news at welch college   Welch College (formerly Free Will Baptist Bible College) in Nashville, TN, has been the official college of the Free Will Baptist Denomination since 1942. To find out more information about the school, visit www.Welch.edu.

 

City of Gallatin Welcomes Welch College

The City of Gallatin and Mayor Paige Brown hosted a “Welcome to Gallatin” reception for Welch College on February 10, at Gallatin City Hall.

“From the very beginning, when the announcement was made that Welch College was coming to Sumner County and to Gallatin, there was a lot of excitement,” said Tennessee State Senator Ferrell Haile. “As the buildings have gone up, the excitement has certainly gone up also.”

Welch President Matt Pinson stated, “We saw Gallatin, not only as a warm and welcoming community, but also as a community on the move. Gallatin is one of the fastest growing areas in Tennessee, and we believe it is going to be great to partner with the city to move forward with the mission of our college.”

“Only 5% of Tennessee cities have a residential college,” said Mayor Paige Brown. “Welch College brings to our community, not only a four-year residential college, but also a student base which gives over 10,000 hours of community service each year.”

To view a video of the event published by the Gallatin City Communications Office, visit: goo.gl/wncnDL. To read the newspaper article in The Tennessean, visit: goo.gl/tWsj6I.
For more information about Welch or to apply, call 615-844-5000 or visit www.welch.edu.

Bracey Named Cross-Country Coach

Welch College has named Matthew Steven Bracey as cross-country coach, according to Athletic Director Gary Turner. “Welch has taken a big step toward building a strong cross-country program with the hire of Matthew Bracey as coach,” Turner said. “An avid runner himself, Bracey has a heart for running and is excited about the prospect of building a strong, vibrant program. He looks forward to working and running with students, as well as building personalized training programs for them.”

Bracey has run numerous marathons, including, most recently, the Mercedes-Benz Marathon and the Walt Disney World Marathon. He has also run several smaller races, winning his age category in a recent 5k.

“I’m honored to serve in this capacity as the coach for the Welch cross-country team,” Bracey remarked. “The opportunity to combine two things that I love—Welch and its students on the one hand, and running on the other—is an awesome blessing. I look forward to building a great cross country program and team. And I’m especially excited about working even more with students.”

Bracey, a 2008 graduate of Welch College, received an M.T.S. from Beeson Divinity School and a J.D. from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. He began working for Welch in 2013, where he serves as associate vice provost and teaches law, theology, and history. He has also co-edited and contributed to two books and written a number of scholarly and popular articles.

“I believe Coach Bracey will take our cross-country program to a whole new level,” said Turner. “With his love of Welch College and his passion for running, I think we’ll see the program flourish.” 
Those interested in cross-country, or who know someone who is, contact Coach Bracey: mbracey@welch.edu.

President Featured at Christian Scholarship Conference

Welch College President Matt Pinson spoke at the Radical Christian Scholarship Conference at Houston Baptist University, Friday, February 24, according to Josh Owens, director of media and marketing. The president addressed the subject of mentoring young Christian scholars.

The conference is sponsored by The Transdisciplinary Group, an association of evangelical scholars convened by Dr. Eric Johnson; Lawrence and Charlotte Hoover, Professor of Pastoral Care at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; and Dr. Craig Bartholomew, H. Evan Runner Professor of philosophy at Redeemer University College, Ontario, Canada.

The Transdisciplinary Group and the Radical Christian Scholarship Conference emphasize the way in which academic disciplines (or fields of study) should be transformed by the Christian worldview. The group notes: “We are calling this project Radical Christian Scholarship because it goes to the root (radix) of each discipline and also Transdisciplinary Christian Scholarship, because it requires the transformation of all the disciplines in accordance with Christian worldview assumptions.”

In addition to Johnson and Bartholomew, the conference featured noted evangelical scholars such as Leland Ryken, Andrew Pennington, C. Stephen Evans, Peter Leithart, Kevin Vanhoozer, and Mary Poplin. Read more about the conference: www.transdisciplinarygroup.com.

McAffee Selected as Fellow in TICUA Executive Leadership Institute

Vice Provost Matthew McAffee has been selected as a Fellow in the Executive Leadership Institute of the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association (TICUA), according to President Matt Pinson. The Executive Leadership Institute is a new initiative of TICUA president Dr. Claude Presnell to provide specialized training for up-and-coming leaders in Tennessee independent colleges and universities.

“I am excited that Dr. McAffee will be taking part in this new institute,” President Pinson said. “As a promising young leader at Welch and our new vice provost, he will benefit greatly from the interaction with some of the finest higher education leaders in the industry, and will be able to bring these experiences to bear in his leadership at Welch College.”

Faculty for the Institute have included distinguished higher education leaders such as Dr. Rich Morrill (chancellor of the University of Richmond), Dr. Bill Troutt (president of Rhodes College), and Tim Fuller (senior VP/owner, CREDO). The Institute will gather at nine independent college and university campuses across Tennessee, once a month, over the 2016-17 academic year. The last meeting and graduation from the Institute will be in May of 2017.

A native of New Brunswick, Canada, McAffee is a 1999 graduate of Welch College. An M.Div. graduate of Southern Seminary, he additionally received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. He has served full-time at Welch College since 2010, as both a member of the faculty and campus pastor, a role he relinquished in August to serve as vice provost.

McAffee has written numerous articles in popular and scholarly periodicals such as ONE Magazine, the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, and the Journal of Biblical Literature. He recently jointly authored Sexuality, Gender, and the Church: A Christian Response in the New Cultural Landscape, published by Welch College Press. He and his wife, Anna, who serves as women’s resident director, live on-campus with their four children, Abigail, Lydia, Samuel, and Marianne.