#BJU Staff Member

[wutbju]

Carolyn Butts Forbes (82), Greenville, SC, went to be with the Lord on February 7, 2024. She was born in Wilson, NC on February 16, 1941. She was a 1959 graduate of Ralph L. Fike High School and attended Atlantic Christian (Barton) College in Wilson, NC and Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC. Her career was comprised of administration in higher education for several universities, retiring as the Executive Assistant to the CFO of Bob Jones University in 2012.

She demonstrated her faith in a life of service to others and was a loyal friend to so many. She was the friend who would drive you to appointments, help you run errands, hand write you a card, call to chat or just visit you, if you needed company. In her retirement years, she became an active member of Senior Action – joyfully participating in exercise classes and the A Stich in Time crocheting group, where she created hats and blankets for preemies. She was especially thankful for Heritage Bible Church, their ministry and her Shepherding Group.

She is survived by a daughter, Catherine Forbes (Pitsch Karrer) of Chatham Center, New York; a son, Col (ret) Christopher Forbes (Amy) of Columbus, GA; a daughter, Liz Forbes York of Greer, SC; and four grandchildren Tori Ruff (Nathan), Jessica Theodorski, Jack Forbes and Charles Forbes. The family member that brought the biggest smile to her face was the dog, Sunday. She was preceded in death by her parents, Frank L. and Mamye C. Butts of Wilson, NC.

A memorial service will be held at Heritage Bible Church 2005 Old Spartanburg Rd, Greer, SC on Saturday, February 10, 2024 at 2:00 pm. Visitation will follow the service.

[aliceviceroy]

Rachael Denhollander’s college-aged abuser began grooming her when she was 7. Each week, as Denhollander left Sunday school at Westwood Baptist Church in Kalamazoo, Mich., he was there to walk her to her parents’ Bible-study classroom on the other side of the building. He brought Denhollander gifts and asked her parents for her clothing size so he could buy her dresses. He was always a little too eager with a hug. The Denhollanders led one of the church’s ministries out of their home, which meant the man would visit their house regularly, often encouraging Rachael to sit on his lap, they recalled.

The man’s behavior caught the attention of a fellow congregant, who informed Sandy Burdick, a licensed counselor who led the church’s sexual-abuse support group. Burdick says she warned Denhollander’s parents that the man was showing classic signs of grooming behavior. They were worried, but they also feared misreading the situation and falsely accusing an innocent student, according to Camille Moxon, Denhollander’s mom. So they turned to their closest friends, their Bible-study group, for support.

The overwhelming response was: You’re overreacting. One family even told them that their kids could no longer play together, because they didn’t want to be accused next, Moxon says. Hearing this, Denhollander’s parents decided that, unless the college student committed an aggressive, sexual act, there was nothing they could do.

No one knew that, months earlier, he already had.

One night, while sitting in the family’s living room, surrounded by people, the college student masturbated while Denhollander sat on his lap, she recalls. It wasn’t until two years later that she was able to articulate to her parents what had happened. By that point, the student had left the church. Moxon was furious that her church community hadn’t listened. But she never told anyone what had happened to Rachael. “We had already tried once and weren’t believed,” Moxon says. “What was the point?”

Today, Denhollander can see how her church, which has since shut down, failed to protect her. But as a child, all she knew from her parents was that her abuse had made their church mad and that she wasn’t able to play with some of her friends. She blamed herself — and resolved that, if anyone else ever abused her, she wouldn’t mention it.

And so when Larry Nassar used his prestige as a doctor for the USA Gymnastics program to sexually assault Denhollander, she held to her vow. She wouldn’t put her family through something like that again. Her church had made it clear: No one believes victims.

Across the United States, evangelical churches are failing to protect victims of sexual abuse among their members. As the #MeToo movement has swept into communities of faith, several high-profile leaders have fallen: Paige Patterson, the president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, was forced into early retirement this month after reports that he’d told a rape victim to forgive her assailant rather than call the police. Illinois megachurch pastor Bill Hybels similarly retired early after several women said he’d dispensed lewd comments, unwanted kisses and invitations to hotel rooms.

So many Christian churches in the United States do so much good — nourishing the soul, comforting the sick, providing services, counseling congregants, teaching Jesus’s example, and even working to fight sexual abuse and harassment. But like in any community of faith, there is also sin — often silenced, ignored and denied — and it is much more common than many want to believe. It has often led to failures by evangelicals to report sexual abuse, respond appropriately to victims and change the institutional cultures that enabled the abuse in the first place.

Without a centralized theological body, evangelical policies and cultures vary radically, and while some church leaders have worked to prevent abuse and harassment, many have not. The causes are manifold: authoritarian leadership, twisted theology, institutional protection, obliviousness about the problem and, perhaps most shocking, a diminishment of the trauma sexual abuse creates — especially surprising in a church culture that believes strongly in the sanctity of sex. “Sexual abuse is the most underreported thing — both in and outside the church — that exists,” says Boz Tchividjian, a grandson of Billy Graham and a former Florida assistant state attorney.

As a prosecutor, Tchividjian saw dozens of sexual abuse victims harmed by a church’s response to them. (In one case, a pastor did not report a sexual offender in his church because the man had repented. The offender was arrested only after he had abused five more children.) In 2004, Tchividjian founded the nonprofit organization Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), which trains Christian institutions in how to prevent sexual abuse and performs independent investigations when churches face an abuse crisis. Tchividjian says sexual abuse in evangelicalism rivals the Catholic Church scandal of the early 2000s.

Diagnosing the scope of the problem isn’t easy, because there’s no hard data. The most commonly referenced study shows how difficult it is to find accurate statistics. In that 2007 report, the three largest insurers of churches and Christian nonprofits said they received about 260 claims of sexual abuse against a minor each year. Those figures, though, exclude groups covered by other insurers, victims older than 18, people whose cases weren’t disclosed to insurance companies and the many who, like Denhollander, never came forward. In other words, the research doesn’t include what is certainly the vast majority of sexual abuse. The sex advice columnist and LGBT rights advocate Dan Savage, tired of what he called the hypocrisy of conservatives who believe that gays molest children, compiled his own list that documents more than 100 instances of youth pastors around the country who, between 2008 and 2016, were accused of, arrested for or convicted of sexually abusing minors in a religious setting.

The problem in collecting data stems, in part, from the loose or nonexistent hierarchy in evangelicalism. Catholic Church abusers benefited from an institutional cover-up, but that same bureaucracy enabled reporters to document a systemic scandal. In contrast, most evangelical groups prize the autonomy of local congregations, with major institutions like the Southern Baptist Convention having no authority to enforce a standard operating procedure among member churches. This means researchers attempting to study this issue have to comb through publicly available documents.

That’s what Wade Mullen, the director of the M.Div. program at Capital Seminary & Graduate School, did as a part of his PhD dissertation. He collected reports of evangelical pastors or ministers charged with a crime in order to understand how evangelical organizations respond to crisis. Over 2016 and 2017, Mullen found 192 instances of a leader from an influential church or evangelical institution being publicly charged with sexual crimes involving a minor, including rape, molestation, battery and child pornography. (This data did not include sexual crimes against an adult or crimes committed by someone other than a leader.)

His findings help explain a 2014 GRACE report on Bob Jones University, one of the most visible evangelical colleges in the country. The study showed that 56 percent of the 381 respondents who reported having knowledge of the school’s handling of abuse (a group that included current and former students, as well as employees) believed that BJU conveyed a “blaming and disparaging” attitude toward victims. Of the 166 people who said they had been victims of sexual abuse before or during their time at BJU, half said school officials had actively discouraged them from going to the police. According to one anonymous respondent, after he finally told the police about years of sexual abuse by his grandfather, a BJU official admonished him that “[you] tore your family apart, and that’s your fault,” and “you love yourself more than you love God.” BJU officials declined to comment for this article.

After he finally told the police about years of sexual abuse by his grandfather, a BJU official admonished him that ‘[you] tore your family apart, and that’s your fault,’ and ‘you love yourself more than you love God.’

That same year, 18 volunteers, staff members and interns at the Institute in Basic Life Principles (including many underage girls) accused its founder, Bill Gothard, of sexual harassment, molestation and assault. Gothard had enormous sway over a small but tight-knit collection of evangelical home-schooling families around the country. One of those families was the Duggars, stars of a TLC reality television show. Josh Duggar, the eldest of 19 kids and former executive director of the conservative Family Research Council’s political action group FRC Action, lost his job after reports that he molested four of his siblings and a babysitter as a teenager. For years Duggar’s abuse stayed hidden as his parents and an Arkansas state trooper — now in prison himself on charges of child pornography — declined to disclose the crimes. (The suit against Gothard was dropped. Duggar’s actions are now outside the statute of limitations. Neither responded to requests for comment.)

Sovereign Grace Churches (SGC), an influential chain of congregations, many located on the East Coast, allegedly failed to report sexual abuse claims during the ’80s and ’90s to the authorities and caused secondary trauma to victims through pastoral counseling, according to an extensive investigation by Washingtonian magazine. In one instance, an SGC pastor allegedly told a wife whose husband sexually abused their daughter to remain with him. When she asked how she could possibly stay married to a man attracted to children, she was told that her husband “was not attracted to his 11-year-old daughter but rather to the ‘woman’ she ‘was becoming.’ ” Two years into the husband’s prison sentence, SGC pastor Gary Ricucci wrote in support of his parole using church letterhead, and the church welcomed him back to the community after his release.

The wife no longer attends. Asked to comment on these episodes, SGC Executive Director Mark Prater emailed a statement: “We encourage all of our churches to immediately report any allegations or suspicions of abuse to criminal and civil authorities, regardless of state law or the passage of time.” He cited a program implemented in 2014, the “MinistrySafe child safety system,” that teaches member churches how to deal with reports of abuse. Ricucci — who, like other local pastors, does not answer to SGC officials — did not respond to requests for comment.

The evangelical defense of God-fearing offenders extends to the political realm. Franklin Graham, CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said President Trump’s “grab them by the p—y” comments and other crude language didn’t matter because “all of us are sinners.” During Roy Moore’s recent Senate campaign, a poll conducted by JMC Analytics of likely Alabama voters found that 39 percent of evangelicals were more likely to vote for Moore after multiple accusations that he’d initiated sexual contact with teenagers when he was in his 30s. “It comes down to a question [of] who is more credible in the eyes of the voters — the candidate or the accuser,” Jerry Falwell Jr., president of the evangelical Liberty University, said at the time. “… And I believe [Moore] is telling the truth.”

Jerry Falwell, left, president of Liberty University, said he believed Senate candidate Roy Moore instead of the women who accused him last fall of sexual misconduct. Moore, right, lost a special election for Senate in Alabama late last year after several women said he had made sexual advances toward them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. (Falwell: Alex Wong/Getty Images; Moore: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

It was the same message 7-year-old Denhollander heard: Stay silent, because the church won’t believe you.

Why are so many evangelicals (who also devote resources to fighting sex trafficking or funding shelters for battered women) so dismissive of the women in their own pews? Roger Canaff, a former New York state prosecutor who specialized in child sexual abuse, tells me that many worshipers he encountered felt persecuted by the secular culture around them — and disinclined to reach out to their persecutors for help in solving problems. This is the same dynamic that drove a cover-up culture among ultra-Orthodox communities in New York, where rabbis insisted on dealing with child abusers internally, according to several analysts.

But among evangelicals, there is an added eschatological component: According to a 2010 survey by the Pew Research Center, 41 percent of Americans believe that the end times will occur before 2050. In some evangelical teachings, a severe moral decay among unbelievers precedes the rapture of the faithful. Because of this, many evangelicals see the outside world as both a place in need of God’s love and a corrupt, fallen place at odds with the church. (“New Secularism is an attempt to undermine and destroy Christianity,” warned a headline in Christian Today a few years ago.)

This attitude could explain the 2017 case of an assistant pastor at Agape Bible Church in Thornton, Colo., who was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison for repeatedly sexually assaulting an adolescent girl. The police investigation revealed that church leaders and the girl’s father agreed not to contact the police because the “biblical counseling” received within the church was sufficient to handle the case. According to an officer who interviewed the father, “His interest was in protecting the church and its reputation more than protecting his daughter.”

Partly, church leaders tend to circle the wagons out of arrogance. “I’ve worked with churches across the theological spectrum, from fundamentalist to progressive,” Tchividjian says. “They say: ‘I’m the man God’s placed in charge. I have the Bible. I know how to handle this.’ ”

But another, less visible problem is the overall attitude toward sex. Sexual sin is talked about constantly, and extramarital sex is considered a heinous moral lapse. (A student at Patterson’s seminary who told him she’d been date-raped was disciplined for being in the man’s room) It stands to reason that churches don’t want to air an epidemic of wickedness among their flocks.

When congregants believe that their church is the greatest good, they lack the framework to accept that something as awful as sexual abuse could occur within its walls; it is, in the words of Diane Langberg, a psychologist with 35 years of experience working with clergy members and trauma survivors, a “disruption.” In moments of crisis, Christians are forced to reconcile a cognitive dissonance: How can the church — often called “the hope of the world” in evangelical circles — also be an incubator for such evil? “Christians must decide whether to give into the impulse to minimize the disruption of the abuse, or let themselves see a serious problem in their community and deal with it,” Langberg says. “It’s when they find out if they truly believe what they say they believe.”

As an adult, Rachael Denhollander once again found herself at the center of one of these disruptions. The church she attended, Immanuel Baptist in Louisville, was actively supporting former SGC president C.J. Mahaney’s return to ministry. Mahaney had been asked to step down from his role in 2011 because of “various expressions of pride, unentreatability, deceit, sinful judgment and hypocrisy.” In 2012, a class-action lawsuit held that eight SGC pastors, including Mahaney, had covered up sexual abuse in the church. Mahaney and the SGC claimed vindication when a judge dismissed the lawsuit for eclipsing the statute of limitations. In 2016, Immanuel Baptist Church repeatedly invited Mahaney to preach at its weekend services.

Denhollander says she told her church’s leaders this was inappropriate, as Mahaney had never acknowledged a failure to properly handle allegations of sexual abuse under his leadership. But the church ignored her, and when Denhollander went public with accusations against Larry Nassar in the Indianapolis Star, a pastor accused her of projecting her story onto Mahaney’s. When she persisted, he told her she should consider finding a new church. (Maheney did not respond to requests for comment.)

“It is isolating and heartbreaking to sit in a church service where sexual abuse is being minimized,” Denhollander says. “The damage done [by abuse] is so deep and so devastating, and a survivor so desperately needs refuge and security. The question an abuse survivor is asking is ‘Am I safe?’ and ‘Do I matter?’ And when those in authority mishandle this conversation, it sends a message of no to both questions.”

At an untold number of Christian churches and institutions, the silence on sexual abuse is deafening. Statistically, evangelical pastors rarely mention the issue from the pulpit. According to research from the evangelical publishing company LifeWay, 64 percent of pastors said they talk about sexual violence once a year, or even less than that. Pastors drastically underestimate the number of victims in their congregations; a majority of them guessed in the survey that 10 percent or less might be victims. But in 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 1 in 4 women (women make up approximately 55 percent of evangelicals) and 1 in 9 men have been sexually abused. There is no evidence suggesting those numbers are lower inside the church.

Those who do publicly preach on sexual abuse are often stunned by the response. Kathy Christopher, a pastor to women at Christian Assembly Church in Los Angeles, first spoke on the topic while sharing the story of her own abuse. Immediately, fellow survivors opened up about their experiences, Christopher says. “Sadly, my story was not an unusual story. It was heartbreaking to see how many people needed to talk about this trauma in their past.”

When a judge sentenced Nassar for molesting hundreds of young girls, Denhollander was there; she spoke at length in the courtroom, reminding Nassar that the Christian concept of forgiveness comes from “repentance, which requires facing and acknowledging the truth about what you have done in all of its utter depravity and horror, without mitigation, without excuse, without acting as if good deeds can erase” it.

It was a word of warning for a community that, writ large, has been complicit in minimizing or enabling rape, molestation and emotional abuse within its walls. Denhollander also said that one of the prices she paid for calling out Nassar was losing her church, referring to her experience at Immanuel Baptist.

When the pastors there saw Denhollander’s statement, they began to understand the damage they had done. In a statement released by email this week, the board said the church had sinned in its treatment of the Denhollanders and had sought their forgiveness. (Denhollander says she accepts the apology.) Officials also said that SGC pastors will no longer be speaking at their church while accusations against them remain unanswered. “In the last few months God has increased our sensitivity to the concerns of the abused,” the statement reads. “He has called us to look at our own shortcomings as pastors. He has allowed us to seek and receive forgiveness from those we have failed.”

Immanuel Baptist Church faced a choice, the same one before many American churches today: Face the sin in their midst and make the church a place that follows the biblical command to care for the powerless and victimized — or avoid the disruption and churn out another generation of silenced victims who learn, like Denhollander did, that the church isn’t safe.

[wutbju]

Okay. The week he said this, purportedly, 10% of the staff were laid off in the middle of the semester.

There's been chatter coming out of BJU since that the faculty are going to get their pink slips before Thanksgiving, but I have not heard any details yet.

The faculty are catching the idea that 1/3 of them are going to be laid off!

One third!

As of August 2024, there were 267 faculty members listed on the BJU website. So 26-27 layoffs would be 10%. But nearly 90 would be third!

Surely not! Surely this is just fear talking among the faculty, right?

Let's use a different set of numbers.

In the Fall 2022/Spring 2023 school year, BJU reported to the Department of Education that they had 213 faculty members and 499 staff members.

I have the numbers going back to Fall 2008, if you all would like to see that. That's not a biggie.

Since Fall 2017/Spring 2018, BJU has had an average of 479 staff members. If they did lay off 10% in September, they now have 431.

Since Fall 2017/Spring 2018, BJU has had an average of 203 faculty members.

If they lay off 10% of faculty, then they would have 183 faculty left. If they lay off 33%, they would only have 142!

The thing is this: the bloat is clearly in the staff side -- not the faculty side! For every single faculty member, there are 2.36 staff members.

If you cut the faculty, you're not going to have a school left!

[wutbju]

In a rushed midweek meeting on Wednesday, September 4, 2024, BJU fired 69 staff members, claiming that they are cutting 10-11% staff due to a $4-5million shortage in the budget.

The BJU Baseball team was also cut.

They claim they are "liquidating assets" to stay out of debt.

They stated in this meeting that they are down 125 students from last year and down 600 since 2020.

The Faculty cuts will come in October.

The above is what was stated in the meeting.

Now to my commentary.

Friends, WutBJU has been talking about clues toward closure since BJU's 990s have been public. The assets they liquidated are simply money borrowed from the Press as they've always done. They've been scholarshipping at the rate of 71%. Go look at their public records! You can do it as well as I.

Don't donate to BJU! That's like performing CPR on a person in hospice. It's cruel what they are doing to the employees. They knew this was coming, and yet they started the school year, got all the F/S kids enrolled and invested in their new classrooms, and then pulled out the rug.

BJU will always choose its own interest over employees. Always.

It's coming.

[wutbju]

Bob Jones Academy was formed in 1927 because Bob Jones, Jr. had just graduated from middle school, and Bob Sr. worried he would embarrass him.

But let’s go with BJU’s story.

Born simultaneously in 1927 with Bob Jones University, Bob Jones Academy also is celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year. This fully standardized secondary school offers grades 7 through 12; annually enrolls more than 400 students from every section of the nation and several foreign countries, making it one of the larger private Christian high schools in America.

Since the first graduating class of five, more than 2,000 young people have completed work at the Academy. Each year a large percentage of the Academy graduates enter Bob Jones University; this past year over 70 per cent enrolled in the university. Many of the others entered fields of study not available at BJU such as engineering, medicine, law, nursing, etc.

For some reason, BJU refuses to ever acknowledge Eunice Hutto Morecraft’s legal name. Bob Jones, Sr. married her and her husband, and Fannie Mae sang “O Promise Me” at the ceremony.

The late Eunice Hutto was the first principal. In 1937 Mrs. Paul Brown became the principal of the Academy and served in this capacity for 28 years. She became a member of the staff while still a student in Bob Jones College during the early days of the school in Florida.

Morecraft died suddenly in 1947 in St. Louis when she was visiting there for medical care.

The death certificate gives more explanation:

Her son was eight months old.

After teaching in the science department and serving as assistant to the dean of women. Mrs. Brown assumed the responsibility of the administration of the Academy. It was through her leadership that the Academy was able to maintain the cultural, academic, and spiritual emphasis needed to meet the needs of the ever-increasing student body. Because of ill health, she was forced to retire in May of 1964. She died September 12, 1964.

Upon Mrs. Brown's retirement, Gene Fisher, a member of the Academy history faculty, was named principal. Under his leadership the Academy has continued its task of training young people to live in the problem world of today.

The Academy has a college preparatory curriculum designed to fully qualify a student to enter college. Every student is required to take Bible each semester he is enrolled. Seven levels of Bible are offered, and the students may take the course in which they are best qualified.

Aside from the books and studies, students have many opportunities to participate in a wide variety of extracurricular activities with youngsters of their own age and interests.

They conduct their own literary societies, the Inter-Society Council, student-body activities, intramural athletic programs, and debate organizations. Other organizations offer the students opportunities to gain a broader knowledge of the activities in which professional people are involved.

Expenses for the Academy are the same as those for the university. Music, speech, and art are available without additional cost above regular academic fees.

[wutbju]

Bob Jones University has clearly eliminated the regular grounds crew and opted for the hall leaders and the Acting Chief Student Development Officer to do the work.

Back in the day, they'd have a work scholarship student do this.

Then they had staff members. Remember Miss Rose doing this work, folks?

Then they farmed all the grounds keeping out to an alum's landscaping service.

And now? Now the highest paid students on campus -- whatever they are calling hall leaders now -- and an administrator are doing the work.

And alumni -- a "GRATEFUL BJU grad" -- are trying to say that alumni should "pitch in" and do this.

No. Poor financial planning on BJU's part does not constitute an emergency on everybody else's part.

What is going on, BJU?

[wutbju]

On March 1, 2023, in response to the "Urgent Open Letter," Brian Fuller pretends he is a victim of the BJU "network." He stated in the +++Positive+++ group:

Some of this same tribe of zealots on the BOT shunned, separated and blacklisted me and my family in May, 2010, because we dared to take the side of the victim and to criticize how a famous FBI pastor and BJU Board Member treated her. Dr. Bob III stood against us. FBFI ousted us. Fundamentalist "friends" treated us like we had a disease. But, an evangelist friend stood beside us and continued to love and encourage us. His name is Steve Pettit. This terror group is now seeking to do the same thing to Dr. Pettit that they do to everyone who questions their autocratic Pharisaical declarations. They despise the culture of grace and genuine discipleship that is developing and thriving at BJU. They are on a mission for the return of a culture of fear, surveillance and control. positive bju grads & friends, and BJU Faculty-Staff, let's respond to this call to action, stand-up, and let our voices be heard.

No.

You did not take the side of the victim. In no way, shape, or form, did you take the side of the victim. At all. Ever.

And none of us heard you criticize Chuck Phelps. At all.

Brian, there's video of what you did. You were NOT standing with Tina Anderson.

ABC News quoted you saying:

The church's current leader, Pastor Brian Fuller, said that the Concord Police dropped the ball 13 years ago. "Let's go to the police station, where thirteen years ago, somebody unconscionably took the reports, and put 'em away in a filing cabinet, let them gain dust," Fuller said.

That's not standing with the victim, Brian. That's shifting the blame away from the NETWORK of fundamentalist pastors.

[wutbju]

Ron Bean is WutBJU's best promoter!

The BJU student body rapidly declined during the last 3-4 years of BJ III's presidency. Likely contributing factors were the reduction in the number of Christian schools, particularly those of the same cultural mindset of BJU, and the fact that parents who had attended BJU in the 70's and 80's started to choose other schools for their children. BJIII retired, Stephen Jones briefly took the helm and started implementing change and was followed by Steve Pettit, who continued to implement change, while maintaining the school's strong doctrinal stand. The exodus of students stopped, leveled, and started slow growth that was interrupted by COVID. While BJU started building relationships with groups like the GARBC and the IFCA, the FBFI was critical of the changes. Evidently the criticisms of the FBFI were messaged by SOME members of that group to the BJU board. This week the BJU board (described by one of its members as "dysfunctional") will be deciding whether to renew Steve Pettit's contract. If SP's contract is not renewed, it is likely that there will be a quiet exodus of students as well as some faculty and staff. That would be damaging to BJU as I suspect there aren't a great number of prospective students waiting for BJU's standards to be returned to the pre-Pettit days. That would probably lead to the demise of BJU. Sadly there are some who have said they would rather have BJU close rather than continue its present course. There are some like Lou Martuneac, Camille Lewis, and the devil who will delight if that happens. There will also be some who  will claim the BJU closed because of the changes under SP's leadership when it's his leadership that kept the school alive.

[wutbju]

David Paul Gibble, BJU Class of 1977.

David Paul Gibble, 70, of Greenville, went home to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Thursday, May 09, 2024.

Born in Lebanon County, PA, he was a son of the late Richard and Lydia Bross Gibble. He was a retired log cabin builder, completed his Bachelors’ degree in Cinematography, completed his Master’s degree, was on staff at BJU for 18 years, and was a member of Cornerstone Baptist Church.

David’s early years were at Tulpehocken School District in Pennsylvania, where he was told by an elementary teacher that he was a daydreamer. His personality was that of a risk-taker. He enjoyed pranks that sometimes got him in trouble, had a lot of fun digging in the mud on the farm, enjoyed floating the metal square sandbox on the pond searching for snapping turtles, and enjoyed blowing up things, like tomatoes from the garden. He worked many different jobs, including on the farm with his dad, construction, remodeling, and salvaging materials from old buildings. In High School he was involved in Library Club, Debates, Stage Crew, Junior and Senior Plays, Chorus and a vocal ensemble, helped with fire drills, Staff/Reporter for the School Newspaper, library assistant, selected to represent the school in a county wide science fair and graduated in 1971. He went to Grace College in Indiana for 2 years and then transferred to Bob Jones University. He worked with Ken Anderson Films assisting in the production of Apache Fire. He also worked on staff at Unusual Films on the production of Sheffey, Beyond the Night, and The Printing.

He is survived by his wife of 4 years: Donna Gibian Gibble; daughters: Lydia Skinner(Nick), Elena Gibble; son: Nick Gibble; step-son: Scott Clark(Cassie); grandchildren: Corban Skinner, Isaiah Skinner, Jeremiah Skinner, Esther Skinner, Kennedy Clark; brothers: Dale Gibble, Steve Gibble(Julie); and sister: Melody Graeff(Ted).

Along with his parents he was predeceased by his first wife: April Wavle Gibble.

The family will receive friends Saturday, June 8, 2024, from 9:30am until 11:00am at Cornerstone Baptist Church.

Memorial services will be Saturday, June 8, 2024, at 11:00am at Cornerstone Baptist Church.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Cornerstone Baptist Church-Building Fund 8508 Pelham Rd. Greenville, SC 29615 or The Wilds Christian Camp 3201 Rutherford Rd. Taylors, SC 29687.

[wutbju]

Freda Mae Cooper Brenneman, Former BJU Staff member from 1966.

Freda Mae Cooper Brenneman, 85, loving wife of the late Jarvis Brenneman, died December 17, 2016.

Born March 19, 1931 in Portersville, PA, Freda was the daughter of the late Dean W. and Lena Stickle Cooper.

Freda retired from Bob Jones University in 1996 after 31 years of faithful service in Accounts Payable.

Freda is survived by her children, Sandy (Les) Wagner of Kansas City, KS; Flo (Cal) Mair of Brevard, NC; Sam (Laura) Brenneman of Travelers Rest, SC and Patty (Tim) Good of Taylors, SC; 11 grandchildren; 31 great grandchildren; and two sisters, Thelma English and Lois Croup of Portersville, PA.

The funeral and burial will be Thursday, December 22 at Portersville Bible Church, Portersville, PA. (156 E Portersville Rd, Portersville, PA 16051).

Memorials may be made to The Wilds, 3201 Rutherford Road, Taylors, SC 29687.

The family would like to express a special thank you to CARIS Hospice for the love and compassion shown to their mother.

[wutbju]

Linda Williams Rogier, BJU Class of 1985, Former Faculty/Staff.

Linda Williams Rogier, of Greenville, South Carolina, aged 84, went to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on Monday, April 15, 2024.

Linda was born in Dorothy, West Virginia, on September 13, 1939, to Robert and Dassie Williams. She graduated from Morris Harvey College (now College of Charleston) in 1961 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and from Bob Jones University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts in Piano Pedagogy. She married the love of her life, George Rogier, on June 17, 1961. After residing in Atlanta, Georgia for five years, they settled in Greenville in 1966. Linda dedicated thirty-eight years to Bob Jones University, teaching elementary school piano and leading the children's piano program at Bob Jones Elementary School. She also mentored interns in the Bob Jones University Piano Pedagogy major. She retired from Bob Jones University in 2004. Linda was an active member of Morningside Baptist Church for over forty years. One of her greatest enjoyments was playing the piano for church services.

Linda is survived by her husband of nearly sixty-three years, George; her daughter, Michelle Shuman (Keith) of Greenville; her sons, Larry (Janet) of Romulus, Michigan, and Robert (Micah) of Morrisville, North Carolina. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Laran, Elyse, and Brysen Rogier of Romulus, Michigan. Additionally, she leaves behind her nieces, Sherry White of Huntington, West Virginia, and Beth Wiebe of Hooker, Oklahoma; along with her brothers-in-law, Michael Rogier of Cross Lanes, West Virginia, and Patrick Rogier of Rand, West Virginia. Linda is also survived by cherished nieces and nephews from her husband's side; and a host of cousins.

Linda was preceded in death by her parents; her sister, Lois White of Huntington, West Virginia; and her brother-in-law, Doug Rogier of Greenville, South Carolina.

[wutbju]

Stephanie Jean Marsh, BJU Class of 2009.

Stephanie Jean Marsh, 37 of Madison, Alabama, entered the arms of her Savior on Saturday, May 25th, 2024. Stephanie was born on March 6th, 1987, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to John and Gloria Wakefield. She graduated from Gospel Light Christian School in 2005 and graduated from Bob Jones University in 2009. She married the love of her life, Andy, on August 8th, 2009.

Stephanie is survived by her husband Andrew “Andy” Marsh; children Ethan and Eva Marsh; parents John and Gloria Wakefield; sister Jessica Wakefield; parents-in-law Ron and Edith Marsh; sisters-in-law Anne Atkinson (Obby) and Amy Marsh; niece and nephews Emma, Garris, and Jefferson Atkinson; and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Funeral services for Stephanie will be conducted on Friday, May 31st, 2024, at 2:00pm at Calvary Baptist Church, Huntsville, Alabama, with Pastor Jeremiah Cochran and Dr. Greg McLaughlin officiating. Visitation will be Friday from 12:00-1:45pm at the church. Burial will be at Calvary Gardens at Calvary Baptist Church.

The family would like to thank the staff and members of Calvary Baptist Church, who have demonstrated the love of Christ in so many ways.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Stephanie’s memory to Calvary Baptist Academy or the Calvary Baptist Church Playground fund, in care of Calvary Baptist Church, 126 Douglass Road, NW, Huntsville, AL 35806.

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This requires a little explanation.

The years along the bottom of the graph along the X-axis are the Fall date of the school year.

The red line tracks the number of First-Years that BJU reports to the State of South Carolina.

The green line tracks the number of First-Years pictured in the Vintage.

The blue line tracks the number of First-Years who show up for Summer Orientation. That used to be the perfect way to predict the number of incoming First-Years, but since the pandemic it's been a dud. And then BJU stopped posting the number.

But you can see how the lines are generally parallel.

But the purple line is a new thing I've been tracking. Since BJU is hiding their Summer Orientation numbers, I have wondered if the BJUClassof____ group on Instagram would tell us anything.

In the Fall 2023, there were 392 members of the BJUClassof27. Now that includes about a 12-18 staff members and student peer mentors. But that's a consistent thing.

Now? In the Fall of 2024? The BJUClassof28 includes only 232 members.

That's down 41%! If we calculate the number of First-Years for 2024 based on last year's number minus 41%....

That means BJU will only have about 292 students (the dotted red line) -- exactly the number that they have been telling employees all summer. A Freshman class under 300?

Why are they even open?

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Welcome to the Disaffected, +++Positives+++.

I mean, friends, it was inevitable. I know you all thought that if you were just +++POSITIVE+++ enough, BJU would read and heed.

But BJU never listens. All of us out here know that. You all were just the latest.

FTR, however, here's their final statement:

Dear Positive BJU Grads & Friends, This is our last post. (At least for now.) We did what we could to shed light on the secret power politics of the BJU Board of Trustees aligned to remove Dr. Steve Pettit. We did what we could to expose the removing of board members who supported Pettit and his administration's appropriate change agenda from 2014 to 2023. We did what seemed right to expose the decisions and actions of the board in their effort to reverse course on several board-approved policy changes in alignment with the express wishes of the FBFI board and Dr. Bob Jones Ill, and to go back. We did make a positive difference with your help but now we believe that continuing will 1) NOT change the Board which is more unapologetically and unanimously separatist than it was two years ago, 2) not help BJU flourish under whatever new President the newly consolidated Board elects in the coming weeks or months, and 3) provide the Board, who exclusively owns accountability for any negative fallout from this strategic shift, an opportunity to blame the "apostate" alumni group on Facebook for whatever may come next. We want the new President, and the faculty, and staff, and students who choose to remain or join to succeed and thrive. We want the University to see better days, not worse. God will decide what falls out in the lap with the lots now cast. It is His University not any individual's, family's, or group's. We believe the newly consolidated board may have miscalculated the strength and potential of their so-called base strategically, but only time will tell. We believe Dr. Bob Ill and his long-standing loyalists may not care if the University declines or closes, but we cannot know their true aims and goals. We are proud to be the independent Alumni of BJU. We are proud of and thankful for you, the positive BJU grads & friends who dared to speak truth to power which had never been attempted en masse before. Together we have defended the simplicity and critical importance of the Bob Jones University Creed. Though we tried, we did not always get it right. And though we spent many hours in prayer, we may have occasionally fallen into the same divisive, unloving, high-minded, and mean-spirited pride we sought to speak out against. For that we ask for your forgiveness. We love you and we are praying for you. NEXT STEPS We are not shutting down the page. But we do not plan to post in the foreseeable future either. In 24 hours from the time of this post, you will no longer be able to comment on this private group page. Thank you again for your amazing engagement over the last year and a half! You really are the best alumni and friends in the world! Thank you to Eric Hutton who wrote the original open letter in October 2022. We would especially like to thank Brian Fuller and Kevin Inafuku for their original vision to start a love-and-unity oriented independent alumni Facebook page and for inviting others of us to join in. Thank you to Clinton Holden, George Clements, Lori Lane, and John Lane for their fearless and selfless leadership in the heat of the battle in late 2022 and early 2023. IM us individually if you want. We will do our best to get back with you, as always.

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BJU Missionary Unit has 38 Workers in Four Continents

Not only is Bob Jones University called the "World's Most Unusual University," but its call-letters also could stand for "Worldwide Ministry Unto Unevangelized." The embodiment of this aspect of the university's international influence is found in Gospel Fellowship Missions, the foreign mission society whose office and headquarters are on the campus.

GFM is one of the more recent ministries begun by the university. This independent faith mission completed its fifth year of organized missionary activity. It has grown yearly and now has 38 workers in 11 fields scattered around the world in four continents.

Including two fields established this summer in Korea and Mexico, GFM missionaries are to be found in the Far East -- Japan and Korea; South America -- Chile and Brazil; North America -- Barbados, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Hawaii; Northern Europe -- Sweden and West Germany; and the Middle East --  Lebanon.

Administratively, the mission operates separately from the university and is a part of the Gospel Fellowship Association, chartered as a nonprofit organization in 1940. Through the years GFA has sponsored many kinds of evangelistic ministries through literature, radio, newspaper evangelism, films and evangelistic crusades.

A faith mission board like Gospel Fellowship Missions operates differently from a nominational mission society. The faith mission does not manipulate or salary its workers from a central board and treasury. However, it provides a source of counsel and finances for the missionary. The co-ordination of the total field program as well as the direction of personal ministries can be administered only through the board.

The missionary on the field needs a representative with the United States government as well as with the government of the country in which he is laboring. The board maintains the tie of fellowship between the missionaries on the field and the supporting churches in the homeland.

BECKER IS HEAD

The mission office, located in the Administration Building at BJU, is staffed by two full-time employees, Rev. Kenneth D. Becker, the executive secretary, and Mrs. Corban Tabler, office secretary. Board policy and decision is executed by a seven-member executive committee, consisting of executives and deans of the university. This is backed up by a board of trustees composed of 35 Christians around the country, among whom are pastors, evangelists, educators and laymen.

The nerve center of the worldwide work is in the home office. Donations from over 1,200 supporting churches and friends in 47 states and several foreign countries are received by the home office for the missionaries and their ministries. Each donation is acknowledged with a personal letter describing the current news of the missionary supported. At the end of the month, all missionary accounts are totaled and checks mailed around the world.

In order to maintain the personal touch and keep up with the load of correspondence, data processing equipment and a high-speed typewriter are leased. Because of this personal touch, donors are not only sup. porters, but also enthusiasts of the mission and missionaries, as they have frequently noted in correspondence. The mission office staff keeps a steady stream of information flowing to those who support the work through gifts and prayers.

The oldest GFM field is in Japan. Six missionaries there are working in tent evangelism, founding churches, training national pastors, Bible correspondence courses, literature and street evangelism, and children's and youth work.

Gospel Fellowship Mission's most recent field is in Mexico. It was founded by a Mexican national, Jose Lara, in his home area in Central Mexico. His father was one of the earliest converts to Christianity in the whole region, and Mr. Lara had the distinction of being reared in an evangelical home.

There are six national evangelists and as many as 75 little churches -- some having only one or two families -- in the mountains who look to Mr. Lara and his ministry. He intends to establish a Christian trade school, along with the evangelistic effort in the villages, to train the Mexican Christians in skills so that they can support their families and the church.

The precarious international situation was impressed upon the mission by the recent Middle East war. Lebanon was one of the mission's early fields, and the missionary family was on furlough when hostilities broke out. There may be a delay before the ministry will be re-established, and even then it may take a long time to overcome anti-American hostilities and the damage which has befallen many friends and converts of the missionary.

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This is another big one. Buckle in.

"A dish fit for the gods," is a Shakespearean saying from "Julius Caesar." The phrase might be applied also to a meal served at the Dixon-McKenzie dining common at Bob Jones University, as many of the students faculty members would readily attest. The food is not only delicious and nutritious, but students are allowed to go back for thirds and fourths if they wish.

BJU's dining common is one of the largest and most unique buildings of its kind in the world. Located near Wade Hampton Blvd., it covers more than an acre and a half. As one approaches the main entrance, he is attracted at once to the long, clean lines of the yellow brick structure which lend to it an aura of simplicity in spite of its great size.

The term most often used to describe the Varsity Room, where the students eat, is "football field." The inside length of the room is 298 feet and the width is 85 feet. Nine huge box beams span the width of the room 24 feet above floor level, carrying in them the lighting, heating, and air conditioning equipment, and making supporting columns unnecessary. The ceiling is 30 feet above the floor.

At each end of the dining area, on a second floor level, is a curved balcony stretching from one side wall to the other. From a vantage point on either of the balconies one can best appreciate the immensity and unusual decor of the Varsity Room.

When new salesmen call to see Fred Davis, the food service director, about using their products, they often think the school is smaller than it is. He takes them to the Varsity Room, and they quickly lose their illusions. Standing in awe and gaping at its immense size, they invariably ask, "Who supports this university? Where do you get your money?"

That’s so odd.

Adjacent to, but entirely separate from the Varsity Room, is the Family Room. Here, each faculty and staff family with children under college age has a table of its own. A white asbestos tile floor is more resistant to food spilled by the sand-box set than is a carpet; and a low, acoustic ceiling helps to deaden the sound of "crying over spilt milk.”

Asbestos in the Family Room! What could go wrong?

With a full seating capacity of over 650, the Family Room is the second largest of the four dining areas under this roof. Two smaller dining rooms are located on a second floor at either end of the north balcony of the Varsity Room, each one having its own well-equipped serving kitchen.

The new dining common has been in use for two years. Mr. Davis says enthusiastically, "This building has the best equipment available; and everything is strategically located to give us the utmost in efficiency. Every item is located just where we need it."

Occasionally a new student worker coming in to start work at the dining common says confidently to Mr. Davis. "I worked on a dishwasher in high school." Then Mr. Davis takes him to see the 22-foot-long dishwashing machine. He takes one look, gulps, then gasps, "Wow, but nothing like this!"

Yes, the exploited Labor is amazed at the big machine.

Beyond the serving and dishwashing alcoves is one of the finest university kitchens in the United States. There is a long row of steam-jacketed cooking kettles and four triple deck steam pressure cookers. In another row are two ranges, six deep fat fryers, two ovens, and a sink-counter where special diets are prepared, a preheater and sterilizer for beverage dispensers, and two steam-jacketed coffee urns. Flanking this area on either side are four banks of triple-deck roasting or baking ovens.

The bakery department has a large rotary oven which stands directly on the floor and disappears into the ceiling. It is 12 feet wide, 12 deep, 12 high, and weighs 22,000 pounds. While this oven is used mainly for roasting meats -- it can roast 5,000 pounds of meat at one time -- it may be used to bake bread, pies, and pastries. There are also three double-deck convection ovens.

Walk-in refrigerators, coolers and freezers are located in the kitchen. One room contains a huge ice machine producing 4-500 pounds of flake ice a day.

The reason all this SIZE is important for BJU is because they want all the people to sit together at the same time and eat the same food.

If all these huge and complex pieces of equipment that can be seen in this kitchen almost defy imagination, the astronomical amounts of food which they must handle most certainly does -- for it takes a lot of food to feed 3,500 people at every meal. For one meal, for instance, it might take 2,200 pounds of roast beef; 1,700 pounds or potatoes; 640 pounds of frozen peas; 8,000 hot rolls; 250 gallons of iced tea, and 250 gallons of ice cream.

Each day the dining common uses 200 gallons of milk; 130 gallons of coffee; 500 to 600 pounds of flour; and between 90 and 211 loaves of bread. Most of the food is purchased through Greenville merchants.

Remember that roast beef?

The biggest feast of the year is at Thanksgiving, when the dining common is a bustle of activity. Hundreds of out-of-town guests come in for the long holiday weekend. Former students and prospective students pile in to the university dormitories and motels in Greenville. They all look forward to the big Thanksgiving dinner, and with good reason.

“Look forward” is a little strong.

The staff at the dining common gets ready to serve approximately 4,500 persons in two shifts -- at 12:30 and 5:30 p. m. This Thanksgiving more than 300 turkeys weighing over three tons will be prepared for the occasion. Other astronomical food preparations included on the menu are 10,000 "home-baked" rolls prepared in the dining common kitchen, 600-800 pounds of rice, over 400 pounds of mincemeat, 150 gallons of giblet gravy, and 14 bushels of cranberries.

Remember how that was the only meal you got on campus that day?

"The inherent efficiency of our kitchen," says Mr. Davis, "enables us with each passing year to keep costs at a minimum despite rising markets and more mouths to feed. Good equipment, good workers and good food are the keys to operating a successful dining hall." The head cook, H. E. McQueen has been with the school's kitchen staff for 21 years.

And I can’t find Mr. [Harvey Everett] McQueen in the 1967 yearbook -- or any yearbook. I know he was born on February 16, 1918 in Bradley, Tennessee -- so he moved with BJC to Greenville. His wife was Nadine Geneva Martin, and she worked at the Donaldson Center. They both lived at 134 Crosby Circle. They were white. They are in the Greenville phone book for years and years.

About 300 students are employed in the kitchen. One student worker from Korea, who had suffered privations of war, proved particularly efficient in peeling potatoes. Not only was he fast, but he skinned them so close that 100 pounds of potatoes were saved every time he peeled!

It’s hard to know if this is a memory from an earlier year or if this international student is current. The only male undergraduate from Korea in 1967 is Sophomore Young Ho Lee.

But hey! It could be that they are remembering Billy Kim from 1958:

Either way, this is a strange way to remember anyone.

Many people connected with the food service the food service industry, as well as other visitors, have come long distances to see the Dixon-McKenzie dining common in operation. They are much impressed with unusual things such as an air-conditioned kitchen, 2,800 square yards of carpet on one dining room floor, and a method of service that can feed 3,500 people in a 25 minute family-style meal.

Impressed? Or kind of horrified?