All-girls Christian academy approved to open in Cochran

The Beauty from Ashes Youth Leadership Academy will operate inside Elevation Worship Ministries International beginning this fall.

COCHRAN, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — A new all girls Christian Academy is coming to Bleckley County this fall. This academy will teach the girls to be faith-based and self-focused.  

The Beauty from Ashes Youth Leadership Academy has received final approval from the City of Cochran to open the all-girls Christian academy. The academy will operate inside Elevation Worship Ministries International.  

Senior Pastor Lee Wright and his wife Sonya Wright tell 41NBC the idea to open the academy was a message from God. Wright says this school will help girls find themselves. 

“Sometimes our young girls, especially between the grades of 4th and 7th grade, they are struggling with identity,” Sonya said. “And when the enemy gets them at a very young age, not knowing who they are, then there’s traps set for them. So, that’s one of the reasons why we’re like, ‘OK, we got to get to the mind, got to get to the soul.'”

Sonya says she wants the girls to know who they are in God. 

“I want them to be raised up as beautiful leaders in their communities, in the marketplace,” she said. “I want them to have self-pride in themselves, again the love for other people, be able to cherish the gifts that God has given them, to use their gifts for God in many different ways.”

With what seems to be a rise in youth crime, Senior Pastor Lee Wright wants the students to know they’re not a product of their environment. 

“Being able to give them the foundation that they need, spiritually and emotionally,” he said. “We realize that there’s crime everywhere, and it’s an unfortunate side effect of people not knowing who they are. They see something and they figure, ‘I’ll shoot it, I’ll steal it. I’ll do this. ‘ And we have to change that mindset.”

Wright wants here girls to take away stewardship and how to be a servant to others. 

“Teaching these young girls in a space like this that they can be sisters, they can care for one another, they could steward each other,” she said. “I think that’s something that we all need, and our young people need us to teach them how to do that.”

The academy will be located at 123 North Fifth Street in Cochran. 

The church is now taking donations, and you can check them out online here: beautyfromashesyla.org