Few leaders begin their journey staring at a million-dollar deficit. But that’s exactly where Julie Ambler found herself in 2006, when she stepped in as interim head of The Woodlands Christian Academy.
Asked to keep the school afloat for just six to nine months, she would go on to lead it for two decades—and transform it in every way.
“I came in with a background in investment banking,” Ambler recalls. “The goal was to fix the finances and keep the school running.”
Determined to keep the doors open, Ambler and the board gathered in prayer.
“We literally got on our faces in the library and said, ‘Lord, if You want us to close, we’ll close. But if You want this school to survive, You’ll have to lead it.’”
That night, they placed The Woodlands Christian Academy back into the care of its rightful head: Jesus Christ.
Building on a Firm Foundation
From that moment, Ambler relied on both her faith and financial acumen to rebuild the school, focusing not just on stability but on cultivating a place where students and staff could thrive. The school ended that year in the black and has remained there ever since.
When TWCA launched a capital campaign in 2007 for a high school facility, Ambler insisted on staying debt-free. “We built what we could with what we had—and paid for it in cash.”
Today, TWCA remains debt-free, with more than $40 million in new facilities—all accomplished through faith and good stewardship.
Raising the Bar
One of Ambler’s first initiatives was to revisit the school’s mission and align every program with its purpose: to build warriors for Christ: spiritually, intellectually, creatively, physically, and socially.
“God gave us minds to use for His glory,” she says. “There’s no reason our students can’t have the best education and a deeply rooted Christian worldview.”
With enrollment near 900 students, TWCA’s graduates attend the nation’s top universities and military academies, equipped with confidence, compassion, and conviction.
A Spirit of Care
Wellbeing is woven throughout campus life, from classroom environment to extracurriculars, and is reflected in TWCA’s counseling program, where licensed counselors teach lessons on kindness, support teachers and parents, and help students navigate the pressures of a digital world.
A spirit of care extends to faculty, too. Before each school year, teachers walk the campus in prayer, lifting up every student and staff member by name. Monthly worship gatherings and weekly prayer circles deepen their sense of unity and purpose.
A Lasting Faith Legacy
Looking back, Ambler laughs at the irony of her title as “interim head of school.”
“They were looking for the real head of school,” she says with a smile. “I guess they found her—maintaining at 20 years!”
“I always tell people, our students are polite, kind, and grounded because they’ve grown up in a culture centered on Christ,” Ambler says. “Parents tell us their children are transformed here. And when those graduates go off to college and the first thing they do is find a church—that’s when I know we’ve done our job.”