The Current State of Fundamentalist Colleges

Faith:

• Small
• Stable
• Enrollment growing
• Fiscally conservative (this is important b/c debt and mismanagement sunk more than one!!)
• Able leadership in Jim Tillotson
• A Bible college and a seminary
• Regional accreditation
• Baptist & classical dispensational
• Very nice campus with a new building
• Just overcame a terrible flood
• Strongly supported by Iowa baptists and other states
• Not fringe … not weird (thinking of Hyles Anderson)
• In the Des Moines MSA which is job rich (not remote like the now defunct Northland)
• I have literally NEVER met a Faith grad that would discredit the Lord

• Ambassador Baptist College: Anti-Calvinistic and rabidly so / KJVO
• Appalachian Bible College: Strong, focussed, small, fiscally conservative. Faculty raises own support
• Bob Jones University: Right direction under new leadership. A+ academically. A true University
• Cedarville University: I would put this in more of the conservative evangelical camp. A+ academically. A true University
• Crown College of the Bible: The one in Tennessee is close to KJVO (I think)
• Fairhaven Baptist College: KJVO
• Faith Baptist Bible College: See above
• Golden State Baptist College: KJVO
• Hyles-Anderson College: KJVO. Now that the former pastor is in Federal prison, things are better. Avoid!
• International Baptist College: Don’t know much but have heard good things. Warm, beautiful Chandler, Arizona
• Maranatha Baptist University: A+.
• Massillon Baptist College: KJVO
• Pensacola Christian College: KJVO, inexpensive, nice campus. The weird “Campus Church” (the church in captivity (to the school))

A little history here. I am an MK whose parents only new about TTU and BJU. My older sister went to TTU, so I ended up there for Fall Semester 1975. I was nicely asked to leave at the end of that semester (something about obeying rules). I returned for Spring 1978, then transferred to Northland for Fall 1978 (my girlfriend was there), returning to Chattanooga but not TTU in the spring. We married that summer, started school that fall, then dropped out not intending to return. Did return though for Fall 1985 (me) and 1986 (wife), graduating in 1990 and 1991. I was there for the 5 Jennings years and thoroughly enjoyed those years.

Looking back, it is my view that if Roberson had relinquished the pastorate in favor of Sexton, there would not be a Crown College. Temple did not recover from Roberson’s hanging on so long, primarily because IFB schools depend on a single strong leader. There’s no place for a younger man to rise as the older leadership is unwilling to relinquish control.

Crown will likely have the same fate as TTU once Sexton is gone, as will many of the other schools in that orbit. I am very impressed with BJU and would be delighted if my granddaughters attended there in a few years.

Schools in KJVO circles will struggle as that is a dwindling movement, so less students to draw from, and they have the strong leader issue to deal with as well.

HAC had father/son-in-law leadership, so there was a natural carry-over and their downfall may be what keeps the school alive. Hopefully in 10 years nobody will remember them!

I have a nephew at Maranatha and hear good things about it.

The others I have no knowledge of.

p.s. if I had been the SC resident who was waiting for my $877M check I would be writing substantial checks to BJU, MBU, IBC (nieces attended there), Central Seminary (nephew is the President), and Detroit Seminary, but anonymously of course.

It’s enlightening to see that Ambassador still stands against the “tenants” of Calvinism. That, and an English teacher with a degree in Home Economics says volumes about their academics.

[W. T. O’Harver]

I have heard from many who are more knowledgeable than me that there is a ruling triumvirate in Fundamental circles: BJU, PCC, and Maranatha. Do these three really have the market cornered?

Also, did the losses of TTU, Clearwater, and Northland cause the seismic shifts in the higher educational realm that some people claim?

Think outside of the box (way outside). Consider:

• The largest church in the state of Minnesota (Eagle Brook) has a greater Sunday attendance than all the MBA / GARBC / and other fundy churches in Minnesota combined
• The University of Minnesota Navigators has a greater constituency than Faith has in enrollment - and the U of MN is just one of many campuses with Navigator ministries
• Northland was just a little blip. TTU was a dying school for years before it succumbed.
• BJU is half (or less) of its enrollment apex
• Fundamentalism is in steep decline: loss of Christian Day Schools, declining and aging membership in its churches; closing churches, decline of vocational missionaries

There is no “ruling triumvirate”. They have the “market cornered” like IBM has the mainframe market corned (they do) … but companies are moving swiftly away from mainframes!

It depends. There are very different flavors of fundamentalism. For example, Maranatha’s constituency is very, very different from Providence Baptist Bible College’s! There are different orbits, and different schools hold sway in different orbits.

[Ron Bean]

It’s enlightening to see that Ambassador still stands against the “tenants” of Calvinism. That, and an English teacher with a degree in Home Economics says volumes about their academics.

While I would probably have to agree with you about the academics, as an Ambassador grad it still hurts to hear it said, mainly because I wish I had been able to receive a better college education.

I was raised in a rigidly fundamentalist home and was sent to Ambassador by my parents. It took 10 years after graduating for my wife and I to break away from that particular culture of fundamentalism, and it was not without its share of pain and suffering in doing so. My oldest son will be graduating in two years and Ambassador (or any of the others like it) will not be one of our recommendations to him.

Also, did the losses of TTU, Clearwater, and Northland cause the seismic shifts in the higher educational realm that some people claim?

I don’t know that the loss of NIU really caused seismic shifts in “fundamentalist higher education” as much as it exposed how much fundamentalism and fundamentalists had quietly changed over the years. There are a ton of threads on this site if you want to read some of them and see what I mean.

Jim’s original point then (about NIU having a bad business model) still holds true all these years later…and that was largely before the rise of online education for college/postgrad degrees.

Blinders:

• You think of the label “fundamentalism” and you confuse that with “all that God is doing” - and outside of that label you think … “compromise and sin”
• You think of the CDS and think that God is not working with Christians in the public schools (teachers and students)
• You think my Christian college or seminary and fail to see God outside of that orbit!

I’ve been in that trap: Thinking

• God is not working in the USSR or Maoist China
• The SBC is totally corrupt (think this book)
• There’s Fundamentalism … and all else is neo-evangelicalism or liberalism

^^^^^ All of the above … I formerly thought that!!!

I had a young adult whom I had discipled. He moved to the DC area (job transfer) and joined a GARBC church. I was very happy. Later he met with me and told me the shocking and tragic news that he had left that church and joined Capital Hill Baptist … a SBC Church. I was very disappointed in him. I knew nothing of CHB (fool that I was!!)

Before I moved to Minneapolis, the little I knew of John Piper and Bethlehem Baptist was all negative. We’ve been here 22 years … Bethlehem Baptist is alive and has an amazing ministry. I was wrong!

Larry Nelson’s article Fundamentalist Dead Zones awakened me to campus ministries and now we support two Navigators missionaries (who do amazing work).

I used to be totally against a plurality of elders and now I view my former position as ignorance. Great book here!

I used to view name change as compromise until my own church completed it!

I used to view “the label” “Fundamentalist” of vital importance.

Image of the day below:

As established in a thread on SI a couple of months ago, BJU’s annual budget is about $69 million, which works out to annual expenses of about $27,600 per student: https://sharperiron.org/comment/102300#comment-102300

Jim is my brother from another mother. We’ve traveled similar paths and have worn similar blinders.

After years of wearing those blinders and becoming discouraged that the remnant group was getting smaller and often fighting among themselves over petty issues. a strong fundamentalist friend suggested we visit Capitol Hill Baptist Church. Our first Sunday there found my wife whispering to me to quit acting like I’d just seen a miracle and enjoy the experience. I decided then that if I planned to enjoy heaven with these people I might as well have a relationship with them here on earth. As someone said, “we still have fences but we build them low and we shake hands often.”

BTW, as to the so-called triumvirate of fundamental colleges, PCC is the one that is the most financially viable thanks to the business wisdom of the Hortons.

[W. T. O’Harver] What is the overall consensus on the health and positions of MBU?

https://www.guidestar.org/Home.aspx [it’s free to search but need to sign up]

The EIN is 39-1097032

Select view 990 tax forms

There’s a wealth (no pun intended) of financial information: Revenue, how much the President makes, etc.

Of course this is just the financial side!

Here’s my take (and this is subjective and from afar (although I have visited the campus):

• Very solid
• Good programs (a University vs a Bible college - each have strengths)
• Mainstream fundamentalism with no “weirdness”
• Beautiful, well-maintained campus
• Great location

[W. T. O’Harver] What about Northland’s business model was bad? Weren’t Northland and Maranatha very similar in their operations?

Answers:

• So much ink has been shed on Northland … but follow this tag if you want to relive the nightmare
• Answer on the business model in brief:
  • Bad location, bad location, bad location (there’s not a glacier there but you can see it from your dorm room window!)
  • Poor administration
  • Lack of accreditation
  • Poor cost controls
  • Debt
  • Hubris
  • Right hand not knowing what left hand was doing: against CCM while promoting a CCM concert
• To: Weren’t Northland and Maranatha very similar in their operations? NO!

The campus is amazing: Hyperbole alert! Ice Age was filmed there!

Bro. Harver, here is a bit more about the spectrum of Baptist fundamentalism:

• Here is a taxonomy from Jeff Straub, a professor at Central Baptist Seminary. This one covers a spectrum involving both evangelicalism and fundamentalism.
• Here is my own taxonomy of Baptist fundamentalism. I haven’t looked at it since I published it, but it should be ok. The views are my own, and many people disagreed with it. I changed it a lot after I posted the article, based on some good feedback.
• Here is Joel Tetreau’s taxonomy.
• Dr. Oats also has one, from Maranatha, but I don’t have permission to publish it. I think it’s the best of the lot.

I hope this helps better explain the different flavors of Baptist fundamentalism.