Jason A. Smith | The Valdosta Daily TimesBrad Lawson, president of Georgia Christian School, asks Fox and Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade about sports, politics and American history. 

VALDOSTA — Georgia Christian School rolled out the red carpet at Valdosta State University for Fox and Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade.

Some guests arriving at the 2018 benefit dinner had pictures taken with Kilmeade, and everyone who came received a complimentary red carpet-style photograph by Lindsay Colson of Captured by Colson Photography.

The annual dinner began back in 2008 in an effort to raise funds for the school and supplement the costs associated with the private school, said Ryan Warren, vice-chairman of the board of directors for GCS and chairman of the annual event. 

“It’s brought awareness to the school, especially as the event became more popular, and we started to bring in different individuals,” Warren said. “Governor Mike Huckabee was really our first big name, then we had First Lady Laura Bush, President Bush, Vince Gill and different entertainers…it exposes Georgia Christian School to a lot of people who otherwise wouldn’t know about our mission.”

Kilmeade, a New York Times best-selling author, has written “George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution,” “The Games Do Count: America’s Best and Brightest on the Power of Sports,” “It’s How You Play the Game: The Powerful Sports Moments That Taught Lasting Values to America’s Finest,” “Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History” and others.

Brad Lawson, president of GCS, said school leaders decided to bring in Kilmeade because of the varied topics he can discuss and because his popular radio show plays in the area.

“He’s not just politics, he’s not just sports, he’s not just entertainment — he is all of those things,” Lawson said. “He is a real down-to-Earth guy. We just felt it was a good way to have people come in and support this dinner, which supports our school.”

Kilmeade’s presentation was done in a question-and-answer format. The questions were prepared ahead of time by the school.

While the questions ranged from sports to politics to American history, Kilmeade maintained through all of his responses that history shows America has always been great, and politics have never been fully civil or impersonal.

While talking a little sports, Kilmeade shared his time as a coach when he would show his players clips from moments in sports history. He knew his players were too young to fully understand the messages he was trying to convey, and usually after the films the questions would devolve into “what’s for dinner.” Kilmeade said his time as a coach paid dividends later when his players were older and began to understand the message that hard work and dedication are just as important as winning. 

When asked about the American Dream, Kilmeade said it isn’t about a guarantee to be successful, but the “opportunity to put in the effort” to be successful.

In addition to the money raised for its own school, Georgia Christian raised more than $2,000 for Southwest Georgia Academy, according to the GCS Facebook page. To raise the money, GCS “passed the hat” during the dinner to help its rival school. SGA is one of GCS’s competitive sports rivals and was devastated by Hurricane Michael, Lawson said. The eye of the hurricane went through the school, and Lawson reached out to the head of the school to see what GCS could do to help.

“We called over there and immediately asked — they didn’t even have cell service over there until a couple of days ago — so we reached out to their head of school and asked them what could we do,” Lawson said. 

Jason Smith is a reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be contacted at 229-244-3400 ext.1257.