Mortellus
Jan 7, 2023
In January 2023, an explicitly Christian worship gathering took place at Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy. Photographs document three religious banners displayed on the school's front lawn, while surviving advertisements promote an evening of Christian testimony, music, and church performances.
What happened: On January 7, 2023, Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy provided its campus for New Year, New You: Finding Hope in Christ, a Christian event organized by Behind Crying Eyes, a Rutherford County ministry associated with Haynes Memorial Baptist Church. Scheduled from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., the free gathering featured Ron and Amy Shirley of Lizard Lick Towing, worship music by Mended Worship, and a performance titled Set Me Free by Haynes Memorial Baptist Church youth. The advertisements made no attempt to disguise the event's religious purpose. Organizers invited attendees to hear Christian testimony, experience praise and worship, and celebrate the hope offered through Jesus Christ. But the religious messaging extended beyond the event itself.
Three banners bearing Christian imagery, biblical citations, and evangelical messaging were displayed on the lawn in front of TJCA's school building. Photographs preserved by TJCA Truth document the banners' presence on school grounds, including displays associated with Behind Crying Eyes and Haynes Memorial Baptist Church. One banner explicitly proclaimed that the church was taking Jesus into the streets. The event and its accompanying displays raise an important question about the relationship between the organizers and a publicly funded school required to operate on a nonsectarian basis.
What was established:
Behind Crying Eyes promoted the gathering through Facebook announcements identifying Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy as the location. The promotional materials described an event centered on Christian faith, addiction recovery, personal testimony, and worship. Organizers advertised appearances by Ron and Amy Shirley, whose television series Lizard Lick Towing had made them recognizable public figures. Mended Worship was scheduled to provide Christian music, while youth from Haynes Memorial Baptist Church were to perform a religious drama titled Set Me Free. A Facebook announcement published on the day of the event confirmed the evening's schedule and encouraged community members to attend.
Behind Crying Eyes was already an established local ministry. In September 2021, WLOS reported on founder Kristy O'Dell's work supporting individuals and families affected by addiction, including the organization's connections with Haynes Memorial Baptist Church.
Its combination of charitable outreach and Christian ministry was therefore not new.
What distinguished the January 2023 event was its location: a public charter school became the advertised setting for an evening devoted explicitly to Christian worship and evangelism.
Three Religious Banners Displayed on TJCA's Front Lawn
The photographic evidence documents religious banners displayed prominently outside the Academy, rather than solely within the space being used for the gathering. The displays included:
Psalm 147:3: A banner bearing a stylized emblem and the biblical citation concerning God's healing of broken hearts and binding of wounds.
Philippians 4:13: A Behind Crying Eyes banner displaying the organization's name and distinctive eye-shaped logo alongside the biblical citation concerning strength through Christ.
Haynes Memorial Baptist Church: A third banner advertising the church with the declaration, "The little church on the hill is busting down walls," accompanied by #takingjesustothestreets and Mark 14:15.
The third banner is particularly noteworthy. Its messaging was not merely an invitation to a recovery-related event. It explicitly advertised a church and its mission to bring Christianity into public spaces. The photographs show religious displays erected along the school's street-facing frontage, with TJCA's building visible behind them. The banners transformed the Academy's exterior grounds into a visible platform for religious messaging. They were not simply private decorations inside a room reserved by an outside organization. They were displayed on the grounds of a public school, where students, families, employees, and passing members of the community could encounter them.
TJCA's Nonsectarian Obligations
Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy is a North Carolina public charter school. Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-218.50, charter schools must operate on a nonsectarian basis. Religious organizations may use public-school facilities under neutral community-use policies, and schools generally cannot exclude an otherwise eligible organization simply because its activities are religious. The January 2023 event therefore raises questions not about the legitimacy of Christian worship, but about how TJCA authorized and accommodated this particular gathering.
Did Behind Crying Eyes rent the facilities through the same process available to other community organizations? Did the Academy provide promotional assistance, waive fees, or authorize the display of religious banners outside the building? Were comparable opportunities available to organizations representing other religious traditions or secular causes? The answers matter because accommodating private religious expression and endorsing a particular religion are not the same thing. TJCA's published policy collection includes a Facility Use Policy and a policy addressing the First Amendment's religion clauses. The specific policies and arrangements governing the January 2023 gathering have not yet been established.
An Earlier History of Religious Controversies
The event also belongs within a longer history of disputes over religious activities at TJCA. In November 2014, following a parent's complaint and intervention by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Academy adopted a policy prohibiting teacher-led classroom prayer. In 2017, student Clay Fowler publicly challenged the inclusion of Christian prayer in school graduation ceremonies. His objections reached the Board, which subsequently announced that graduation prayer would be discontinued and that school practices would undergo a broader legal review.
The 2023 gathering involved an outside ministry rather than a documented school-led religious ceremony. Nevertheless, the prominent display of Christian banners on school property adds another episode to TJCA's history of questions about religious neutrality. For a public charter school with previous controversies involving institutional Christian expression, the decision to display—or permit the display of—evangelical banners on its front lawn deserves examination.
What was not established: The available evidence does not establish whether TJCA sponsored the gathering or provided its facilities to an independent organization under an ordinary community-use arrangement. Nor does it identify who authorized the banners or the terms under which they were displayed. Those questions concern the Academy's institutional involvement, not whether the event and religious displays existed.
Original evidence:
Contemporary promotional materials
Behind Crying Eyes — January 7, 2023 Facebook event-day announcement. Promotes the gathering at Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy, including the featured speakers, worship music, and youth performance.
Preserved Facebook promotional materials advertising New Year, New You: Finding Hope in Christ, January 7, 2023, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Original photographs
Front-lawn banner citing Psalm 147:3.
Behind Crying Eyes banner citing Philippians 4:13.
Haynes Memorial Baptist Church banner featuring the message "The little church on the hill is busting down walls," #takingjesustothestreets, and Mark 14:15.
Wider photographic documentation showing the religious displays in relation to TJCA's building and street-facing grounds.
Original photographic documentation is preserved in TJCA Truth's research archive.
Related reporting
WLOS — Mountain ministry aims to help those battling addiction through care and conversation, September 21, 2021.
WLOS — 'They're overwhelmed': Mountain event supports families of those battling addiction, September 25, 2021.
Applicable law and school policies
Subsequent developments: No subsequent public explanation from TJCA concerning its role in the January 2023 gathering has yet been identified for this archive. The Academy's current policy collection addresses both outside use of school facilities and the constitutional requirements governing religion in public education. Whether those policies were followed in January 2023 remains an open question. Of particular interest is the authorization of the three outdoor banners. Their placement raises questions extending beyond ordinary auditorium rental, including the use of school grounds for religious advertising and the availability of comparable opportunities to other organizations. TJCA Truth welcomes the original facility-use agreement, event application, rental invoices or fee waivers, correspondence with Behind Crying Eyes and Haynes Memorial Baptist Church, and records concerning permission to install the banners. Any documentation showing whether TJCA promoted the event through school communications or provided staff or financial support would also help establish the Academy's level of involvement.
Report from the community: No additional firsthand account from an event attendee, participating school employee, or administrator involved in approving the gathering has yet been obtained by TJCA Truth. TJCA Truth welcomes perspectives from individuals who attended the January 7 event, participated in its preparations, or witnessed the installation of the banners. Accounts concerning how the organizers obtained permission to use the campus, whether school personnel assisted, and how the religious displays were approved would be particularly valuable.
Experiences from other community organizations that sought to use TJCA facilities during the same period are also welcome, especially where they may illuminate how the Academy applied its facility-use policies. Contributors may request anonymity, and private correspondence will not be published without permission.