Dear Friends,
I am glad to
provide you with an update on
Louisville
Bible College as we approach our
60th year of ministry—especially now with our exciting news about
accreditation. LBC has
just been granted Candidate status with ABHE—the Association for Biblical Higher
Education! This is
a major milestone. We
praise God for His blessing and thank all our friends and partners
for their prayers and support.
LBC is an unusual college in that, from its beginning in 1948, it
has been nontraditional, very focused, and extremely efficient. It was founded to provide
degree programs in Bible and ministry for adults who were serious
about serving Christ.
In fact, its mission was, and still is, to “educate preachers
and other Christian workers for Christ’s church.” Today, of course,
nontraditional programs for adults are the fastest growing dynamic
in American education, with:
- Emphasis more on analysis and application than rote
memorization
Opportunities
year-round and round-the-clock for busy adults to finish their
degrees without neglecting their families, church commitments, or
jobs
Professors teaching part time
while working full time in the helping professions in the real
world
Advantages of close personal
relationships within small classes and with instructors who
care
But those emphases and values have
characterized LBC from the beginning.
That LBC is nontraditional means that the courses are geared
primarily to adults who are highly motivated and seriously committed
to Christian leadership.
It means that the campus is non-residential, with the vast
majority of students driving in from a distance. It means that courses can be
taken onsite, online, in churches, or by way of “home studies.” Onsite courses can be taken
during the day, in the evening, on weekends, in intensive modules,
or in an accelerated format.
Adults can begin their college education for the very first
time, finish a bachelor’s degree they have begun somewhere else, or
even enroll in a master’s program.
That LBC is very focused means that, for 60 years, the
College has been true to its mission. More recently, with a number
of Christian colleges and universities expanding their scope, LBC
has re-clarified its niche by holding the line on its
ministry-oriented majors and by publicizing its new slogan: “Training Leaders for the
Local
Church.” It means that the College
continues to exist exclusively to teach the Bible, help ministers
and missionaries prepare to preach the gospel, and train other
Christians to be servant leaders in local
congregations.
That the College is extremely efficient can be seen in the
oft-quoted statement that “those who support LBC get a better return
on their investment”—for several reasons. First, because LBC’s budget
is one of the smallest (less than $1million per year), it costs less
to operate, with the result that every dollar goes farther. Secondly, tuition is one of
the lowest (1/3 of the average Christian Church college and 1/5 of
the average regional institution), resulting in more help for
students from every contribution made. Thirdly, LBC has one of the
highest outcomes ratios in terms of ministry preparation, with 85%
of all living alumni still in ministry today, and with nearly 100%
of all recent graduates currently in located ministry. That’s why I frequently say
to our partners, “Your dollar goes farther at LBC, because it takes
less money to produce more ministers.”
Shortly after I came to LBC in 2004, we arranged for an
electronic survey of all our alumni and students. With better than a 60%
return rate, we learned why our students and alumni value their
education at LBC. The
most frequent response was, “Because Louisville Bible College is
true to the Bible.” (We
continue to teach the Bible as the infallible Word of God and we
hold to the principles of the Restoration Movement.) The next three responses
most frequently cited were:
- Low Cost of tuition and fees. (E.g., “I couldn’t afford
to go anywhere else and we didn’t want to enter the ministry with
a huge debt hanging over our heads.”)
High Caliber of the
faculty. (E.g., “I
love the fact that all our professors are involved in real world
experience.”)
Convenience—of location and
schedule. (E.g., “I
couldn’t continue my study of the Bible or finish my degree if I
had to go to college at traditional times.”)
You may wonder, with our small budget, how large our college is and
what we need help with
financially. We
typically enroll more than 300 adult students throughout the year,
with an FTE of approximately 100. But our ministry
requires $3 in donations from friends for every $1 in tuition from
students. So we need
your help in order to meet our annual operating costs and to cover
increases in such expenses as utilities, insurance, building
maintenance, and technology.
We also need help with accreditation expenses as we continue
our progress toward Initial Accreditation with ABHE and help with
our Student Scholarship Fund.
(We receive no government funding and no federal student aid
for students. We
personally cover the additional educational costs of our
students.)
Our 11-acre campus is comprised of four major buildings: the Administration Building (with offices and classrooms),
the Library, the Chapel Building, and a house that has
been converted into three apartments for faculty and students. We are conveniently located
on the southeast side of Louisville, at exit 15 (Beulah Church
Road) on I-265. We would love to have you
visit sometime and meet our people. I praise God for your
commitment to His Son.
And I thank you for your partnership in our
ministry!
-
Charles A. McNeely, President
