by jowens | Oct 5, 2015
Dear Friend of Welch College,
I am writing you excited that our construction on the new campus for Welch College in Gallatin, Tennessee, is well underway. We have begun site work and look forward to seeing the foundations laid soon for the campus buildings.
I encourage you to look at some images of what the new campus will look like at BuildingontheLegacy.com. Also on this website you will see the basic contours of our capital campaign, Building on the Legacy, for the new Welch College campus.
The reason for this letter is to ask for your help in the Gifts-in-Kind portion of our capital campaign. Our goal is to raise a total of $2 million in Gifts-in-Kind of materials and volunteer labor for the construction project. Some of the pledges for these gifts have already been promised.
What we need you to do is to help us identify friends and acquaintances who may be involved with businesses that could donate or provide substantial discounts on building materials, equipment, and furnishings that go into the construction of a new college campus. We also need you to help us identify individuals or groups of people who could provide volunteer labor for the project on a short-term or long-term basis.
Please take a few minutes and look at the attached list. If you know of anyone who might be interested in donating or discounting materials, equipment, or furnishings—or volunteering their labor over a short or long term—please email our project manager Bob Bass at bbass@welch.edu or call him at 615-347-5942. Please bear in mind that such gifts-in-kind may offer tax write-offs to individuals and businesses.
I am trusting that you know people who have a heart for Welch College, for Free Will Baptist ministries, or for evangelical Christian ministries in general who would be glad to assist in this project. Please send them our way.
Thank you for your support and prayers in this once-in-a-lifetime endeavor to build a new campus for Welch College for the glory of God and the extension of His kingdom.
Sincerely,
J. Matthew Pinson
President
by jowens | Oct 1, 2015
Dear Friend of Welch College,
I’m writing to tell you that we’ve formally submitted our application for a level change to our accrediting bodies so that we can offer the Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in Theology and Ministry at Welch College starting this spring semester sometime in January, February, or March, 2016. “Level change” means that we’re requesting permission to make the transition from being a bachelor’s degree-granting institution to a master’s degree-granting institution.
The main reason for this letter is to ask you to email our M.A. program coordinator Dr. Jeff Cockrell (jcockrell@welch.edu) if you (1) might be interested in enrolling in the M.A. program or (2) know someone who might be.
We believe our accrediting bodies will give us permission to begin offering the M.A. degree this coming Spring 2016 semester. The program will consist of hybrid courses, in which a portion of the coursework will be done online and the other portion in one-week on-campus intensive sessions.
Two courses will be offered at every week-long intensive. This means that those wishing to complete the M.A. in 16 months can do so by taking two courses at a time. Those who take only one course at a time will take twice as long to complete the degree. Our plan is to offer free campus lodging during the intensives. Generous financial aid will be available, including institutionally funded scholarships and federally guaranteed loans.
Right now, we’re provisionally enrolling our first cohort of individuals who want to be in the first class. If the program is approved for this January, we plan to begin with a day of meetings on campus January 5, 2016, which will consist of convocation and orientation for the program.
We plan for the first two courses to begin online on February 15 and go through April 15, with the on-campus intensive March 14-18. The first two courses will be Mission and Church Growth (taught by Dr. Barry Raper and Dr. Ron Callaway) and the Arminian Theological Tradition (taught by Dr. Kevin Hester and myself).
There’s a lot of excitement about this new program. Seats in this first cohort are limited, and students wishing to pursue the degree in sixteen months will receive priority seating. So I encourage you to inquire soon. If you or someone you know might be interested in starting with us next semester, please email Dr. Cockrell at jcockrell@welch.edu.
Please be in prayer for us as we initiate this new program. We believe the accrediting bodies will approve our starting the degree next semester, and we want you to pray with us to that end.
We look forward to hearing from you!
In Christ,
Matt Pinson
President
Course list for M.A. program:
- Mission and Church Growth
- The Arminian Theological Tradition
- Issues in Old Testament Studies
- Discovering and Communicating Biblical Truth
- Summative Experience
- Church and Culture
- Ministry and Leadership I
- Theological Foundations
- History of Doctrine
- Issues in New Testament Studies
- Ministry and Leadership II
- Summative Experience (Project/Thesis Due)
by jowens | Sep 30, 2015
Welch College enrolled 327 students from 22 states, one U.S. territory, and one other country for the Fall 2015 semester, according to Registrar Matt Bracey. Enrollment statistics indicate a diverse student body with a wide range of academic interests.
At press time October 1, the college reported 169 dormitory students, 40 commuter students, 72 distance-learning students, and 46 dual-enrollment students. Officials set the Fall 2015 full-time student equivalency at 251.
By classes they include 64 Freshmen, 72 Sophomores, 55 Juniors, 53 Seniors, 37 non-degree part-time, and 46 dual-enrollment students.
By states:
Alabama 13
Arkansas 12
California 1
Florida 9
Georgia 11
Illinois 13
Indiana 1
Kansas 1
Kentucky 4
Michigan 3
Missouri 6
Mississippi 4
North Carolina 24
Ohio 7
Oklahoma 4
Pennsylvania 1
Rhode Island 1
South Carolina 9
Tennessee 148
Texas 7
Virginia 13
West Virginia 1
Virgin Islands 3
International 31
Provost Greg Ketteman said, “Fall is always an exciting time on the Welch campus. We have a wonderful group of new and returning students this semester and expect great things from God over the coming academic year. Students are excited about the construction of our new campus in Gallatin and moving to the new campus next academic year in January of 2017.”
To contact Welch College for more information, email recruit@welch.edu or visit the college’s website at welch.edu.
by jowens | Sep 14, 2015
Jeffrey Cockrell, a well-known Free Will Baptist pastor and online instructor at Welch College, has been appointed to Welch’s full-time faculty beginning January 2016 according, to Provost Greg Ketteman. He will teach biblical studies with a specialization in New Testament and serve as program coordinator of the college’s planned M.A. program in Theology and Ministry scheduled to begin January 2016.
Dr. Cockrell has served as a Free Will Baptist pastor for nearly thirty years in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Most currently, he serves as senior pastor of Ahoskie Free Will Baptist Church in Ahoskie, NC, which also operates a Christian academy. He has served in a number of denominational posts at the local and state levels and currently serves as a member of the Historical Commission of the National Association of Free Will Baptists.
Dr. Cockrell holds a Ph.D. with a concentration in New Testament from the University of Wales in the UK, an M.A. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a B.S. and M.A.R. from Liberty University. In addition to his pastoral work, he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses adjunctively at a number of institutions, including Gordon-Conwell, Liberty, and North Carolina Wesleyan College. He is author of a number of scholarly and popular articles and papers.
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Jeff Cockrell to the faculty of Welch College,” said Dr. Ketteman. “Dr. Cockrell brings long experience in Free Will Baptist ministry, outstanding academic credentials, and a passion for teaching. He clearly demonstrates Christian virtues such as humility, diligence, and wisdom, traits that have been prominent during his career. Dr. Cockrell has proven to be an effective teacher, gaining significant experience in the Welch Online program as well as teaching online and in traditional formats for numerous other Christian and public colleges. These experiences will be particularly valuable in his role as program coordinator for the Master of Arts program in Theology and Ministry.”
President Matt Pinson said, “Dr. Cockrell brings just the right mix of pastoral effectiveness, evangelistic zeal, and academic credibility to his new position at Welch. We’re so excited to have a man of such proven ability, character, and spirituality to join our full-time faculty.”
Dr. Cockrell and his wife Terri have been married for 30 years and have two grown sons, Drew and Joel.
by jowens | Sep 11, 2015
Dear Friend of Welch College,
It was exciting last Friday to walk out on the new campus after grading had been done on the site to reveal where each building will be located. I walked the campus and prayed a prayer of thanks to God for bringing us to this point, and I prayed for His providential guidance of the entire construction and transition process.
I am writing to ask you to pray intently for this process as well. Pray particularly for two things:
(1) the Building on the Legacy campaign to raise necessary funds for campus relocation and (2) the timely completion of the construction project.
First, on the capital campaign front, I am excited to report that we received our first pledge in the public phase of the Building on the Legacy campaign—an anonymous pledge for $110,000. Praise the Lord with us for this first strong campaign pledge!
Second, pray for the timely completion of the project. We announced in June our hope to start the fall semester 2016 on the new campus, but stated that we knew it might be January of 2017. Our contractors believed, up until September 1, that a fall 2016 opening was possible, but they notified us last week of an updated project completion date of November 2016. Thus, we plan to move in December and January and begin the spring semester in late January 2017 (please see the tentative schedule below).
This contingency plan was already one of the options agreed on by the buyer of our West End property, who has been notified that we will stay on campus a few more months, and he has adjusted his plans accordingly.
Our contractors indicated that the new completion date is the result of the slow initiation of site work, owing primarily to delayed responses from subcontractors who are working in a surging Middle Tennessee construction market and a longer-than-usual site survey process.
Please continue to pray for us as we navigate the new complexities of a campus relocation and transition, and pray for us as we get out among Welch supporters and raise funds for the new campus of Welch College.
Sincerely,
Matt Pinson
President
Tentative Revised Calendar, 2016-2017 Academic Year:
West End Campus: Classes Begin August 16, 2016; End of fall term November 16, 2016
Gallatin Campus: Classes Begin January 24, 2017; End of spring term and Commencement May 19, 2017
