When she first saw the job posting, Diane Barnhart almost skipped it. With a fresh M.A. in Christian Education, she was sifting through church roles on an old-school Christian job board called Inter-Cristo. A position at a high school in a town she’d never heard of (Sierra Madre) didn’t fit her plan. Besides, Southern California was the one place she’d vowed never to live.

But curiosity won. She drove down for an interview that “lasted all day,” complete with lunch at The Only Place in Town, and walked the halls of a humble elementary-school-turned-campus that was nothing like she expected. Something stirred. “Even with other offers on the table,” she remembers, “I knew this was where God wanted me, at least for a year or two. Little did I know those 1 or 2 years would turn into 34! God knew this was exactly where He wanted me to be.”

Across those decades, she taught Visual Arts and lived discipleship in the everyday—helping students discover that creativity is not a niche talent but a reflection of the Creator. She laughs about the day her first AP class introduced her to In-N-Out during a Saturday work session (“life-changing!”), and the year she opened her home to a Maranatha student from Germany. She’s traveled with students to Europe more than once, gathered around countless surprise birthday cakes, and celebrated former students’ weddings and baby showers—grieving with them at times, too.

“Teaching isn’t a ‘check the box’ job. It’s an opportunity to walk alongside students as they grow,” she shared.

The school’s story—and hers—has included both valleys and mountaintops. In the years between leaving Sierra Madre and arriving at today’s campus, uncertainty loomed large. She was offered a seemingly safer job elsewhere. She stayed. “I knew God was still at work in our community,” she says. “We came out different than we had been, but with a new future.”

Ask what she’s most grateful for and she’ll point to people: a friend group of “long haulers” who welcomed her in as the youngest among them and remain like family; colleagues she calls “the best possible faculty and staff”; and generations of students whose journeys she’s been privileged to witness—from tentative first sketches to confident portfolios, from youthful questions to resilient faith.

As she describes it, “To be an example of both faith and craft, it has to be genuine. Students can tell.”

Today, she sees the children of former students walking the same halls. The years feel like a blink. What remains constant is the ministry: knowing students beyond the surface, caring about their spiritual, emotional, and academic growth, and trusting that God is at work even when teachers don’t get to see the ending.

Her message to Maranatha families is simple and sincere: “Thank you for entrusting your wonderful students to us each day. Watching them discover gifts, wrestle with challenges, and eventually spread their wings has been one of the greatest joys of my life. God is at work in these young lives.”