by David Melton
A college is a big endeavor. A ministry college is even a bigger one. Boston Baptist College is — by definition and by desire — a ministry partnership with churches who value the next generation of Baptist churches and church leaders. We all have to value today and tomorrow enough to invest professionally and financially in what will only be obvious years from now. Our great staff works to take care of the needs of students, to not only make this a great place to study, but a great place to be. Our faculty (and soon I will tell you how we have beefed it up even more!) … well, we don’t look at ministry theoretically here. Our faculty members not only know their academic disciplines, but they have led churches — many still are doing so. Want a student to learn ministry from people with real life ministry experience? You just cannot do better than Boston —that isn’t presidential propaganda, it’s just a fact.
My administrators in Boston are amazing — just could not be better. Our trustees are gifted — diverse but united — and work tirelessly for us. We have key supporting pastors and churches that are more than we could ask for. Together, we have defined what we are doing and we are knocking ourselves out doing just that!
But this is personal for me, too. This year my oldest son enrolls in Boston. That doesn’t make Boston-quality a bigger issue than we have already made it. It just makes the issue personal — for me. Now I not only have presidential eyes, I have parent eyes. And heart.
All parents know this. When you go to your kid’s little league game, you don’t just watch the game. You watch the kid. I just attended our son, David’s, high school graduation. I saw all the graduates walk across the stage. But I focused on and absorbed one graduate. That young man with (thank God) his mom’s smile, personality, and talent … I took that young man’s graduation personally.
I tell you this to make sure you understand Boston for what it is. It is a team effort that each of us take very personally. We want, and will settle for nothing less than, for our students to be in an environment where what you are matters more than what you can do. We want all students, including my firstborn, to see Biblical truth as their highest academic goal, and knowing Christ as the only golden ring there is in this life. I want students to rub shoulders with others who are men and women of character, and thoughtfulness, and adventure! I want my students, and my sons, to be servants — to resist the painful arrogance that can come in youth, to know that we by grace stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. That celebrity status is not the goal — faithfulness is. This isn’t just a profession for me or for anybody else on the Boston team, it’s our personal mission.
I have spent a lot of time already this summer communicat ing personally with Boston students. I know when somebody has a tough academic semester. I know when somebody achieves the honor roll! I know a lot about who is doing mission trips and internships this summer — who just got engaged (yo-ho Nick and Katie) and whose dad just lost his job. This college thing in Boston is intensely personal. I would like to double in attendance to be sure, but I am never willing to lose our personal touch here. That is something all too often overlooked by parents, students, and institutions in the recruitment discussions.
Any college can tell you when your kid is low on money! But who knows if a student is out of fellowship with the Lord? I guess it would be cool to have some big name concerts on campus, but I would rather have big-time community — a circle of friends and leaders relentlessly committed to knowing Jesus and pouring out our lives to serve him. That’s the way we look at it in Boston. We aren’t just building “a college.” We are building into young people’s lives — one at a time — personally.
I have often told our trustees, faculty, and staff that Boston has to be so good we want our own kids to come here. We have to believe that we do young people and their families and churches a favor when we recruit them to Boston. To Boston parents and every church who helps make it possible, just know this — I believe that. I love all my sons, and I don’t want anything but God’s best for them. I am so thankful to want them at Boston Baptist College. I want your God-called sons and daughters here, too. This isn’t just President Melton talking. This is Dave’s dad.