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At Welch College, you will be part of a community where students and professors know who you are.
Our students love it here, and you will too! You will have a great time making friendships that last a lifetime while learning in a safe, wholesome environment.
GALLATIN, TN—The Welch College Choir will conduct its spring tour March 11–16, according to Todd Parrish, Vice President for Institutional Advancement. The 31-member choir, directed by Dr. James Stevens, Dean of the Welch School of Music, will embark on a unique spring tour experience.
The choir will tour Washington, D.C., singing on the grounds of the United States Capitol in celebration of the 250th anniversary of America. In addition, the choir has been invited to tour and sing at the Embassy of Israel to the United States. The choir has also been scheduled to sing before the Tennessee House of Representatives in Nashville, Tennessee.
In addition to these opportunities, the choir will conduct services in Free Will Baptist churches in Middle and East Tennessee, as well as Christ Chapel Academy in Woodbridge, Virginia.
“I am thrilled for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our students and our college,” Parrish said. “Welch College will have the opportunity to sing before some of our state and nation’s elected representatives and at the Israeli Embassy and experience the wonder of our nation’s capital at a momentous time in America’s history, all the while sharing the love of Christ through gospel music and message.”
“We ask people to pray for the health and safety of the choir as they travel and minister. Join us in prayer that the Holy Spirit would be evident as our students represent Christ in our state and nation’s capital and in Free Will Baptist churches.”
GALLATIN, TN—Dr. Daniel Webster has been named Vice President for Administration and Student Engagement at Welch College, according to President Matt Pinson. In a major administrative reconfiguration, which includes the naming of two new directors, Webster will strengthen coordination across campus operations, fostering a more cohesive and effective experience for current and prospective students and employees.
“In recent years, many institutions have consolidated the campus experience under one vice president who oversees multiple department directors and coordinators,” Pinson said. “I’m so excited about Dr. Webster’s appointment. Not only is he a stellar leader and administrator, but he has just the skillset we need for this streamlining of campus operations.”
After Dr. Jon Forlines’s retirement from the Vice President for Student Services role in October 2025, Webster was named Interim Director of Student Services. Then, following Craig Mahler’s resignation as Vice President for Financial Affairs, Webster became Interim Vice President for Administration and Student Engagement.
“In this restructuring, a single vice president will supervise three departments with corresponding directors or coordinators in the areas of Enrollment, Student Services, and the Business Office,” Pinson said. “Dr. Webster will be supervising these departments, not taking on the jobs of the former VPs in these areas. We’ll be hiring three new employees to ensure the workload is adequately spread out.”
Webster began serving part-time in 2016 as Director of Marketing and Recruiting for Welch Online. In 2017 he became full-time Director of Enrollment Services. Then in 2022 he was named Director of Enrollment and Marketing, while overseeing chapel worship and the worship ministry program. He also holds a faculty appointment, teaching part-time as Assistant Professor of Music and Theology.
Before coming to Welch, Webster served ten years as Music Minister at Gateway Free Will Baptist Church and teacher at Gateway Christian School and College. Then he served as pastor of a Free Will Baptist church in North Carolina for four years. He has been married for twenty-one years to his wife Kimberly, a homemaker and homeschool mother of their three children, Aaron, Julianna, and Noah. (Aaron, a high school senior, is dually enrolled at Welch and will be a freshman this fall.)
A native of Virginia Beach, Virginia, Webster holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Gateway Christian College, a master’s degree in biblical studies from Virginia Beach Theological Seminary, and two master’s degrees from Maranatha Baptist University, in theology and church music.
Webster was recently awarded the Ph.D. in church music and worship from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has also served extensively as an author for D6 Family Ministry, has written numerous popular and academic articles and papers, and serves on the Music Commission of the National Association of Free Will Baptists.
“This restructuring move aligns Welch College with best practices in higher education and positions us strategically for continued growth as an institution,” Provost Matthew McAffee said. “I can think of no one more uniquely qualified to lead this particular effort than Dr. Webster. His diverse experience and expertise are just what we need in someone to lead these three crucial departments.”
To facilitate this transition, Welch will employ three new full-time-equivalent employees and will shift existing employees. Former Welch Student Accounts Coordinator Alyssa Hill, originally from Norton, Virginia, has been named the college’s Director of Financial Services. A 2018 Welch graduate with a B.S. in Business Administration, Hill served four years as Financial Aid Assistant and later Assistant in both Financial Aid and the Business Office, before assuming the role of Student Accounts Coordinator in the Business Office in 2022. The college will conduct a search for a full-time employee to fill Hill’s former role.
Women’s Resident Director Whitney Lute has been named Interim Dean of Students. Currently assisting President Pinson part-time with administrative roles in the President’s Office, Lute is in her sixth year in the Student Services department at Welch. She holds a B.S. in Psychology from Welch (2018) and an M.S.W. from Tennessee State University in Social Work, having served as an adjunct instructor in psychology at Welch for the past three years. The college will be conducting a search for the Dean of Students position soon.
In Enrollment Services, Dr. Webster will continue to provide direct, daily oversight and strategic leadership, working closely with Pam Buck, Admissions Records Coordinator; AnnaGee Harris, Coordinator for Enrollment Events and Student Reps; and Abby Settle, Senior Admissions Counselor. Together, this experienced team brings nearly forty years of combined undergraduate recruiting and admissions experience and will continue building on the 42-year high enrollment the college had last fall.
“I’m so excited about what the future holds as these stellar, proven leaders assume these new positions with fresh ideas and a firm commitment to the mission of Welch College to educate leaders to serve Christ, His Church, and His world,” Pinson said. “I want all our supporters to pray for them as they step into these exciting new roles in this hopeful time after the 42-year enrollment record this past fall. Also continue to pray for the other employees in these departments, who will continue their dedicated service to Welch.”
In addition to these changes, Welch will be searching for another full-time-equivalent administrative assistant to offer assistance in this new administrative structure. For more information about Welch, visit the college’s website at welch.edu.
GALLATIN, TN—The University of Tennessee Press recently announced its forthcoming publication of Welch President Matt Pinson’s book The Free Will Baptists: A New History. The book will be available in hardcover and ebook formats on Tuesday, January 13, 2026.
Pinson’s book is the latest in UT Press’s America’s Baptists series, edited by Dr. Andrew Smith of Carson-Newman University. The series explores the complex history of the Baptist tradition through scholarly monographs and edited collections of primary and secondary documents.
In the book, Pinson offers a comprehensive history of the Free Will Baptist movement—a distinct theological tradition within the larger Baptist family. (Welch College is the educational institution of the National Association of Free Will Baptists.)
University of Tennessee Press has nominated The Free Will Baptists for the Susanne M. Glasscock Book Prize at Texas A&M University. The prize, first awarded in 1999, was permanently endowed in December 2000 by Melbern G. Glasscock and his wife, Susanne, for whom the prize is named. This unique prize honors outstanding, original interdisciplinary research in the humanities that appeals to both academic and wider audiences.
Several scholars have endorsed the book:
“Matthew Pinson has given us here a thorough, comprehensive survey of Free Will Baptist history, theology, and church life. The story bristles with drama.”
—From the Foreword by Timothy George, founding dean and distinguished professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School of Samford University
“I welcome the opportunity to add my enthusiasm for Pinson’s new book on Free Will Baptist history. . . . Kudos to him and to the University of Tennessee Press for this innovative book.”
—Robert E. Picirilli, professor emeritus of New Testament and former academic dean, Welch College
“. . . a well-written and very readable book for twenty-first-century students and interested readers and researchers of denominational history.”
—Gary Fenton Barefoot, curator, Free Will Baptist Historical Collection, University of Mount Olive
“Students and scholars of Baptist and American history now have a definitive resource for teaching and researching a diverse and evolving Baptist tradition.”
—John Inscore Essick, associate professor of Church History, Baptist Seminary of Kentucky
“The subtitle of this book could easily read, “A New and Definitive History” . . . will shape this field of study for decades to come.”
— Anthony Chute, professor of Church History, California Baptist University
“We are indebted to Pinson for this critical monograph . . . it helps us to see that the Baptist story is diverse and contested.”
—Curtis W. Freeman, research professor of Theology and Baptist Studies and Ruth D. Duncan director of the Baptist House of Studies, Duke University Divinity School
“Traversing four centuries of history in his analysis, Pinson divides his study into five parts, arranged in chronological and geographical order,” the announcement said. “He traces the beginnings of the Free Will Baptists in the Carolinas from the late 1600s; the denomination’s early expansion across the Southeast; the rise and decline of the Northern Freewill Baptists; and the identity and development of the Free Will Baptist movement into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.”
“The scarcity of archival evidence for the history of Free Will Baptists in the American South makes the chronicling of their history challenging. To illustrate the development of ideas within the tradition over time, Pinson creatively engages a unique combination of primary source materials, including general conference and local church minutes, confessional documents, and worship materials such as hymnals. A scholarly history as accessible as it is comprehensive, The Free Will Baptists: A New History is a valuable resource for students of religious history as well as Baptist historians.”
The Free Will Baptists: A New History will be available for purchase at utpress.org and wherever books are sold.
GALLATIN, TN—Welch College President Matt Pinson announced to faculty and staff this week that Craig Mahler has resigned from Welch as Vice President for Financial Affairs, after nearly twenty years at the college, first as Comptroller and then, for thirteen years, as VP and Chief Financial Officer.
Pinson said, “My dear friend shared with me that after much prayer and reflection, he and his wife Sabrina feel it’s the right time for him to conclude his season of full-time service at Welch. Craig has endured financial challenges and made Welch stronger over the past thirteen years. He has shown incredible tenacity and believes that, given the college’s financial stability, now is the time God has granted him peace to step away. He has accepted a job as the Chief Financial Officer at Christian Community Schools in the nearby city of White House, where his daughter attends.”
“This has been one of the hardest decisions of my life,” Mahler said. “But the Lord has impressed on me the importance of presence and priority of ministry to my family, especially our girls, with whom time and opportunity are fleeting. With the college experiencing its highest enrollment in 42 years this fall and having received much-needed cash infusions from gifts and real estate investments this calendar year, it has become clear that it’s the right time to step away, given the current financial stability and momentum.”
“We wept together,” Pinson said, “as he shared how difficult a decision this was and reassured me of his deep commitment to Welch and its mission, and to me and our shared vision for the college he loves so deeply. Craig spoke of how thankful he is for what God has done under his tenure, the solid place he has helped us get to with God’s help, and the integrity with which we have done it. He spoke of his and Sabrina’s desire to be Welch’s biggest fans in the future.”
President Pinson has appointed Dr. Daniel Webster as interim Vice President for Administration and Student Engagement. In this role he will continue managing the student experience from recruitment to graduation from Welch, while ensuring the uninterrupted management of the Business Office.
“When I began serving as Comptroller in 2006, I could not have anticipated the profound impact this place would have on my life,” Mahler said. “Since being invited into the CFO role in 2012, I’ve had the tremendous blessing of helping steward Welch’s resources through seasons of both challenge and growth. I sincerely love and appreciate President and Mrs. Pinson and am thankful to God for the opportunity to work alongside them for nearly twenty years. I am confident the Lord will continue to use President Pinson to lead the college to a position of thriving. While I believe the time is right for me to step away, it is not without a heavy heart. I remain confident in our beloved college and the Lord’s continued care for it.”
Mahler will continue full-time through mid-January, moving to a limited, remote and part-time capacity for the next several weeks following that, then serving as a consultant.
Pinson said, “I am so thankful for this dedicated servant of God and close friend who has loved and served Welch so selflessly over these nearly two decades.”
GALLATIN, TN—Dr. Jon Forlines will retire after more than 24 years of full-time service as Vice President for Student Services and Dean of Students and will continue as Special Advisor to the President, according to Welch President Matt Pinson.
Forlines has been on leave of absence from Welch since suffering a stroke in mid-July. “Welch is so thankful for the prayers of its alumni and supporters for our dear friend Jon Forlines for the past few months,” Pinson said. “Dr. Forlines has been such a key member of the Welch leadership team for nearly a quarter of a century—and such a loving, Christlike mentor to our students. It’s going to be hard to replace him.”
A 1980 Welch graduate, Forlines grew up on the Welch campus, the son of Dean of Students and theology professor Leroy Forlines and his wife Fay. Following graduation, he served as an associate and youth pastor in North Carolina for many years. After that he began doctoral studies in psychology while living in Polston Hall, the women’s residence hall on the West End campus, where his wife Susan, Welch Dean of Women, served as women’s resident director. Completing his Ph.D. from Tennessee State University in 1998, he served as a psychological examiner in the Tennessee Prison system until beginning his current role in 2001. Jon and Susan have four children: Stephen, who died in childhood, and Joel, Jared, and Anna, all three Welch graduates.
“There is no one more committed to Welch than Dr. Forlines,” Pinson said. “Having served as president of the student body when he was a student and as president of the Alumni Association for the last few years, he has always been one of the college’s greatest supporters. He brought this love and commitment for his alma mater with him to his work as Vice President and Dean of Students.”
“His quiet, kind, and affable manner, together with his Christ-centered love for students and desire to see them grow in their faith and commitment to Holy Scripture, has been nothing short of life-changing for countless Welch students.” Pinson continued. “He will be sorely missed, and we ask the wider Welch family to remain in prayer for him as he continues his recovery.”
“Compassionate, concerned, and committed are three descriptors that come to mind when I think about Dr. Jon Forlines,” Welch Provost Matthew McAffee said. “Over the years that I’ve known and worked with Dr. Forlines at Welch College, he has consistently shown deep compassion and concern for students, faculty, and staff alike. And one major unifying thread running throughout his life’s work and ministry here has been his loyal commitment to our rich institutional heritage and its ongoing investment in the transformation of students for Christ’s kingdom. We will miss him deeply and pray for God’s blessings upon him and his family in this new season of life.”
Dr. Daniel Webster, Director of Enrollment Services, will serve as Interim Director of Student Services, with the assistance of Susan Forlines, Whitney Lute (Women’s Resident Director and part-time Executive Assistant to the President), and additional support staff.
Pinson said, “Welch College extends its heartfelt thanks to Dr. Forlines for his dedicated service to this institution and will be praying for him and supporting him in the days ahead.” Welch is planning a campus event to celebrate Dr. Forlines’s career at Welch.
