Foundation Academy's new president is one of its own

Dr. Jeff Lawrence was a member of the search team looking for the next president of Foundation Academy. 

The team interviewed six candidates.

After months of searching and interviews, they felt the doors closing on them with each candidate, and they were stalled, Lawrence said. 

So Lawrence, who served as the director of spiritual development at the time at Foundation Academy, reminded the search team of the biblical story of Samuel, whom God told to go to Jesse and anoint one of his sons king.

Lawrence reminded the team that just like Samuel looked at all the sons Jesse presented, knew they weren’t right to be king and asked for the son Jesse deemed least likely to serve as king — David — maybe Foundation Academy’s search team needed to look beyond the candidates before them. 

“The point being the true king was not the one everybody thought — (David) was not the one that had the résumé, he was not the one who had the look, he was not the one who had all this experience, but he was God’s choice because of his heart,” he said. 

The story of Samuel led to the search team restarting its hunt for the next president. 

Later, Winter Garden’s First Baptist Church’s new pastor Jeremy Woods  told Lawrence he had been praying and asked if he would consider being the next president.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I see me as a candidate,” Lawrence said. 

He explained he was content with serving as the director of spiritual development. He didn’t need authority, title or the approval of others. He was comfortable.

“(Woods) listened to me, and I got done with my waxing, and he goes, ‘So God called you to be comfortable?’” Lawrence said. “That was like a sucker punch.”

Lawrence applied for president. When he sat down for the final interview with the search committee, it was “amazingly confirming,” he said. 

“There was just a sweet spirit in the room,” he said. “It was very clear, because I needed that, and they needed that, that God was speaking and moving us into this new season.”

The vote was unanimous, Lawrence was named the next president of Foundation Academy.

Lawrence is coming into the position after Carol Grosshans has served as interim president since May 2025, when Dave Buckles stepped down after serving as president for at least 10 years. 

For the past 20 years, Lawrence said every position he has held were not ones he applied for but rather positions God opened doors to and guided him through each time. 

“In this situation, it was definitely not something I sought after,” he said. “But when the time came, I could tell God was saying, you go and you stand in the gap and you lead my people. Because what we’re after here is of eternal significance. It’s legacy-making with these students. It’s kingdom-building stuff. I sense in it God saying, ‘Just go lead them. Lead them well. Lead them with character. Lead them with integrity. You don’t have to shoulder it all. Just stay in step with me. Love the staff, love the families. Lead us toward excellence.’”

As the next president, Lawrence wants to focus on strategic initiatives relating to academics, athletics, arts and college preparation.  

He wants to continue to solidify and excel the school’s academics, providing more opportunities such as creating programs of distinction and having the school be accredited as an exemplary school. 

With the continued academic and athletic success, the next step is expansion, Lawrence said. He envisions a state-of-the-art fine arts center being built on the Tilden Campus in the future. 

Expansion needs to be done deliberately, intentionally and strategically, he said.

“I want us to be able to go to a place that when we get there, you can’t explain it by human terms,” Lawrence said. “How did we get here? We got here simply because of God’s grace, because if he hadn’t put all the right people in the right place, if he hadn’t sent the right donors, if he hadn’t sent the people who would walk alongside us, we would have never gotten here.”