Commencement Week 2024

Graduation week at Heritage has become a much anticipated occasion full of outstanding events. We are looking forward to a special time of blessing April 30 - May 2 (Tuesday - Thursday).

Everyone is invited to participate in the various activities: Spring Graduation Banquet, Wednesday Night Rally, Alumni Fish Fry, and the Commencement. The date of the banquet this year is Tuesday, April 30, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. on the Hopewell Campus. There will be plenty of room with small groupings of tables. That evening Dr. Harry Strachan will bring a message that will encourage your heart. Special music will also be a part of the evening program.

The closing service will be held on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Hopewell Campus. Pastor Rick Stone of Indianapolis, IN will be the speaker that evening. He has ministered at the beautiful Grace Baptist Church for over two decades. All are invited.

The President's Perspective

This year I have richly enjoyed teaching a class on Revival. Looking back 300 years ago, America was in a downward spiraling state of decay. The saddened condition of things had event contaminated the churches. One preacher reflected on how the New England congregations were being effected. He stated that in not too many years, conscientious people would be gathering “churches out of churches.”

Then the Lord heard the prayers of His people and in 1734 began “the work of the Lord” as Jonathan Edwards called it. Revival blossomed in Northampton, MA and elsewhere under his preaching. Jonathan Edward’s sermon delivery, by all accounts, was in a dry, matter-of-fact monotone, often memorizing his sermon from a written manuscript. Yet God moved when the Word went forth. But in a few years, the revival fires began to dim.

Then in 1740, the Lord sent from England a completely opposite style of preacher named George Whitfield. This preacher was loud (it was reported that his unamplified voice reached 25,000 who attended his open air meetings). He ranted against sin, and he was not afraid to ask for money for God’s work. The Revival in America took off again in earnest, thousands more were saved, and the results carried down to the American Revolution.

Edwards and Whitefield were the two leading preachers of “America’s Great Awakening,” and both men had formal training: Edwards (Yale) and Whitefield (Oxford). Still, God used men that were very opposite in style. The one shouted, while the other asked his congregation to stop weeping so sinners could hear. One stood straight behind his pulpit, the other moved with dramatic gestures. The point is ...God used both kinds.

Some folks may think that only “hollerin” is preaching, while others gravitate to a Bible sermon less dramatically delivered. Yet God uses both kinds.

Bible-based, Spirit-filled preaching is what will reach America. How shall they hear without a preacher? Romans 11:14b

My father coined this phrase: Scholars on Fire, which is the philosophy that we strive to achieve at Heritage Baptist College.

Graduation Week

“More prayer, more patience, and more exercise of faith will bring greater blessing.” - George Müller - His Journal

The Non-Campaign to be Debt Free

I remember the first time I viewed the Hopewell property. A local realtor had told me about the place on Wednesday, October 27, 2010. He said that it would be a great site for a college, but the problem was that the property was up for auction the next morning at 10:00 a.m. That afternoon, I took this picture.

How amazing was that next day, October 28th, as the Lord allowed us to outbid a room full of investors, farmers, and entrepreneurs.

The price of the Hopewell property was in- credible, yet, taking on the added responsibility of monthly payments became a step of faith.

When Covid came, things began to look very serious, but the Lord intervened, and our finances got better.

At the last Fall Banquet, the speaker Dr. Don Strange, first mentioned the possibility of paying off the remaining $29,000 to be debt free.

Without a big push, we directed all the Christmas giving towards paying off the Hopewell property. Then after Christmas, each month, more and more gifts were received until on March 19th the giving topped the payoff goal.

To God be the Glory!

Wednesday Night Rally

For the seventeenth year, Heritage will host a special Wednesday night rally for the churches. All are encouraged to attend. There will be special music also that night.