Bob Jones University: Will the University Recover From Steve Pettit’s Presidency?
Now that Bob Jones University (BJU) is free of Steve Pettit's presidency the question is: Will BJU recover from or fail to resist his erasure of the university's fundamentalist, separatist foundation for compromising evangelicalism, Reformed theology and New Calvinism?
The challenges facing the Board of Trustees (BOT) cannot be underestimated. And who knows if the BOT even has the numbers or will to reverse the worst elements of Pettit’s tenure.
New Leadership
Certainly naming a new or interim president is a high priority. Will there be infighting over candidates among members of the BOT? Whoever is selected will, by name alone, send a signal to the public.1
Because of the sharp partisan split in the BJU community, whoever is named will likely trigger a new wave of protests with students electing to depart. During Pettit’s tenure, scores of pastors were disenfranchised because of his stubborn rejection of their concerns, resistance to biblical counsel and the pleading of friends of the university. Without a concerted effort by the BOT, those pastors may never return to the BJU fold, no matter who becomes interim president.
Enrollment
New Leadership
Certainly naming a new or interim president is a high priority. Will there be infighting over candidates among members of the BOT? Whoever is selected will, by name alone, send a signal to the public.1
Because of the sharp partisan split in the BJU community, whoever is named will likely trigger a new wave of protests with students electing to depart. During Pettit’s tenure, scores of pastors were disenfranchised because of his stubborn rejection of their concerns, resistance to biblical counsel and the pleading of friends of the university. Without a concerted effort by the BOT, those pastors may never return to the BJU fold, no matter who becomes interim president.
How can current and prospective students make an informed decision with BJU's future direction uncertain and undeclared?
According to US News & World Report (fall 2021) BJU had an enrollment of 2,705 undergraduates. The BJU enrollment figures I was given for the end of 2023 I have since found out were wrong. BJU ended the year with nearly 2,700 undergrad students and 300+/- present students have not left for colleges like Cedarville. An employee from BJU recently (August 2023) informed me, "Enrollment numbers for this year look to be right around 2,670 (around 30 below what we were at the end of school year 2023. Around 20 of those 30 who left were student-athletes who left because we dropped our NCAA affiliation. We will know the final figures for enrollment in a couple of weeks. Last year’s freshman class was the largest (705) that we have had in several years."
The Board of Trustees
Can we hold the Board of Trustees partially responsible for Pettit and his executive administration descending the school far into non-separatist, compromising evangelicalism? To be sure, some members saw where Pettit was taking the school and argued for a solution. Nevertheless the BOT did not act decisively when it was abundantly clear (early on) what Pettit intended for the university, which brought on the current crisis. The inability to act decisively only emboldened Pettit to accelerate his radical transformation of the university.
That said let's consider the following:
- The BOT went through a significant reshaping to become an accredited school.
- The existing members of the BOT needed to be sure of a conservative majority before implementing a plan to deal with Steve Pettit.
- The current BOT is conservative.
- Genuine fundamentalists were trying to intervene to bring about a change.
What Can We Do?
- We should thank the BOT for not letting Pettit stay or return and encourage them to continue to move the school clearly to the right.
- Pray that the BOT finds the wisdom to recover the school to its foundational moorings.
- We encourage the BOT to humble themselves, acknowledge a corporate failure, and ask for forgiveness and assistance.
The BOT does not have the luxury of time on their side. Assuming the BOT wants to salvage the university they should reach out to all the disenfranchised pastors and former board members who resigned in recent years and invite them to a closed board meeting to discuss the future of BJU,
The Choices for the BOT Are Clear
The BOT needs to act soon and decisively! Either:
- Announce an end to Pettit’s agenda with a plan to reverse course back toward a balanced fundamentalist, separatist stance. Remove administrators complicit in Pettit’s compromises, and replace faculty and staff who resist and do not support BJU's Bible fundamental legacy.
- Allow the school to continue the leftward trajectory that Pettit engineered and implemented.
- Guide the school into closure if finding it unsustainable. And if closure comes accept it contentedly as the Lord's doing.
Closing
While some board members resigned rather than contest Pettit’s agenda others stayed in the fight. One pastor said,
While some board members resigned rather than contest Pettit’s agenda others stayed in the fight. One pastor said,
"The conservatives on the BOT said, 'I’ll stay and fight rather than leave and watch it die.' The fighters on the Board have won the majority of the board. Sadly, they’ve lost the school because of Steve Pettit. I do not see how BJU survives. The constituency is gone. The spirit is broken. The purpose is in question."If the BOT does not have the numbers and will to reverse Pettit’s agenda then BJU may close. The cause of Christ would be better served with BJU's closure rather than slip deeper into the abyss of worldly culture, non-separatist and ecumenical compromise.
Previous Articles in the Series
When we reflect on the definition of New Calvinism and note the radical shift in doctrine, practice and culture Steve Pettit engineered on campus we conclude he is a passionate advocate for the advancement of New Calvinism. Steve Pettit stands alongside well known gurus of New Calvinism. New Calvinism is the driving force behind the departure from BJU's historic legacy.
I have observed 'from the back pew,' a repetition of the same failures at Bob Jones University that initiated the demise of CCC [Clearwater Christian College] and other Bible fundamental colleges. Unfortunately, led by the current president of the university and his administrators, the same compromised ideologies (and many of the same personalities) that drove those institutions to their demise are perpetuating the same at BJU. They have rejected the university’s fundamental Bible legacy and voided the disciplines that shaped and instilled Christian character in generations of graduates.
Steve Pettit Resignes B JU Presidency
We Deserve Our Troubles, But He Deserves None
Footnote
1) We've seen Richard Stratton being floated as a potential candidate for next president. Fresh off Stratton steering Clearwater Christian College away from "its founder’s purpose, philosophy, and vision, driving it into extinction" Pettit hired him. Stratton brought CCM, MTV, and unlimited cable programming into the Clearwater student center and chapel services. The college closed later that year. When you're looking for men to appease millennials with a bona-fide track record of destroying a fundamentalist school it made sense for Pettit to bring Stratton aboard to help him erase BJU's legacy.
Related Reading
Accountable for Failure and Won't Own Up to It (from Sept 2019)
BJU president Steve Pettit, Sam Horn and the board would do well to heed the warning. They are making many of the same mistakes made by the men at Calvary, Baptist Seminary, Northland, Clearwater, TTU and Pillsbury. BJU is on a course that, if history is our teacher, will in all likelihood lead to its eventual demise.BJU: An Intrusion of Reformed/Covenant Theology, Calvinism & Lordship Salvation
Steve Pettit Entangles BJU With Franklin Graham's Ecumenical Movement
ADDENDUM:
ReplyDeleteOn Wednesday evening Steve Pettit issued his final "From the President" newsletter. In it he wrote, "...I will focus strategically on two key areas: preaching and leadership." We're hopeful Steve Pettit will never again hold a position of "leadership" in any of our remaining fundamentalist, separatist schools and fundamental Baptist churches.The last half of his letter was dedicated to what amounts to self promotion- an advertisement in which he is soliciting for invitations to conduct services.
LM
Many of your comments and assertions in this article are not correct. The decline in enrollment at BJU started in the early 2000s way before Steve Pettit came to be President. The most significant decline came in the 2008-2009 recession (under Dr. Stephen Jones) when many Christian parents began to look at the higher education of state and community colleges to alleviate the cost of college. Many states (and many more now) started offering lucrative scholarships to in-state students, scholarships funded by state lotteries. The cost of college was more important than a "Christian" education for many. Many Christian parents also decided at that time to take their children out of Christian grade schools because of finances.
ReplyDeleteI would invite you to do a survey of fundamental churches and their pastors (and especially FBF pastors) and find out how many of their young people attend ANY Christian college (let alone a conservative Christian college like BJU, Maranatha, PCC, etc) vs how many attend state or community colleges. I think the numbers would open your eyes. Many fundamental preachers don't even preach on the importance of attending a Christian college anymore because, as one told me years ago, "I'd lose half my congregation."
You state that BJU's current undergrad enrollment is thought to be around 2,000. Where did you come up with this number? Don't you think you should ask someone to be sure of this number rather than just stating something that you heard from someone? We ended the year 2023 with almost 2,700 undergrad students. You also say "it is rumored that 300+ have already matriculated to schools like Cedarville for this fall. I would be interested to know from whom you heard this rumor. Are these students who were attending BJU this past school year? Were they admitted to BJU for the fall of 2023 and then decided not to come? The figure you cite is not what I've seen and I look at the numbers every week. You say "it's reasonable to expect another 20%-35% decline." Actually, we're only down about 30 students from last year and over half of those are student-athletes who left because we dropped our NCAA affiliation. I know these things because I have been a student recruiter for BJU for 32 years (since 1992).
BJU will never again have the enrollment that we once had even in the early 2000s (at that time we were around 6,000 undergrad give or take a few). Many conservative Christian grade schools are closing because they just don't have the students to stay open. I live in Georgia. Back in 1992 there were nearly 100 Christian schools who were members of the Georgia Association of Christian Schools. Last time I checked there were less than 30. This is happening all across America not just in Georgia.
The reasons that Christian colleges close are many and varied. It's not just because they leave their core constituency. One of the major reasons is because of the massive debt that they have on the books. I would venture to say that if BJU had that kind of debt we would not be in existence today as well. If you would like to discuss further, my email address is ckittrel@bju.edu.
Respectfully,
Chuck Kittrell
Thanks for sharing your opinion. It's appreciated. That said, it is the hope of many BJU alumni and friends of BJU that the school closes rather than continue on the trajectory Pettit and the executive administration put it on to become the next Liberty & Cedarville, and/or creating more Reformed & Covenant theology advocates.
DeleteLM
To Chuck Kittrell above,
ReplyDeleteI wrote the following in April 2020
"Apparently Pettit and Horn believed they can bring similar kinds of change to BJU that ruined Northland, Clearwater, Pillsbury, Tennessee Temple, Calvary Seminary (Lansdale) and not ruin the university. Pettit and Horn began remaking BJU with a larger student base and cash on hand than the others. By continuing on this trajectory toward non-separatist evangelicalism they will eventually, like the other schools, burn through both."
See-
https://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2020/04/roman-catholicism-isnt-only-thing-come.html
LM
"it is the hope of many BJU alumni and friends of BJU that the school closes rather than continue on the trajectory Pettit and the executive administration put it on to become the next Liberty & Cedarville." If this is really the way you feel, I really feel sorry for you. My question to you is this: "What would it benefit if BJU closes? Where would those students go to college and be able to find the major that God wants them to study?" BJU has nearly 140 majors with just about anything a student feels God has called them to study. Just because BJU doesn't align with your standards and beliefs you would want them to close? That's really sad! I don't even wish for schools like Liberty or Cedarville to close. There are many graduates from those two schools whom I know personally that are serving the Lord and doing great work. BJU will never be a Cedarville or Liberty no matter what you think or what any BJU alumnus thinks. But to hope that a Christian college closes who is trying to do the Lord's work by training young people to serve Him is really disgraceful. There are many things with which I disagree with Liberty but I don't go around "trashing" them to everyone who wants to listen. My dad was a pastor in Indianapolis for 47 years at the same church. It was a small church of about a hundred or so. Every Sunday morning he would pray in the service for another pastor and sister church in Indianapolis. He did this because, as he said to me, "I never want to be jealous of another pastor's work and it keeps me from being critical of them. I hope that God makes them successful in reaching people for Him." Maybe once try writing, "I praise the Lord for the many graduates that BJU has graduated over the years (and even under President Pettit's tenure) that are serving the Lord today in many vocations."
ReplyDeleteBrother Kittrel:
DeleteI view your two comments as a teaching moment and opportunity to remind and demonstrate to readers that BJU has changed in ways that no longer reflect what its Founder intended it to be. In fact, I titled one of my earliest articles, This is Not Your Father's Oldsmobile, and Neither is BJU because even by that time the proof of radical change was numerous. See-
https://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2019/10/this-is-not-your-fathers-oldsmobile-and.html
From here I'll take and respond to certain elements of your comment above. Because of length it has to be given in two parts to follow.
LM
You wrote, "Maybe once try writing, 'I praise the Lord for the many graduates that BJU has graduated over the years (and even under President Pettit's tenure) that are serving the Lord today in many vocations'."
DeleteHere's one honoring Dr. Bob Jones, Sr.
https://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2019/07/biographies-of-great-men-dr-bob-jones-sr.html
As far back as 1992 I have been thankful for BJU. I've had many reasons to praise and thank God for BJU and did so frequently. I haven't changed in that regard. I am a friend of and/or acquainted with many, many BJU graduates serving the Lord the world over. And I can tell you many of them are grieved over what they saw happening to their beloved BJU at the hands of Steve Pettit.
Even as far back as 2010 folks were writing to me with their concerns over changes, subtle at first, that they were seeing at BJU. I tried not to believe BJU was being transformed away from its fundamentalist, separatist foundation. I was determined to leave it alone, but then Steve Pettit arrived and the agenda to erase and replace the school's historic legacy became obvious, demanding it be documented and exposed.I believed a largely unsuspecting populace in our circles deserve to know of the radical changes the university is undergoing. I see my role as a ministry of warning and one of alerting an unsuspecting public.
That said, what has transpired over the past 9+ plus years at BJU is alarming and a true disgrace. Be reminded of what Dr. Jones III recently said in an open letter. He said,
"...over the last year some embarrassing, antithetical things, historically uncharacteristic things, which would have never happened in the past have occurred."
Upon Pettit's arrival those "embarrassing, antithetical, historically uncharacteristic things" began, which worsened over his tenure.
Early on you asked, "What would it benefit if BJU closes?"
It will be another stark reminder of what happens when a school takes a hard shift away from its founding principles. The base is disenfranchised, their appeals ignored and the result is they leave you because of it. But, no matter how many times this has been tried with tragic results (Pillsbury, TTU, Clearwater, Calvary Seminary and Northland all gone) someone comes along, like Steve Pettit, who thinks he can make it work where all the others failed. They just never learn.
There are ways BJU could have thrived while remaining committed to its founding principles- fundamental, separatist Tough choices, but workable. What we've seen is that for Pettit, the current Executive Cabinet and Administration, preserving BJU as it was founded was never and is not now a priority.
Have you considered this? Maybe Pettit and the Administration would rather see BJU close than give up their agenda to erase its fundamentalist heritage in favor of changing it into a non-separatist, compromising evangelical institution.
From a May 2020 article I included this paragraph, part of which was drafted by another disenfranchised graduate.
"It is a modern day tragedy that is happening at BJU. Many BJU grads cite Dr. Jones, Jr. as we read above. Some say he also said something to the effect that if BJU ever departed from its “strong fundamentalist stand” students should “come back and close the school.” Ironically it is through the actions of BJU graduates, Steve Pettit (80’) and Sam Horn (86’ 88’ 95’) that the school has lost its ‘strong fundamentalist stand.’ Going forward, unless some radical intervention takes place, it will largely be through BJU graduate Steve Pettit that the university’s doors may very well close."
To close with reiterating from my previous reply, Much of what Pettit, his Executive Cabinet and Administration have done to erase, change and replace the school's foundation and legacy must be reversed. Otherwise, let it experience a graceful closure.
With that our discussion here has ended.
LM
I'm adding some additional commentary addressing Mr. Kittrell's opinions. He claimed, "BJU will never be a Cedarville or Liberty no matter what you think or what any BJU alumnus thinks."
ReplyDeleteTo that let's be reminded of one of the clearest expressions Liberty abandoned the fundamentalist, separatist position was Jerry Falwell turning ecumenical. With that, let's be reminded Steve Pettit initiated ecumenical compromise at BJU when he entangled the school's student body with Franklin Graham's ecumenical movement. Steve Pettit, like Jerry Falwell, promoted ecumenism, which does great harm to the cause of Christ.
So, it doesn't matter what I "think or what any BJU alumnus thinks," it's clear from that example here, and others like it, Steve Pettit put BJU on a pathway to becoming the next Cedarville or Liberty.
LM