Fourteenth Year Review

After the pandemic year of missing the fellowship and our friends, the 2021 Graduation exercises were held at the Hopewell campus. All that gathered were blessed, and smiles were seen among the folks.

The completion of our fourteenth year saw many preachers present during Alumni Week, which encouraged the heart of the young people and the teachers. The Alumni Fish Fry, the Graduation Banquet, the Wednesday Church Rally, and the Commencement service brought many of the friends of Heritage together.

As we reflect on the tenth year at the Hopewell campus, we are so grateful to all those that partner with us. The Graduation Offering exceeded the goal of $12,000, besides monies given towards student scholarships. Thank you! Your support is richly appreciated for the vital ministry of training the next generation.

The President’s Perspective

Greta Thunberg screams about global climate change, and the media gladly spreads this Swedish teenager’s antics around the world. As a Bible believer, I understand that God has this earth’s ecology under control. But lately I have felt like raising my voice in alarm about a greater threat—America’s Christian future.

Anyone can see that we have been losing the spiritual battle in America. In a 2020 Barna Poll, only 25% of Americans identified as practicing Christians, down from 45% in 2000. To get answers to this decline, I look back in history.

In 1884, Pastor Richard Cook wrote a book called The Story of the Baptists. In his work, Cook spent much time on the Baptists in England. He concluded with this statement: “With Mr. Spurgeon, the foremost preacher and Christian worker of his age, at their head, the English Baptists, have the assurance of future success.” (p. 321) England had been the dominant missionary force reaching India, China, and Africa in the 1800’s. By the 1960’s, only eighty years later, Baptists in America were sending missionaries to England. What happened?

In 2001, Englishman David Norris wrote a small work addressing that question of what happened to true Christianity in England. He titled his 30 page booklet: Squandered Legacy. Mr. Norris gives several compelling reasons, none so startling as this statement: “There was not a single theological college providing a distinctively ‘fundamentalist’ training...” (p. 15). The 1900’s saw the closure and compromise of the Bible colleges of the century before.

Christians have to plan for each coming generation of preachers, or we could end up, just like England. Every generation of Bible believing preachers link to the next. Without a trained generation to follow, we are only one link away from repeating our English counterparts. America needs preachers! Paul clearly states in Romans 10:14b: How shall they hear without a preacher?

In the past decade, we have seen a number of our Bible colleges and univer- sities in America close their doors. I can quickly come up with the names of a dozen training institutions that have ceased. Some of those colleges were small, but others were established, and they trained faithful preachers that still grace our pulpits today.

A young man does not have to attend Bible college to be a preacher, but he must prepare for the ministry through prayer, diligent study, mentoring, and work. The Bible college for young preachers is a shortcut for preparation...kind of like a boot camp, where training is packed tightly together through solid teaching.

For the first hundred and fifty years, there was not a training institution in America. Many of our Baptist preachers came from England. In 1761, Rev. Morgan Edwards arrived from Wales to pastor the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia. He was nearly 40 years old, having pastored several churches after his education from the Baptist college in Bristol.

This era brought decided progress in the Baptist growth in America. Morgan Edwards, at a 1762 preacher’s meeting, challenged the pastors to open a Baptist college to reach America. Edwards began to raise funds, and he directed that the college be founded in Providence, RI in 1766. The first handful of graduates from Rhode Island College (later Brown University) were patriots, and a couple of them served as Brigade Chaplains in George Washington’s army.

Sensing the need for trained preachers, pastors traveled throughout the colonies raising money for the fledgling college. The preacher boys that came out of that college for the next 100 years, started and pastored many churches (especially in the Midwest and later in the West).

We need Bible colleges more than ever! What can Christians do?

It is in the interest of Christians to fund and promote the training of preachers. Tuition only pays a quarter of the costs. In days gone by, many Baptist Churches made it a priority to support a Bible college in their mission’s giving. Recently, I was looking online at a fine, independent Baptist church’s missions program. The church supported 44 missionaries, but I was shocked that they did not support one single Bible college.

Christians (especially pastors) need to emphasize to young people the blessings and joy of serving the Lord full time. Wealth does not satisfy, like doing God’s Will.

We also need to encourage young people to attend Bible college. Over the recent pandemic, several churches and individuals have given substantial gifts to our scholarship fund. For instance, First Baptist Church of Boca Grande, FL received a special gift of $13,000 this year. They could have kept it, but Dr. Beatty chose to invest it in future students. With this generosity, he also wanted to encourage other churches to join them in helping fund the education of upcoming preachers.

My Dad devoted much of his life and resources to training the next generation. I believe his motto: "training scholars on fire,” is vital for America. A Bible taught preacher, with zeal for the Lord, will make a difference!

One In A Trillion

Trisomy 18 occurs in one out of every 5000 live births. What happens is that three copies ([tri] instead of two) of the 18th chromosome are in each cell. This chromosomal anomaly happens at conception. Only 1 out of 100 of these babies make it to birth. Many of these little ones die within the first week, and only 10% reach the age of 1 year old, because of health difficulties.

On May 17, 2021, our daughter, Lilliana Joy Dennis reached the milestone of 10 years old. It has been written that only 1 in 10 kids that reach 1 make it to 10 years old. In 2019, Lilliana survived liver cancer, that occurs in only 1 in a million children.

I gave all those statistics to an engineer, preacher friend, who stated: “The odds of Lilliana reaching 10 years old are greater that 1 in a trillion.”

We know that our God does not deal in statistics (Imagine - What are the odds that the three Hebrew children would survive the Fiery Furnace?). The Lord deals in Miracles.

We are so thankful for all those who have prayed and watched God display His Grace through Lilliana.

You Are Invited To Attend

Heritage Baptist Bible Fellowship Fall Meeting in Montgomery, OH September 26-28, 2021 at:

Fellowship Baptist Church (Cincinnati area)

We will have special music and preaching each morning and evening.

Mark you Calendar!