Julia Veenstra’s knack for numbers helped her quickly climb the ranks at an area business, but the climb took her too far away from her growing family, she said. In 1999, Veenstra decided it would be best to take some time off from the fast pace. But before she had much time to get used to her new life, a new opportunity was presented to her.

“I had never looked to come to Des Moines Christian School, but God really led me here,” Veenstra said. “I’ve loved spending time here with my children and all the other kids here at the school.”

Veenstra’s job as business manager for Des Moines Christian involves managing and dispersing its tuition and fundraising dollars, which total around $4 million annually. When Veenstra took the position, the school was in a financial pinch.

“The general operating budget was not under control,” Veenstra said. “I figure that if we hadn’t been a Christian school, we probably would have gone bankrupt. But God protected us during that time.”

Gaining control of expenses was crucial for Des Moines Christian, especially since it had purchased 27 acres of land in 1996 with the intent of building a new facility in the near future. Veenstra started working with a team of board members to evaluate the school’s spending and to assess where changes needed to be made.

“A portion of our expenses is covered by tuition,” Veenstra said. “At that time, it was 85 percent. We decided to group our operating expenses with tuition and use our fund-raising dollars to pay for improvements, like playground equipment outside.”

Now, tuition covers 92 percent of Des Moines Christian’s expenses, ending the budget deficit and making school expansion possible. That is vital because the school has reached capacity at its current Franklin Avenue location.

“When I started here, we had about 585 students in the building and now we have 650 kids,” Veenstra said. “Right now, we use every room available to us here, so we don’t have any room left for us to grow here.”

Plans are under way for the $6 million construction project near Urbandale’s Timberline development. Des Moines Christian currently uses a building at the new site for athletic events. The plan is to break ground this August for a fully operative school to open by August 2005.

“With this, I still get challenged professionally,” Veenstra said. “I have never done a bond issue before, and we have capital campaign money we’re handling through the office now too.”

Veenstra said another benefit of her job is working with people who share similar ideals and a commitment to kids and the future of the Christian school.

“I do set high expectations for myself, and I think we’re called to a higher level of accountability here at the school because we’ve attached God’s name to it,” she said.