Eighteenth Year Reviewed
We again experienced a very special Graduation Week. The 2025 Commencement was a special time and we enjoyed the fellowship of our friends that attended. All that gathered were blessed, and the Lord’s leading was felt with every speaker.
The completion of our eighteenth year saw over twenty preachers present during Alumni Week, which encouraged the heart of the young people and the teachers. The Alumni Fish Fry, the Spring Banquet, the Wednesday Church Rally, and the Commencement service brought together many friends of Heritage.
As we reflect on our fourteenth year on the Hopewell campus, we are so grateful to all those that partner with us. The Banquet Offering for summer projects and expenses exceeded the goal of $10,000. Thank you! We have already completed two projects, and we are looking forward to finishing two more. Your support is richly appreciated for the vital ministry of training the next generation.
The President’s Perspective
Eighty years ago, a first happened in the world.
On July 16, 1945, scientists, military leaders, and one journalist crowded in three concrete bunkers constructed from 6 to 20 miles away from where the first atomic bomb would be detonated. The barren site was about 50 miles from Alamogordo, New Mexico. The test, labeled “Trinity,” had America’s first atomic bomb (dubbed the “Gadget”) rigged to explode on a platform 100 feet about the desert floor.
The 8,000 lb. bomb had been slowly hoisted up the tower the day before, and the expected detonation was 4:00 a.m. the morning of July 16th. But a rare thunderstorm delayed the countdown.
In the bunkers, the tension ran high. No one knew what would happen. To relieve the pressure of the wait, technicians organized a betting pool to predict the size of the blast. Some bet high at 45,000 tons of TNT, Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the whole Manhattan Project bet a modest 3,000 tons. What really irritated General Leslie Groves (the military project overseer), was Enrico Fermi (the scientist who had achieved the first controlled nuclear reaction). Enrico Fermi offered side bets on whether the bomb would ignite the atmosphere - and if so, would it destroy just New Mexico, or the entire world?
The storm passed, and everyone in the bunkers was instructed to lie face down, flat on the floor. At 5:30 a.m. an electric pulse ran through the cabling and the first atomic bomb exploded into history. With the explosive power of 20,000 tons of TNT the light and sound were terrifying. A light “brighter than the noon day sun” was seen up to 200 miles away, and the explosion was heard up to 100 miles.
As I think on that historic day, two thoughts come readily to mind. First, it was the Lord’s mercy that he allowed the United States to be first in discovering this power. Only six years before, Albert Einstein had written a letter of warning to the President prompting the start of research. (Wallace, Chris. Countdown 1945. New York: Avid Press. 2020.)
The second thought deals with current events. Only 16 days after this test, America dropped the first of two atomic bombs on Japan to end WWII.
Recently, America attacked the terrorist state of Iran that was nearing completion for a nuclear bomb. How long would Iran have waited to use such a device?
After 40 Years
Dr. Wayne Scott, pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Morristown, IN and a teacher the past 18 years at Heritage Baptist College, gave this recent salvation testimony while preaching during Graduation Week. He opened his sermon with the Bible passage of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19,20). Dr. Scott stated, “I just want to tell as many people about Jesus as I can.” He then shared this current story.
“Last Saturday, I dropped off my 1965 Ford Comet Hotrod at Vail’s Classic Cars in Greenfield, for some minor adjustments. I began talking with the owner, Ron Vail, and I found out that he is a Christian. He continued sharing how God had moved through his life, and he told me that as a young man he worked driving an oil delivery truck for the F & M Oil Company down near Morristown.
I said ‘Hold on...was there a time when driving that oil truck, in the Blizzard of February 1985, did you stop and help a man push his junk Fiat out of a snowdrift and help him get it into his driveway.”
He said, “Yes,”
Then I said, “Did that guy give you a Gospel tract.
Ron Vail excitedly said: “Was that you!”
I smiled and said “Yes.”
Now that was 40 years ago...4 decades.
Ron Vail then continued his story: “I read that Gospel tract and I got saved. My wife read that Gospel tract, and she got saved. My two children are saved. I gave that Gospel tract to my brother and he got saved. And we are all in this independent Baptist Church up in Pendleton, IN.
Ron Vail asked if that was my wife down waiting in the car, and I said “Yes.”
He asked if he could go down and meet her and just tell her “Thank you, so much!...but you are going to have to tell her, because I am going to start crying.”
What a moving story of God’s Mercy and Grace, experienced by His power, as the Gospel is shared in every day life.
Meet Our Graduates - Who is looking at Whom
Almost fourteen years span the two pictures of Ethan Dennis and his sister Lilliana.
Ethan and Lilliana are both the children of President Russell and Rhonda Dennis. Ethan was only five when his sister was diagnosed with Trisomy 18 and only give weeks to live.
As Lilliana went through Open Heart Surgery, Liver Cancer Recovery, and other lesser surgeries, Ethan has been there to cheer and encourage her.
President Dennis urges every Christian young person, whether called into the Ministry or not, to take one year of Bible training and gain a foundation in the Word of God. At Bible college God has opportunity to speak to a student’s heart.
This year, Ethan graduated with a one year Bible diploma.
Ethan does not now believe that the Lord has called him into the Ministry, but he does ask that the Lord guide in his life, and that the Lord help him to be a witness.
You are invited to attend
Heritage Baptist Bible Fellowship Fall Meeting in Franklin Furnace, OH October 6-8, 2025 at Franklin Furnace Independent Baptist Church.
We will have special music and preaching each morning and evening.
Mark you Calendar!