitated to close the school because once a school closes it usually never reopens, and God had not shut every window of opportunity yet," says Thomas Schmidt, pastor at Grace.

School parents unanimously voted to move the school into the garages, which didn't need sprinkler systems because they were considered private property. In two days the congregation had converted each garage into painted, carpeted, well lit classrooms, and school was able to start.

In February, the students moved back in their original building, now equipped with a new sprinkler system. But how did the 130-member congregation come up with the $137,000 needed for the system? A $100,000 gift from a WELS couple, a $14,500 grant from WELS Committee on Relief, donations from other WELS schools, and generous giving by Grace's members has put the congregation within reach of paying off the entire system.

"We prayed, sweated, and looked at Scripture to keep us humble and trusting," says Schmidt. "If you keep working, searching his Word for wisdom, and praying, the Lord in time will shut all the doors except the one he wants to take you through."