Tennessee Temple University

Tennessee Temple was founded in 1946 under the leadership and vision of Dr. Lee Roberson. As the pastor of a prominent Southern Baptist church, Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Roberson saw the need to train people for ministry through higher education. Believing that God was leading him to act upon this need, he began an evening Bible institute which would eventually blossom into a Bible college and a liberal arts college. Later, a seminary would be added. Under Roberson's leadership from 1946 to 1983, the university was "at the center of the Independent Baptist movement."[1]

The close relationship that the school maintained with Highland Park Baptist Church, one of the early megachurches of the modern era, created many ministry training opportunities for the students of Tennessee Temple. This model would be the inspiration for the Rev. Jerry Falwell to begin what would become Liberty University.[2][3] Tennessee Temple's peak enrollment was more than 4,000 students in the early 1980s, but enrollment had dropped by 3,000 by 1991.[4]

As of September 2013, there were "just over" 400 students enrolled.[5] In September 2013, university leaders reported that the institution was considering a campus relocation, from Highland Park to a larger site on Woodland Park Baptist Church property located on Standifer Gap Road.[5][6] In February 2014, the university announced that it would sell most of its Highland Park campus buildings to Redemption to the Nations, the parent organization of Redemption Point Church, and move to a new site by June 2015.[7]

In March 2015, it was announced that, as of April 30, 2015, Tennessee Temple University would dissolve and merge with Piedmont International University, a private Christian college in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.[4]

Dr. Lee Roberson, 1946-1974

Dr. J.R. Faulkner, 1974-1985

Dr. J. Don Jennings, 1985-1990

Dr. L.W. Nichols, 1991-1993

Dr. Roger H. Stiles, 1993-2002

Dr. David E. Bouler, 2002-2005

Dr. J. Daniel Lovett, 2005-2011

Dr. Steven F. Echols, 2011-2015

• Kay Arthur, co-founder of Precept Ministries International, 1965[9]
• Dan Lothian, former White House Correspondent for CNN, 1987[10][11]
• Kevin Malone, former general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, coach[12]
• Dallas Willard, former professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California and noted Christian author, 1956[13]