Founded in 1995, targeting students with behavioral issues as a part of CNS International Ministries, the school treats troubled youth and adults using work therapy and Christian instruction.

As of 2001, the complex was reported to include a hotel, a community of brick duplexes, two restaurants, a gas station, a private airfield, 3,200 milk cows and a large cattle operation.

[4] In the past, Heartland Christian Academy has been subject to several investigations related to alleged abuse of students, often stemming from the school's use of corporal punishment.

[6] Earlier in the summer of 2001, there was an incident in which eleven teenaged students were allegedly forced to stand in cow manure, some from the ankles and others up to chest-high.

Sharpe defended the workers, saying the manure punishment was bad public relations, but not illegal, abusive, nor a health risk.

[9] In 2002, Sharpe's attorneys convinced a federal judge to ban future raids on the school, but to allow the state to continue to investigate any further reports of individual abuse.

The judge stated that kids at the school are "loved at all costs" and the ministry should "have the expectation and the right to be free from conspiratorial government predators."

Republican Representative Rudy Veit of Wardsville expressed surprise regarding the lawsuit, stating he thought the school's concerns had been addressed.