TARA STANLEY

    Tara is married to her best friend, Jake, and they have two daughters. The Stanleys are native to the Tri-cities area. However, she has found much joy and solace while living in the foothills of the Smoky Mountain Area for the last 12 years with her husband and two daughters. In 2011, the Stanley family moved to the Lakeway Area with Jake’s Company: Cracker Barrel, where he is an associate manager. After buying their first home in 2012, they stumbled upon Freedom Fellowship and decided to visit. By the end of their first visit, they knew they were home.
 
     Tara says, “I have never seen such Godliness, authenticity, and friendliness anywhere else like at Freedom Fellowship. We knew from the beginning that Freedom Fellowship is where the Lord wanted our family, to grow in Him.”
 

       Upon moving to the area, Tara accepted employment with Freedom Fellowship in 2012 and is now in full time ministry work serving both their Greeneville and White Pine campuses in varying capacities. In Greeneville, she serves as their Children’s Director and Worship Leader. Prior to 2023, she served as Greeneville’s Creative and Media Arts Director as well as a Pastoral Assistant for both Greeneville and White Pine. Tara continues to offer support in those areas as needed.  She also currently serves as our Director & Principal of Freedom Christian Academy for both Greeneville and White Pine.

     Her prior experience as an educator also includes teaching with Hamblen County Schools. She has taught 4th and 5th grade as well as Tier 2 and Tier 3 Reading Intervention services for struggling readers. She was involved in BETA, FCA, Art Club, a member of the school’s Literature Committee and Summer Reading & Outreach Program, to name a few. She provided supplementary instruction through district-wide tutoring for students on multiple instructional levels and acted as a team leader offering support to her peers, while teaching with Hamblen County. Tara also served as her school’s representative for the ELA Textbook committee, helped to develop her school’s writing framework, was a representative for piloted Writing programs such as Writable, wrote ELA lessons for the HCBOE curriculum framework, and helped in developing the school improvement plan multiple years. She also supported her district through providing a seminar for new teachers at their New Teacher Academy, giving talks at Walters State and ETSU on multiple occasions to rising teacher candidates with ETSU’s Ready to Teach program and thoroughly enjoyed team teaching or co-teaching as a collaborative strategy for her grade level. While this is only a small glimpse of Tara’s role at HCBOE, it is a testament of her desire to be an advocate for both students and fellow educators.

     Ministry and teaching are Tara’s passions, and she considers herself to be a lifelong learner. She believes that both children’s ministry and education should be hands-on, immersive, and authentic, while also rich in sound curriculum and doctrine. Therefore, she is excited to be a part of the happenings at Freedom Fellowship and plans to continue in community outreach by offering support to the families in East Tennessee.

 
Favorite Scripture:
 
Romans 8:38 New Living Translation (NLT)
“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angles nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow- not even the powers of hell can separate from God’s love.”
 
Education:  
 

•Master of Arts in Applied Theology

M.A.A.T, Carson Newman
 

•Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies & Education

Summa Cum Laude

B.S.ED, East Tennessee State University

 

•Associate of Science in Teaching,

Summa Cum Laude

A.S, Walters State Community College
 
 

•Associate of Art in Music Education

Summa Cum Laude

A.A., Walters State Community College
 
 

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