For Immediate Release
GALLATIN, TN—Dr. Philip E. Dearborn, President of Association of Biblical Higher Education (ABHE), and Dr. Jeffrey A. Crabtree, Head of Biblical Instruction for the Ohio Free Will Baptist Bible Institute, will address the Welch College graduating class of 2025 on May 8–9. Crabtree will bring the baccalaureate sermon Thursday evening, May 8, at 7:00 p.m. Dearborn will address the graduates during the commencement ceremony at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, May 9.
Phillip Dearborn has over twenty-six years of higher education leadership experience including teaching at the Ph.D. level. His research interests include organizational theory, leadership development, and board governance. Dearborn holds M.Ed. and Ed.D. degrees from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Prior to leading ABHE, he served as Provost of Lancaster Bible College and Capital Seminary and Graduate School in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Amy, have three adult children, Michaela, Ryan, and Jack.
Jeff Crabtree, a 1979 Welch graduate, has served on the college’s Board of Trustees for the past fifteen years, nine as chairman. A native of Ohio, he has ministered in Tennessee and Virginia and served as a church planter and pastor for twenty-seven years in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. He holds the M.Div. and Th.M. from Liberty University and the D.Min. from Acadia University. He currently serves the Ohio Free Will Baptist Bible Institute as Head of Biblical Instruction. He and his wife, Donna, have two adult sons, Ben and Eric, both Welch alumni. His granddaughter Elly will be graduating from Welch in May.
To learn more about Welch College, visit welch.edu.
