by jowens | Sep 29, 2020
Welch College President Matt Pinson announced to faculty Monday that Welch had received a grant of nearly $500,000 from the Kern Family Foundation to start a five-year B.A.-to-M.Div. program, and that the college’s Board of Trustees approved the program and voted to start a new school of Welch College, Welch Divinity School, next year. This grant will allow Welch to begin offering the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree in fall of 2021.
Pinson said, “The offering of an M.Div., the first one offered by a Free Will Baptist institution, and the establishment of a divinity school attached to Welch College, is a dream come true for us. No longer will Free Will Baptists have to go outside our denomination for their M.Div. We have hoped and dreamt for an M.Div. program for many years, and many in our denomination have wanted us to start one. Frankly, I didn’t imagine we’d be doing this so soon. Yet this grant gives us the wonderful opportunity to initiate the M.Div. now. I want to thank Mrs. Anna McAffee, our grants administrator, for her diligent and creative work in helping us get this grant.”
Provost Matthew McAffee said, “We’re so thankful that we were approached about putting together a proposal to offer a five-year B.A.-to-M.Div. degree and then were awarded this grant. This also opens up the possibility for graduates of other colleges to earn an M.Div. at Welch. There have been so many requests from pastors and churches for a Free Will Baptist M.Div. program at Welch. With this new program, it’s possible for students to begin at Welch and complete a B.A. and a regionally accredited M.Div. in five years—something that normally takes seven.”
“But people who already have a bachelor’s degree, even if it’s not in a theological field, are eligible to study for and complete this M.Div.,” McAffee continued. “We’ve been hearing from more and more people in our denomination who feel the need for further ministry education in our increasingly secular society, and this grant allows us to meet this growing need.”
The Divinity School will be structured similarly to those of institutions such as Samford University, which has a Department of Biblical and Religious Studies and also Beeson Divinity School, a graduate professional school that offers the M.Div. degree. Thus Welch’s existing School of Theology will continue to offer the baccalaureate programs in theology and ministry as well as the M.A. in Theology and Ministry, a hybrid degree that utilizes both online and on-campus delivery systems. Welch Divinity School, which will house the M.Div. degree, will build on the upper-level undergraduate coursework and the M.A. core provided by the School of Theology.
“We’re conceiving of the M.Div. program as a full on-campus program,” McAffee said. “The upper-level undergraduate coursework can be earned on campus by traditional college-age students or online by students age 23 or older. The core in the M.A. will be earned in a hybrid format through both online work and one-week, on-campus intensive sessions. The M.Div.-only coursework will be earned entirely on campus. Eventually, we hope donor funding will allow us to move the entirety of the coursework for this program on campus. Furthermore, we want to emphasize that the M.Div. will be open to graduates of other colleges who want to earn an M.Div., as well as to undergraduate students who want to pursue the B.A.-to-M.Div. program.”
The Kern grant will provide funding for a new full-time faculty member, a new full-time administrator/recruiter, and a half-time assistant. College officials hope to have administrative staff in place by January 2021 to begin recruiting for the first incoming class in the Fall semester of 2021. Free Will Baptists on the ordination track who begin the program as an undergraduate are eligible for $10,000 per year in scholarships for the first eight semesters of the program.
Pinson said, “I ask the denomination and our alumni and supporters to pray for this new initiative that will move the Free Will Baptist Church into an exciting new era of ministerial and theological education.”
Details will be forthcoming. In the meantime, for more information, please contact Dr. Barry Raper at braper@welch.edu.
![Welch College Strong and Courageous Virtual Event: Award Winners Announced]()
by jowens | Sep 29, 2020
Gallatin, TN—The annual Strong and Courageous banquet benefiting Welch College took a different look this year. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual banquet normally held on the campus in May became a virtual event. The premier showing of the event was held September 28. It can be seen on demand at Facebook.com/WelchCollege or at YouTube.com/WelchCollege.
The event featured many of the aspects of the in-person event. Music included a special performance by Dr. Ming Wang as well as selections by the Welch College Rejoice! ensemble. Comments were made by Welch College President Matt Pinson, David Dill, president and CEO of LifePoint Health Systems, and former student and Hendersonville resident, Hannah Bernui. Judd Sellars, of Sellars Funeral Home, spoke of his commitment to recognize both his father, Rev. Danny Sellars, and grandfather, Rev. Walter Lee Sellars, for their decades of ministry, with a scholarship for ministry students at Welch.
Special Recognitions included a Healthcare Excellence award and the naming of the 2020 Strong and Courageous recipients. Dr. Charles Lea, Special Assistant to the President, in recognizing a special healthcare recognition, underscored the valuable service provided to our community by annual S&Csponsors Hendersonville Medical Center, NHC Sumner Place, and Sumner Regional Medical Center. One facility however assisted in the coordination of a pandemic crisis with a COVID-19 outbreak in Gallatin. In recognition of the leadership and service provided by Sumner Regional Medical Center and large volume of patients served, a Healthcare Excellence award was presented to Susan Peach, CEO of Sumner Regional Medical Center and the HighPoint Healthcare system.
The Strong and Courageous award is presented annually to an individual(s) who has demonstrated outstanding service to his or her profession while advancing kingdom principles. The 2020 Strong and Courageous award recipients are Bob and Karen Goodall. Introducing the Goodalls were Dr. Charles Lea, who spoke of their service to those less fortunate and their humble walk with God. The 2019 award recipients, Congressman Diane Black and Dr. David Black, close friends and neighbors of the Goodalls, spoke of their commitment to God, family, and community. Many personal examples of the Goodalls’ commitment to Christ and community were shared. In accepting the award, the Goodalls shared how their faith had grown through adversity as well as success. Tim Lafluer, Minister of Pastor Care at Long Hollow Baptist Church, prayed a special blessing for the Goodalls’ life and service.
Strong and Courageous continues to be one of the largest single sources of scholarship support for Welch College students from Sumner and surrounding counties. As a new year approaches, Strong and Courageous 2021 hopes to return to an in-person campus event.
by jowens | Sep 14, 2020
Welch College received notification that the institution was for the first time ranked among “A+ Schools for B Students,” along with only two other schools in its category, “Regional Colleges South”—High Point University and Ouachita Baptist University. Sixteen other schools nationwide in the “Regional Colleges” category received this designation.
This year Welch ranked 18th among “Regional Colleges South” in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 edition of America’s Best Colleges rankings, according to Welch president Matt Pinson. The “Best Regional Colleges” category where Welch is ranked includes 350 institutions that focus on undergraduate education and offer a range of degree programs in the traditional liberal arts as well as in professional fields such as business, nursing, and education. Colleges in this category are ranked within four geographic regions: North, South, Midwest, and West.
U.S. News rankings offer opportunities to judge the relative quality of institutions based on widely-accepted indicators of excellence: peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving, and more.
“We are delighted about this high ranking in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges, and especially excited about the new ‘A+ Schools for B Students’ ranking,” Pinson said. “It shows our quality to prospective students and their parents, as well as to alumni and supporters. It shows that academic excellence can coexist with a strong commitment to Christian faith and life as the center of the Welch College experience.”
“The first time Welch appeared in this ranking, back in 2010, we ranked 54th,” Pinson mentioned. “And even that was in the top half of all the Southern schools ranked in the Best Regional Colleges category. So in eleven years we’ve gone from 54th to our ranking of 18th for 2021. To put this in perspective, the next ten colleges in the list that Welch outranked had an average enrollment more than five times our enrollment and an average endowment almost nine times our endowment.”
Welch received especially high marks in five strategic areas. Compared to the other 121 institutions in the Regional Colleges South category, Welch ranked:
#2 in student-faculty ratio
#3 in students who were in the top 25% of their high school graduating class
#5 in the percentage of classes under 20 students
#5 in graduation rate
#8 in first-year student retention rate
#8 in alumni giving rate
Welch Provost Matthew McAffee said, “We’re excited to see Welch College perform so strongly in yet another U.S. News & World Report. We hope this measure will continue to show current and future students that Welch is committed to quality and excellence as a Christian institution of higher learning.”
More information is available about the rankings and methodology in the annual America’s Best Colleges guidebook at: www.usnews.com/collegemeth. For more information about Welch, email gotowelch@welch.edu or visit www.welch.edu.
by jowens | Sep 4, 2020
Dear Welch Campus Family:
I just completed a conference call with Vice President Mike Pence; Dr. Deborah Birx, the Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force; and many other college and university presidents. Others who took part in the discussion included Dr. Scott Atlas, President Trump’s new Coronavirus advisor; Dr. Robert Redfield, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota; and Dr. John Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame.
I am happy to tell you that, according to the recommendations these leaders reinforced on the call, we are doing very well on the Welch College campus, not only in the rate of people who have tested positively for the Coronavirus or are in quarantine, but also in following the best practices recommended by the White House and the CDC. This is because of the efforts you are making to follow Welch’s guidelines, and I cannot thank you enough!
One of the things they emphasized on the call, which they said many had not previously understood, is this: In addition to physical distancing and the wearing of face coverings, it is vital that as many as possible students be kept on campus whether they have symptoms or not, and it is important that colleges and universities do everything in their power to keep students as close to campus as possible.
Having travel policies and other policies that make this a reality will keep down the incidence of the disease on campus, because students will not bring the disease back to campus from across the United States. However, such policies will also keep COVID-19 from going back into households and communities, thus mitigating the spread of the disease. Vice President Pence and Dr. Birx reiterated this over and over again.
They stressed the avoidance of what they called “crowding.” Avoiding crowding, maintaining a physical distance of six feet, and wearing a face covering are imperative. Also, they highly recommended that we encourage everyone to get a flu vaccine.
The incidence of the Coronavirus among adults under 25 is on the rise. Even though the health risks are lesser for this population, the risk of this age group’s infecting people in the cross-generational population who are at greater risk is growing, they said. Dr. Birx reiterated repeatedly how important it is to understand that many young people who have no symptoms still have the disease and are passing it on to others.
So I want to congratulate you for doing the very best you can to continue to maintain six-foot physical distancing, to wear your face coverings, even when you are in the dorms and in other people’s rooms, to stay in the Gallatin area, and to fill out the form on the Ascend app each morning.
I also want to thank the Mr. Mahler, Coach Fawbush, and Dr. McAffee, as well as the members of the Special Committee on the Coronavirus, for having already put into effect a plan that precisely mirrors what we were advised on today’s conference call.
Thank you for all you are doing, Welch family! If we can keep this up, we feel confident we can make it to Thanksgiving!
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Sincerely,
Matt Pinson
President
by jowens | Aug 13, 2020
Eleven residents of Sumner County completed degree requirements at Welch College last month, according to Matthew McAffee, Provost at Welch. The college relocated from 73-year-old campus in midtown Nashville to Gallatin in the spring of 2017, constructing its new campus across the street from Station Camp High School.
“The residents of Sumner County have been so kind and welcoming—even to the point of enrolling themselves and their children,” McAffee said. “We’ve really been welcomed with open arms, and we’re so proud to be a part of this wonderful community and are excited to congratulate our local graduates.”
Welch, currently ranked 16th among Southern Regional Colleges in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges, offers regionally accredited associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees. The roster of Sumner Countians includes:
Master’s Degrees
Rejyna Beck, Master of Arts in Teaching
Cassie Davenport, Master of Arts in Teaching
Bachelor’s Degrees
Jerushah Blackburn, Bachelor of Arts in English
Josh Burgus, Bachelor of Science in Music w/ Performance Emphasis
Brenton Driscoll, Bachelor of Science in General Christian Ministry
Deborah Driscoll, Bachelor of Arts in English
Allison Pogue, Bachelor of Science in History
Craig Pope, Bachelor of Arts in English
Noni Wright, Bachelor of Science in Business
Associate’s Degrees
Tanner Carson, Associate of Science in Business
Angelina Waller, Associate of Science in Biology
Welch president Matt Pinson said, “I want to congratulate these residents of Sumner County upon the completion of their degrees. This is evidence that we’ve settled into our new community, and we love it!”
Welch College is proud of its Sumner community and its Sumner county graduates. Please join us in congratulating these graduates.
For more information on Welch, its degree offerings, or its scholarships, email recruit@welch.edu.
by jowens | Aug 6, 2020
Welch College has announced an adjustment to the athletic department for 2020-2021, according to Greg Fawbush, Welch Athletic Director. “College athletics has been deeply affected by COVID-19,” Fawbush said, “and Welch is having to make changes to accommodate the global pandemic.”
Among the changes Fawbush outlined, women’s volleyball will play a hybrid season, eleven games in the fall starting September 28 and ending November 7, followed by ten more games during March and April of 2021, for a total of twenty-one matches over the course of the year. Men’s and women’s soccer will play in the spring of 2021 for this season only. Cross country’s schedule will remain in the fall. Fawbush stated that he expects men’s and women’s basketball teams to play their games starting in November and ending in late February.
Fawbush said, “Several factors contributed to these difficult decisions, including the recent rise in positive COVID-19 cases through the south’s geographical footprint, the safety of student-athletes, and the inability to maintain a full schedule due to cancellations.” He went on to add, “By carefully realigning when our teams play, we can better realize our overall goal of keeping our athletes healthy while also still participating in athletic competition.”
For more information on athletics at Welch, email Coach Fawbush at gfawbush@welch.edu.
