by Anna Pinson | Jan 11, 2023
On Tuesday, January 10, around 2:30 p.m., Mrs. Verna Malone, wife of Welch College President Emeritus Dr. Tom Malone, passed from this life and was taken into the presence of our Lord. Mrs. Malone leaves behind her a legacy of faithfulness to Christ and His church and a commitment to Christian higher education.
A native of Darlington, South Carolina, Verna met Tom Malone in their college years. They married in 1961. After Dr. Malone’s graduation from Welch in 1963, which was then Free Will Baptist Bible College, they remained in Nashville while he assisted in the college’s promotion and fundraising arms. Mrs. Malone then served faithfully as a pastor’s wife, chiefly at First Free Will Baptist Church of Florence, Alabama, where she served as a kindergarten teacher and later bookkeeper at the Christian school affiliated with the church. Her greatest joy was being the mother of five daughters, Carol, Marianne, Kristi, Aimee, and Tommie Jo, all of whom would go on to graduate from Welch College.
Mrs. Malone became more widely known and dearly loved in her years as first lady of Welch College from 1990 to 2002. She distinguished herself as a woman of God whose deep commitment to the mission of the college and profound love for the institution and its students made an indelible imprint on the college family and the wider denomination. Her love for the institution manifested itself in the attendance of eleven of her grandchildren at Welch (the other two are still in high school and expect to attend Welch).
The funeral service for Mrs. Malone will be held at New Hope Free Will Baptist Church in Joelton, Tennessee, Friday, January 13, at 1:00 p.m. Visitation will be from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, and before the service Friday at 11:00 to 1:00. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to Welch College, 1045 Bison Trail, Gallatin, TN 37066, where the Verna Malone Scholarship for a female teacher education student and a female business student will be established.
Please be in prayer for Dr. Malone and the entire family, and please join the Welch College community in expressing gratitude to God for the life of Verna Malone.
by Anna Pinson | Nov 21, 2022
For Immediate Release
GALLATIN, TN—Anna Pinson, a member of the Welch graduating class of 2022, recently joined the Marketing Team as part-time communications assistant, according to Daniel Webster, Enrollment Services and Marketing Director.
Webster said, “I’m so excited to add Anna to our team. She brings a wonderful blend of interests to the table with her liberal arts education in English and her interest in the arts. These types of attributes are essential for effective communication, design, and marketing.”
Pinson, elected Most Outstanding Student by the Welch faculty and Best All Around Student by the student body, graduated in May with a B.A. degree in English where she was active in student government, serving as student body president her senior year.
She was also active in the arts, performing in musical theater and touring with the Evangel Players drama team, the College Choir, and the Rejoice! Ministry Team. She is currently enrolled in Welch’s new master’s degree program in humanities.
by Anna Pinson | Nov 16, 2022
For Immediate Release
GALLATIN, TN—Mitchell Moody has received the Elvin and Joyce King Award Division II Men’s cross country from the NCCAA. This award says, “The NCCAA honors student-athletes for excellence in their Christian testimony, in the classroom, and in their sport.”
Mitchell came to Welch College in the fall of 2019, majoring in math education and music education. “Mitchell has a servant’s heart, and it has shown through his leadership on campus,” stated Cross Country Coach Matt Bracey. “He has been a model student-athlete who loves the Lord and strives to glorify Him in all he does.”
Mitchell has been named to the President’s Honor Roll every year of his matriculation, as well as the Music Student of the Year and the Welch College Male Student-Athlete of the Year. He has also remained engaged in his local church, Sylvan Park Free Will Baptist Church, playing piano and teaching children.
Athletic Director Greg Fawbush said, “Mitchell has been the model student-athlete for Welch College. He achieved high marks in the classroom while excelling in the sport of cross country and setting a high standard for the rest of the student-athletes to try and reach.”
Moody qualified for the NCCAA Division II Men’s Cross Country National Championship all four years of his career, running his career-best this past year with a time of 30:30 (6:08 per mile) for 8k (4.97 miles).
“We are so proud of Mitchell,” said President Matt Pinson. “He’s one of our premier athletes, demonstrating that perfect combination of academic and athletic excellence.”
For the NCCAA release, please go to this link https://thenccaa.org/news/2022/11/10/mens-cross-country-dii-mitchell-moody-named-2022-dii-cross-country-king-award-recipient.aspx?elinkdata=%40ELINKDATA%40
Questions about Welch College’s Cross Country team may be directed to Coach Bracey at mbracey@welch.edu or Athletic Director Fawbush at gfawbush@welch.edu.
by Anna Pinson | Nov 11, 2022
Mr. Wayne Spruill, Director of Institutional Research at Welch College, died November 9 in Hendersonville, Tennessee. He was 72 years of age.
Wayne and his wife, Brenda Sanders Spruill, met while they were students at Welch. They both graduated from Welch in 1972, with his emphasis in business. He served as Student Body President. Mr. Spruill was a businessman, having managed several Christian bookstores, including Randall Bookstore and Zondervan Family Bookstores.
Wayne came to work at Welch in 2004 as the Director of Institutional Research and was instrumental in collecting and categorizing data for accreditation purposes. He was still active in this part-time position at the time of his death. He also had managed the campus bookstore and snackshop and was advisor to the college yearbook, the Lumen, from 2007-2021.
Welch College appreciates the dedicated service of Mr. Spruill and the love he had for his alma mater. He is survived by his wife Brenda, their four children, Kevin Spruill (NC), Carol Holland (TN), Beth Spruill (TN), Carl Spruill (HI), and ten grandchildren.
He never let his battle with Muscular Dystrophy hinder his work ethic. Since his confinement to a wheelchair in the early 2000s, he became known as the “Rolling Deacon.” His daughter-in-law, Cynthia, put it well that he is now “walking with Jesus.”
A memorial service will be held at Welch College Celorio Hall Auditorium November 19 at 10:00 a.m.
by Anna Pinson | Oct 26, 2022
For Immediate Release
by Daniel Webster
“Before we let the radical left tear down all the statues of our American founders, we need to read Forlines’s insightful book. . . . Thank God for this book, and for these United States of America!” That’s what Former Arkansas Governor and talk show host Mike Huckabee said about Secularism and the American Republic, the most recent book released by Welch College Press, the publishing imprint of Welch College in Gallatin, Tennessee.
Secularism and the American Republic was written by the late F. Leroy Forlines, long-time scholar of theology and culture and professor at Welch College. Forlines poured himself into the posthumous volume in the last years of his life. In the book, which can be purchased from welch.edu/welchpress, he argues against the secularist idea of strict church-state separation, opting instead for the reasonable accommodation of church and state.
“We stand desperately in need of a fresh recognition” that America’s founders did not support “secularism as a master ideology superseding all religious assertions and commitments,” writes Wilfred McClay, University of Oklahoma history professor, in his endorsement of Forlines’s book. “We are extremely fortunate to have the benefit of the late F. Leroy Forlines’s careful and nuanced discussion of the varied meanings of ‘secularism’ as applied to the early Republic, and by extension, to today’s America.”
The book is edited by Matthew Steven Bracey, vice provost for academic administration at Welch, who teaches courses in law and culture. “The myth of seventeenth-century American secularism became federally enshrined in the American legal system through the decisions of Everson v. Board of Education and McCollum v. Board of Education,” Bracey said. “A key piece of evidence the justices in these cases used was a letter penned by Thomas Jefferson in which he referred to a wall between church and state. Forlines doesn’t dispute the letter but contends that the secularist interpretation of Jefferson’s words is mistaken and that the founders supported the accommodation of church and state. Professor Forlines justifies this interpretation based on Jefferson’s writings and example, as well as the history of the movement of secularism and legal history. I’m so glad we can finally make Forlines’s groundbreaking research available to the public.”
Several scholars have lauded the book. For example, Mark Coppenger, retired professor of Christian philosophy and ethics at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, remarked, “This Forlines volume . . . is a treasure. I wish I’d had it on hand when I was teaching my church-state relations courses.” People interested in the book may purchase it at www.welch.edu/welchpress.
Daniel Webster is director of enrollment and marketing at Welch College.
