Bradenton Christian announces details of $17 million donation, new sports complex

Bradenton Christian School thanked God and a local businessman for its upcoming windfall of time and money.

The school will embark on its largest construction project with help from a donation of $17 million, constructing a new sports complex within the next two years, Superintendent Dan Vande Pol said on Thursday morning.

A new gymnasium is the project’s “crown jewel,” he said. The facility will house four courts, a cafeteria, an athletic training room, a weight room, several offices and a skybox overlooking the sports fields and gym.

Bradenton Christian often starts practice at 6 a.m., rotating its basketball, volleyball and wrestling teams through the confined gymnasium. Instead of sharing the space from early morning to late evening, the students will soon practice together at regular hours, making way for more studying and family bonding.

“We see this as a huge gift of time to these young men and women,” Dan Vande Pol said.

The project also includes new football, baseball, soccer and softball fields, each made of artificial turf. Stadium lights, dugouts and grandstands will line the updated complex, and sand volleyball courts will sit nearby.

“We’re busy preparing the hearts and minds of God’s children here, each and every day, and this is going to be an amazing tool for us to do that,” the school superintendent said.

He then introduced Mark Pentecost and his wife, Cindy, who contributed $17 million through the family-run Pentecost Foundation. Based in Palmetto and spread throughout the world, their beauty and health company — It Works! — made the donation possible.

Mark Pentecost, a former teacher and varsity basketball coach, said his three grandchildren would be among the students who enjoy an updated sports complex. His family saw an opportunity to advance the prestige of Bradenton Christian and its impact on the community’s future leaders.

Still, it took serious introspection before the family put forth its multimillion-dollar gift, Pentecost said.

“That was a big number for us, thinking about it, but we serve a big God,” he said.

This story was originally published March 21, 2019 at 12:34 PM.