Southeastern Christian College

Southeastern Christian College provided a two-year liberal arts degree and a three-year degree[1] in biblical studies in Winchester, Kentucky from 1957 to 1979.[2] Following its closure, the college formed a non-profit in 1983, the Southeastern Christian Education Corporation, to provide scholarships to students from a list of Churches of Christ congregations.[2]

History of Southeastern Christian College
College Building, Kentucky Wesleyan College (Winchester, Kentucky) in 1909. The future administration building for Southeastern Christian College.

The origins of Southeastern Christian College began in 1949 in Louisville, Kentucky. It was first incorporated as “Kentucky Bible College” on March 23, 1950 at 2500 Portland Ave, Louisville, KY.[3] At its founding it was co-located with Portland Avenue Church of Christ and the Portland Christian School. The filing for incorporation listed three people as the board of directors: Carl Vogt Wilson, Albert Von Allmen, and James H. Frazee.[3] In its 1954 annual report to the state government, the college declared its plans to move to Winchester in September of that year to occupy the former location of Kentucky Wesleyan College on Wheeler Avenue.[4] In 1957, the college’s president, Winston N. Allen, notified the Commonwealth of Kentucky that Kentucky Bible College had been renamed to Southeastern Christian College.[5]

Southeastern Christian College was accredited as a two-year college, but also offered a subsequent, three-year degree as a bible college.[1] The college was established as an educational institution informed by the interests of the Churches of Christ that sympathized with premillennialism[6][7][8] -- Robert Henry Boll, the minister at Portland Avenue Church of Christ from 1904-1956, was a key figure in both the establishment of the college and the premillennial movement in the Churches of Christ.[9] The college provided a meeting place for many debates about the nature and direction of the Church of Christ movement. For example, in an effort to encourage unity in the churches, “Rightist” and “Centrist” leaders met on the campus in 1959 to address a “factional spirit” in the movement.[10] However, the efforts to foster unity in the Churches of Christ sometimes resulted in controversy; in 1970 the president (LaVern Houtz) and ten of the college's fifteen faculty members were asked to resign for their acceptance a charismatic movement in American Christianity.[9]

With approximately serving 3000 students in its thirty year existence, Southeastern Christian College was always small; it struggled to support itself with tuition, grants, and gifts from the churches that funded it. The college closed in 1979 for lack of funds.[2] Purchased by Clark County, Kentucky, most of the campus buildings have been demolished, but the site now serves as a municipal park, College Park.

Publications

The college published an annual yearbook, The Beacon (later renamed The Torch), of enrolled students.[11]

College Presidents and Selected Faculty

Presidents
  • Winston N. Allen, 1950
  • Hall Crowder, Pres., Board of Directors, 1961
  • N. Wilson Burks, 1962
  • LaVern Houtz, 1964
  • Victor N. Broaddus, 1970

Bible Faculty
  • Frank Mullins, Sr.
  • George Knepper
  • Winston Allen
  • Robert Boyd
  • LaVern Houtz
  • J. Edward Boyd

Choir Directors
  • Dale Jorgenson
  • John Fulda, 1956-1958

Reference section
  1. Jorgenson, Dale (2017-01-01). "Brothers on Divergent Paths: Joseph Baldwin and John W. McGarvey". Word & Work. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  2. "SCEC". www.sceconline.net. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  3. Commonwealth of Kentucky (March 23, 1950). "Articles of Incorporation, Kentucky Bible College". Secretary of State, Commonwealth of Kentucky. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020.
  4. Commonwealth of Kentucky (June 1954). "Annual Verification Report of Foreign or Domestic Corportation, Kentucky Bible College". Secretary of State, Commonwealth of Kentucky. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020.
  5. Commonwealth of Kentucky (June 17, 1957). "Articles of Amendment, Kentucky Bible College". Secretary of State, Commonwealth of Kentucky.
  6. Jorgenson, Dale (2019-02-01). "Random Reminiscences #3 from KBC/SCC". Word & Work. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  7. Wolfgang, Steve (January 2, 1986). "The Impact Of Premillennialism On The Church". www.truthmagazine.com. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  8. Hicks, John Mark (2009-01-19). "Division in the Stone-Campbell Movement: A Case Study". John Mark Hicks. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  9. Halbrock, Ron (August 24, 1978). "Reflections on the death of Gardner S. Hall. Sr". www.truthmagazine.com. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  10. Murch, James DeForest (1962). Christians only,a history of the restoration movement. Cincinnati, OH: Standard Publishing. p. 357.
  11. Clark County Public Library. "Kentucky Yearbooks". Archived from the original on April 1, 2020.

College Park, Winchester, Kentucky

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