Report of the
Board of Higher Education
During the 1998 calendar year, the Board of Higher Education (BHE) has met three times, for a total of sixteen times since its inception in the fall of 1994. It has continued to oversee the work of the Pinebrook Educational Foundation (PEF) and to develop working relationships with Biblical Theological Seminary (BTS). It has begun to consider how else it might foster higher education in the BFC.
The membership of the BHE has continued to change. James N. Smock and G. Wayne Clapier were elected by Annual Conference to replace Alan Russell and Donald T. Kirkwood.
The Pinebrook Educational Foundation
The Board of Directors of the PEF for the past year was as follows:
Term expiring in 2001: Raymond R. Dotts, Jay H. Fasnacht
Term expiring in 2000: Keith W. Johnson, Robert C. Newman
Term expiring in 1999: Olivia M. Barnes, Stephen C. Cassel
The report of the PEF is appended to the report of the BHE.
Working Relationships with Biblical Theological Seminary
The BHE has been working on putting together three projects involving BTS: (1) a BFC chaplain that would visit BTS regularly to counsel students and encourage some of them to consider service with the BFC; (2) a course on the history, doctrine and polity of the BFC to be offered at regular intervals at BTS; and (3) an internship program in which BF churches would take pastoral interns from BTS.
1. Retired BFC missionary Ronald W. Hoyle began as BFC chaplain to BTS this past fall, visiting the seminary approximately monthly during the regular seminary terms.
2. A course PDV534 “The Bible Fellowship Church” was offered for three hours credit in the fall semester of 1998, but withdrawn when no one registered for the course. After this second failure to attract sufficient students to offer the course (the first being in spring 1997), and after considerably more publicity than on the previous occasion, the BHE has decided that the time is not right to go ahead with this project, and it will be shelved for a few years at least.
3. The machinery for BF churches to get pastoral interns from BTS is now in place, and can be used by interested churches at any time. Since the internship program was instituted at Biblical, three BF churches have availed themselves of this opportunity, Graterford BFC with Ryan Roush working under Dave Watkins, Spring City with Colin Wong working under Carl T. Martin, and Royersford with Peter Gundersen working under Jacob J. Susek, Jr. Brochures were printed and handed out at Annual Conference in 1998.
Other Ways of Promoting Higher Education in the BFC
As a result of our discussions in the past year, Alan Russell and the youth pastor at his church, Billy Dunn, were encouraged to write up their experiences of taking youth considering college on a van tour to visit Christian colleges. This article appeared in the September, 1998 issue of Fellowship News (vol 38, no. 7). John Studenroth has written an article on encouraging lay people in his church to study theology. This article appeared in the January/February, 1999 issue of Fellowship News (vol. 39, no. 1).
The BHE took a survey of BF churches last summer to determine which colleges are being attended by our members or their children, which colleges are close to our churches, and what sorts of campus outreach ministries exist at these schools. The results were written up by Robert Newman in an article published in the November, 1998 issue of Fellowship News (vol 38, no. 9). It appears that a large number of BFC people are attending secular colleges and that many BF churches are close to particular secular colleges. We should be thinking of what we can do to strengthen the faith and witness of our own BFC people attending such institutions, how we could help Christian students not from our congregations who attend nearby schools, and how we could help reach out to the unsaved on such campuses.
The BHE spent part of one of our meetings discussing J. P. Moreland’s book Love Your God with All Your Mind. Partly as a result of this, John Studenroth has decided to become a full-time evangelist to college faculty and graduate students at Kutztown University and perhaps at other colleges in the Berks County area. We have also discussed the possibility of having some sort of seminars to strengthen believers in their outreach to people with college education.
Brothers, thank you for praying for us this past year. We are seeing the Lord begin to move among us. Please pray that we will desire His agenda above our own, and that He may use us powerfully to strengthen the BFC in understanding the times in which we live and becoming more effective in reaching the lost.
Resolved, that the Annual Conference ratify the election to the Pinebrook Educational Foundation of Olivia M. Barnes and Stephen C. Cassel for terms to end in 2002 and the election of Gary E. Karch to fill the term of resigned member Keith W. Johnson to end in 2000.
The Board of Higher Education: Robert C. Newman, Chairman; Raymond R. Dotts, Vice-Chairman; John C. Studenroth, Secretary; Stephen C. Cassel; G. Wayne Clapier; James N. Smock, David J. Watkins