The College of William & Mary was established in 1693 in Williamsburg, Va. It is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. William & Mary educated many of the key figures important to the development of our nation, including presidents, Supreme Court justices and congressmen.
The Civil War emptied the college of students and filled its buildings first with Confederate troops and then Union troops. The college was closed during the war years, and its buildings fell into disrepair. However, every single morning during the Civil War, the president of the college, Benjamin S. Ewell, arose and went to the school chapel and rung the bell, calling students to class, so it could never be said that William & Mary abandoned its mission to educate the young men and women of Virginia.
As president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention, I want to ring the bell for Christian higher education, specifically for Alabama Baptists’ institutions — Judson College in Marion, Samford University in Birmingham and the University of Mobile. I want to ring the bell as a reminder to my fellow Alabama Baptists that we should never abandon our mission to educate the young men and women of Alabama, and beyond, in an atmosphere conducive to building Christian character and affirming Christian values.
Our Alabama Baptist institutions of Christian higher education exist for such a time as this. We live in rapidly changing times. The cultural shifts of our day are alarming. The number of people, including Christians, who adhere to a Christian worldview and absolute truth is growing smaller each day. The modern church has been seduced by the very culture in which it ministers. Our nation has lost its moral compass. Our children are growing up in a pluralistic society in which everyone is doing what is right in his or her own eyes. Our schools of Christian higher education have the opportunity to address the cultural and spiritual ills of our day by equipping students to think Christianly.
My appeal is not just for higher education but for Christian higher education. What is Christian higher education? Christian higher education is more than a label, more than a tradition, more than a denominational affiliation. Christian higher education has a goal that makes it uniquely different from secular higher education.
The goal of Christian higher education is Christ. The ultimate objective is to produce students who will know Christ, love Christ and honor Christ in whatever vocation they may choose. This objective is reached by faculty who is highly credentialed in its particular fields and who also desires to contribute to the spiritual growth.
The faculty enjoys a faculty-to-student ratio that enables teachers to know their students by name and to have time for personal meetings and conversations.
Teaching and learning take place in an environment conducive to academic excellence and spiritual development at the same time.
Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford, defined the goal of an institution of Christian higher education in a commencement address he gave at a sister university: “Tonight you are not just a graduate of university. You are being ‘graduated’ from university. … Something is being done to you tonight. You are being invested in what we used to call ‘the learned company of scholars.’ We used to use expressions like ‘a gentleman and a scholar,’ ‘a lady and a scholar.’ But more than that, you are being commissioned by this university to model the graces of the Christian life in whatever calling or vocation you are led to pursue.”
Timothy George has it right. The aim is to produce Christian thinking and Christian living in whatever vocation one chooses.
Without reservation or hesitation, I am ringing the bell for Judson, Samford and UM. I have had the privilege of spending time with the presidents of our three Alabama Baptist schools — David Potts, Judson; Andrew Westmoreland, Samford; and Mark Foley, UM. These are good and godly men. They are men of character and integrity. They are statesmen and leaders. We can entrust our young men and women to them and to the schools they serve. We can be assured that their supreme desire is to produce graduates who will honor God with their lives. And let us not forget Beeson Divinity School, which provides master’s- and doctoral-level training for men and women preparing for vocational ministry.
Now it is time for you to grab the rope and ring the bell. It is time for Alabama Baptist pastors and church leaders to pray for and promote our three schools. Promote preview days. Host special Sundays in which the spotlight is placed on the schools. Last year, at Deerfoot Baptist Church, Trussville, where I serve as pastor, we hosted Judson Day, Samford Day and University of Mobile Day. The president of the respective school was our guest speaker, and special music was provided by the featured school. After the service, a luncheon was held for students and parents to learn more about the school. Deerfoot Baptist has also established a Christian higher education information center with resources from each of our Alabama Baptist schools. I am pleased to announce that Deerfoot has students in each of our three schools.
Will you help me ring the bell for Judson College, Samford University, the University of Mobile and for Christian higher education?
EDITOR’S NOTE — Roger D. Willmore is the current president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention and pastor of Deerfoot Baptist Church, Trussville, in Birmingham Baptist Association.
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