Why start an online BB ministerial academy?

Amen. I love you sense of humor you had me laughing out loud on the JW and Unitarian thing.

When I was asking for schools to look into for transfer of credit I had more in mind schools like Maranatha,DTS,and other accredited schools. So if you , Rhetorician, and exscentric could each come up with a list of about 5 I will do the rest of the work.

 

I'm pretty sure that some good schools will reply that transfer is on a case by case basis.

(1) does the course subject being transferred parallel a required or elective course taught by the receiving school ? (so, it may be that our course offerings should parallel those of good schools) ,

(2) does the course rigor and substance approximate the rigor and substance of courses taught at the receiving school? (so, it may be that an estimation should be made of the normally expected rigor and substance of courses in good schools ) That rigor and substance needs to be clearly evident in ours.

That is why I think that little positive assurance about transfer of credits can be gotten from other schools until faculty is determined and courses are designed.

 

MBBC accepted some of the credits from our small Bible Institute here a few years ago as did Ambassador Baptist.

There was quite a bit of work involved in the approval process.

 

My circles are more general like Moody, Calvary Bible in Kansas City, Faith Baptist in Ankeny, IA.

I think uzthd is right, but they might give you some idea of the items they look at - could be wrong.

 

Hey Rhetorician,
I would love for Dr. Bob to be a part of this.Your are right his credentials are good.I think Dr. Bob would be perfect to teach greek,I don't know of anybody on the board more qualified,do you?

 

I have to leave for a couple of hours. Personal business.

 

Rhetorician that is very good to know.So far as I know BibleCentre.com has the most material available to print out and use to teach two years of greek. Can you take a look and tell me what you think?

 

I have been keeping up with this thread....and can I just ask....

Why we need this? What is the purpose? I guess I am unclear on the role this would serve when there are so many fine colleges/seminaries for people to be trained?

I am not trying to be pessimistic, just curious...

 

Dear UZThd,
I think you are probably right.How helpful would catalogues be from some of these schools in helping us determine the make up of our courses.While we want our cirriculum and courses to be equal to the best schools we also want to set it up to do the job we have in mind.Keeping in mind that we want to train a person to become a pastor,teacher,missionary,or evangelist and have them prepared when they walk out the door to do what God has called them to do.
It is the proper training that is important.If they can't do the job when they leave our institution then we have failed.That should be our first priority.
Everybody who has decided so far to work with us is well educated and qualified with excellant backgrounds.I have no fear that all who accept teaching positions will design thier courses so that we will be able to transfer credit to other institutions.Don't forget that once we get our initial program set up it will be in a constant state of improvement and upgrading.I see a constant tweeking and fine tuning of all training going on as we learn better how to train and get the most from our students.Of course we want to give our students our very best each time as this is work that has eternal benefits and consequences.My thinking on this is that this is my offering to God and I want to give Him the best that I have.
I also want you to know I have decided to learn to spell better.

Yours in Christ Jesus,
POB

 

Dear Pastor SBC1303,
Please take the time to go start at the thread"okay now that you have this fine education" and read it,then read this thread from the start.When you have done that you will understand.If you have any questions after that I will be happy to discuss anything you wish.

 

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I think this a fair question. There are colleges and seminaries-good ones. Usually these are fairly expensive. There are also less expensive programs as the one mentioned in the thread by "Layman" and the other SBC Seminary extension which Tom mentioned in that same thread. I don't know much about these two. But I think I'll investigate.

What I am opining is this: I think the only justification for our envisioned "Academy" is if it offers a blend of (1) very low cost , (2) substantive, even transferable, DL coursework, and (3) a significant amount of teacher-student interaction.

There already are low cost programs. Are they substantial? Do they include a lot of teacher-student interaction. I don't know. I'll investigate more.

 

Thankyou UZThD,
You covered some of it. I was'nt dancing around the question, I feel I have answered that question fairly about 5 or 6 times in these two threads already.I thought I had been pretty clear what my vision is. I must have failed somehow.I will go into word and put together a complete picture(in words)of what my vision for this school is and why it is needed and will post it on this thread.

 

Why start another online Bible School?
There are several reasons.The first reason there is a need for another on-line Bible institute is money plain and simple. Even the MOST economical schools charge at least $80 per semester hour per class that translates into $240 per course, in 1 years time that is $2400 per year plus books and fees .Now to many that would seem very reasonable.But would you believe it there are men and women in this country making $5.15 an hour who pay tax and social security on that money.So after Uncle Sam gets done with them they have about $725 dollars with to pay rent,buy groceries,do thier laundry,and pay for transportation back and forth to work.How much disposable income do you suppose there is?Now after they pay thier tithe and offerings how much disposable income do you suppose there is.There are others some making a bit more some a bit less who are called but just can't find money to go to school.
Now let's go to the next guy he is making $15 an hour or about $2400 a month.He is a married man with a wife and two children.Well they need at least a two bedroom apartment and that will cost at least $500 per month in a sleazy area.Plus utilities,plus food for 4,plus taxes and social security,plus medical,plus transportation,plus insurance,plus heat,plus tithes and offerings.How much money do you suppose he has left at the end of the month?Now let's add $200 per mo tuition plus books and fees,hold it there is'nt that much left and there are no corners to cut, you can only eat so much macaroni and cheese.He would move to go to school if he could get something lined up but has tried and it just did'nt work out.
The prospective student is overseas and has no real marketable skills in the US after all how many mining jobs or pearl diving jobs are available in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area anyhow?He or she does not come from a family with money so how is he to make a living and pay for Bible college.Or they could do it but they would have to leave thier wife and children at home and send what money they could.
I know there are all kinds of success stories about how it all worked out, but how many are left behind?Is there anybody who can help them get a quality education?
Some people are just unable to leave thier homes for a variety of reasons.Some people even if they were to recieve a full tuition scholarship could'nt even afford the books.
Some Well meaning but un-equipped churches start Bible institutes. They give the best education they can but the student leaves unprepared for the work God has called them to do.
Some schools are very good on the academics but poor on the practicle application part of the education, so again the student goes out unprepared and many times fails or burns out because they think they have to do it all.
Some students in a burning desire to serve the Lord end up in a marginal school with weak academics because that is what they can afford.
Yes some end up in degree mills or very marginal schools because there is some hope of training and it's the best they have been able to find that they have access to and can afford.They hope against hope this will train them enough to answer thier call.This is what makes degree mills and very marginal schools pay off.
Some of these schools are just doctrinally unsound period.

My Vision

Or what I would like to see happen is the following:
A tuition free school or at least very minimal tuition.
A school where most of the resources needed to study can be found for free online thereby cutting the cost of books.
A school that properly prepares pastors,teachers,missionaries,and evangelists to go out into the field fully trained and prepared to do the work God has called them to do.
A school that has good sound academics.
A school with a properly trained and credentialed training staff.
A school that teaches the pracical how to skills as well as they teach academics.
Professors who have very frequent contact with thier students and interact with them freely and openly.
A school where the students feel not only is thier professor thier teacher and instructor but also thier mentor.
A school where Bible college and seminary students can come in and get the missing parts of thier education.
A school that awards a certificate or diploma of proficiency and not a degree.
A school whose students bear so much fruit that we will be recognized by our fruit,namely the students.
That is what God has laid upon my heart.From the inter-action I have had here on two threads, this thread being one of them, with about nine other people who are willing to join this effort or help with it if we can get a few more of the right people we can start putting something together and make this work. God seems to be blessing it so far. I pray for the blessings to continue.

Yours in Christ Jesus,
POB

 

"A school where most of the resources needed to study can be found for free online thereby cutting the cost of books."
"
Considering that websites are often rather impermanent this would mean that practically all those resources will have to be available from the Bible schools website.
Or else it's going to be:"Sorry Bert you can't follow the history of the Inquisition in the 15th century this year 'cause currently the Malleus maleficarum isn't on line anywhere at the moment."

"A school that teaches the pracical how to skills as well as they teach academics.
Professors who have very frequent contact with thier students and interact with them freely and openly.
A school where the students feel not only is thier professor thier teacher and instructor but also thier mentor."
"
All of this is already difficult for a normal college, distance learning only makes it harder.

"A school where Bible college and seminary students can come in and get the missing parts of thier education."
"
There is a real need for such an institution.

Bill
I will keep track of this thread and any follow ups of it. I'm a busy girl, so I fear that I don't have much time to spare for this project.

 

Moique thankyou for your input.I know what you say about web sites has some truth to it.But then there are some very good sites that are very solid.A couple of them being: E-sword.com and Biblecentre.com,also Bible.org is very good, so is the Baptist Start Page.In addition I have the web address of several Bible college and seminary libraries.Plus the web address to the Library of Congress and the Vatican.All those places are pretty solid.

 

Moique, I am truly sorry you are so busy. You would have been perfect to teach church history.I've watched your posts for almost two years and I know you have an excellant knowledge of church history from the European side as well as in depth knowledge of American church history.

 

Might add http://www.bible.org to your list for some good stuff, mostly Dallas Sem. people's work.

I have noticed the big, good sites are fairly permanent and if they do move they leave linking pages.

You might add to the todo list to contact these sites and tell them what is being proposed in case they have any objections or might want to cooperate.

This would add a reason to keep any change of address info coming our way.

 

FYI -- or not.

Canadian Seminary, Via Internet, To Reach Across Canada & Beyond
Doy Cave, Baptist Press

It's one of the first of its kind in North America and is poised to bring education to those in ministry across the continent and beyond. The Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary has worked with Association of Theological Schools to launch a new delivery system, seminarylink.com, that will allow the seminary to work with students across Canada and the world. Steve Booth, CSBS academic dean, said the program differs from most other seminary online programs in its structure. "Seminary Link is not just a bunch of online courses delivered together," Booth said. "It is the delivery of an entire degree program. And students won't be out there doing this on their own out in cyberspace; we're going to walk with these students wherever they are." Under this new delivery system, the class schedule would allow a student to take nine credit hours online per year and six credit hours in on-campus intensives, which equates to two visits to Cochrane, Alberta, Canada, per year. Booth emphasized that the Canadian seminary is dedicated to making sure the online students get much of the mentoring and spiritual formation that on-campus students receive. Counseling, chapel, journey groups and the like will be replicated in innovative ways over the Internet.