Called: Taking Up the Cause of Christian Education

Michael McNabb swore he was not going to be a teacher. As a young man, he planned to get a science education and work in the oil industry near his home city of Houston. What he didn’t plan on was the tug toward ministry he began to feel when he went away to college.

Michael had not planned on having a college president who strongly encouraged graduates to have a cross-cultural experience and who challenged his students to “tithe” a year of their lives to missions. He also did not foresee taking a class led by a missions professor who taught that being “called” by God could simply mean “being willing and able to go.” When Michael heard that, he knew he was able and realized he was willing.

Able and Willing

It turned out Michael was willing to serve in a church plant teaching English and helping with discipleship—in Croatia. After two years in Croatia, Michael again found himself talking to God about what he was willing to do.

Then, he unexpectedly received a new opportunity to serve as a fourth-grade teacher at the Inter-American School in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. That’s how Michael, who had sworn he would not choose a life of teaching, began a career serving God through education in Central America.

“They say the best way to make God laugh is to make your own plans,” Michael laughed.

Journey to ACSI

Inter-American turned out to be the right fit for Michael. After several years in different roles at the school, he became the director— a role he filled from 2008 to 2023. When Michael pursued accreditation for the school, the process led him to ACSI, which granted Inter-American accreditation. It was then that Tim Thompson, the Director of Accreditation for the International Division at the time, invited Michael to join accreditation visits to schools in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Columbia. After several such visits, Tim invited him to chair accreditation visits on his own.

Since that time, Michael’s experience with ACSI has been vast, including:

• Working with and leading ACSI accreditation teams
• Serving as the volunteer Director of Accreditation for ACSI in Latin America
• Supporting the process of translating the REACH accreditation protocol for use in Latin America
• Serving as an international representative on ACSI’s Commission on Accreditation.

By the time fall of 2023 arrived, Michael’s journey as an educator and his experiences with ACSI led him to be able and willing to step into the role of Director of Accreditation for the International Division at ACSI.

Inspired for the Future

Michael assumed his new role at ACSI with enthusiasm.

“I’ve seen it firsthand in my own school and schools all over the world … that accreditation is one of the most powerful tools that ACSI provides to promote and encourage systematic, inclusive, collaborative, ongoing school improvement,” Michael said.

When he started full-time at ACSI, he was not the only new kid on the block. The new Inspire accreditation protocol, which Michael contributed to and helped pilot, was also launched in fall 2023.

Inspire is intentionally aligned with the Flourishing Schools Culture Model already established within ACSI. Inspire and the Flourishing Schools Culture Instrument purposefully overlap in the areas of self-assessment, including:

• Purpose
• Relationships
• Teaching and Learning
• Expertise
• Resources
• Well-Being.

Consequently, schools are equipped with a more streamlined path to accreditation, and when areas for improvement are identified, ideally, ACSI already has resources in place and can point them in the right direction.

Additionally, Inspire is designed to help schools determine if they are operating effectively and to avoid legalistic compliance—a potential hazard of any evaluation tool. Michael and the ACSI accreditation representatives work with schools to help them honestly evaluate their culture, staff, student progress, and overall program. The Inspire protocol has helpful resources, including evaluative, reflective questions to help schools accomplish that honest evaluation and set them up for greater future success.

“Feedback so far has been wonderful,” Michael said. “The schools have found it to be more meaningful. The discussion surrounding effectiveness leads to better discussions as opposed to just compliance.”

After experiencing Inspire firsthand, an educator in Kenya offered the following feedback: “The ACSI Inspire protocol is a triumph of the hard work and dedication of the Flourishing Schools model, developed after years of research into effective Christian school education. … The biblical integration throughout this protocol allowed our accreditation conversations to center around the school’s mission and our teacher’s shared calling to see Christ reign in our students’ lives while operating in an evaluative school improvement model. As the internal accreditation coordinator, I applaud ACSI for developing this protocol.”

By the 2024-2025 school year, all but one school under Michael’s international accreditation leadership will be using the Inspire protocol. He is excited to support these schools and individuals and to encourage them in their commitment to the cause of Christian education—a cause that some pursue at great personal risk—but they, too, are able and willing.

“To me, Christian education is one of the best opportunities that we have to live out the great commission and share the gospel to all the nations, to the ends of the earth,” Michael said. “I’m just excited to be a part of that.”