In 1972, Pastor Allen Usher gave his life to Jesus Christ. The more he studied the Bible, the more he realized the call that was on his life to become a pastor. After marrying his wife, Glenda, together they started Maranatha Missions in Cheraw.

In , they had their first child, Charity, and her educational future was on their minds. Pastor Allen and Glenda shared their vision of starting a Christian school with their congregation. Many of the congregation caught the vision and the journey began.

In August of 1979, seventeen students enrolled for the first year of Jesus Is Lord Christian School. There was not enough money coming in the first year to pay the teachers; however, it was a very successful year and many parents were calling because of the reputation the school had built on pre-schoolers and kindergartners how to read. In August of 1980, the second school year started with forty students.

With the growth of the school over the next few years, it was necessary to buy land and build to be able to accommodate the students. In January, 1984, in the freezing cold, the men and women who believed n the ministry of the church and school set out to do the impossible. The school was finished by the end of August and there were one hundred students in attendance on the first day of school.

In 1994, Jesus Is Lord Christian School graduated its first senior class of two young men and continues to prepare and educate students in a safe, Christian environment where Jesus is truly Lord.

In 2009, Jesus Is Lord Christian School became members of the South Carolina Association of Christian Schools (SCACS). This gave accountability and opportunities to the students and staff of Jesus Is Lord. Students have participated and ranked in fine arts competition on the state level as well as athletic competition.

Over the years Maranatha Missions has become known as Maranatha Family Center as it ministers to the entire family the love of Jesus Christ. Jesus Is Lord Christian School will continue to keep the student's welfare and education, both spiritually and mentally, top priorities. The commitment was made in the beginning and still continues to this day to be a MINISTRY FIRST and a business second.

In a time of much confusion, it is very important to have a clear vision and purpose. Vision and purpose are contagious. Like the lighthouse of yester-year, vision and purpose offer hope in the midst of the present spiritual and educational crisis of today. As we complete our 32nd year, Jesus is Lord Christian School has done what very few have: maintain the same vision and purpose originally given to us by the Lord for what seems like a lifetime ago. The vision and purpose was and still is today to educate children with the greatest materials available, with Christian ideologies in a Christian environment. This school never was and never will be a private school to discriminate against racial, social, and other Christian backgrounds. The Lord instructed us very clearly to put the ministry of love for the children first and foremost. So many Christian schools, according to recent reports, have become lucrative business endeavors catering to the financial elite. We, as a staff, over the years, have taken the challenge to sacrifice as much as possible. We want to make Christian education a reality to every parent who believes in God's Word - the charge, train up a child in the way they should go. Our prayer for the future is that we will always put Jesus Christ first, and these precious children next, so they will grow up with a clear vision and purpose in a world which is so uncertain. We must now, like never before in the history of our school, be determined to stand firm. With other schools closing and public schools being put under godless rules, we at Jesus Is Lord Christian School realize that we must answer the call to be a candle of hope and a beacon of light in the ever increasing darkness all around us. I want to personally thank you for believing in us and pray that even though "a thousand shall fall at our right hand and ten thousand shall fall at our left hand,"* that we will always stand in our community as a lighthouse of hope for those that want more for their children than to be brainwashed in secular humanism.

Pastor Allen Usher