by Mary Hughes
The theme “What if…?” is a common one in literature and movies, and even in our personal daydreams. What if we had made different choices or traveled the road not taken? What would be different if that one pivotal person had not entered our lives? The friends, mentors, job opportunities, triumphs, and tragedies have all been pieces of the puzzle that have made us who we are today. Paul said, “All things work together for good….” But what if one of those “things” had never been? No less a theological expert than Clarence, the would-be angel in It’s a Wonderful Life, said, “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” But what if that “man” isn’t a man at all, but an institution — a Bible college made up of teachers and speakers and role models and students who changed your world on a daily basis for four years during the formative days of your Christian walk and preparation for ministry? What would your world, your life, your walk with God, and your service for Him be like if Baptist Bible College had never existed?
First, let me acknowledge that God is sovereign in the affairs of men and His plan for us has been in place since before the world began. But it is also true that He has chosen to use things and circumstances and people to accomplish His purposes. It is hard for me to imagine the impact on my own family if Baptist Bible College had never existed. Where else would a bookish country boy from East Texas (my father) have met up with a beautiful hillbilly from Paducah, KY (my mother) and fallen in love? In a way, I owe my very existence to BBC. The friends and influences that my parents came in contact with while in Springfield set their lives and ministry in motion, creating the backdrop for my life as a child growing up as a preacher’s kid in a BBF church and thus having the privilege of personal contact with some of the greatest men of God of their generation — often sitting at our own dinner table.
My own experiences at BBC introduced me to some of my greatest role models and the mentors that shaped my life and ministry, not to mention the young lady who would become my partner in ministry for the last 28 years. The relationships I established while at Baptist Bible College have provided a network of friends and resources over the years that have opened every door for ministry I have ever needed. The fact that some of those men are still serving faithfully on the faculty of the college gives me the confidence that my children are receiving the same benefit from BBC that I did so many years ago.
I can see the impact that BBC has had on my parents’ lives and my life and ministry now beginning to show in the lives of my children. My daughter, Chelsea, whose testimony was that she majored in business at BBC because they wouldn’t let her major in basketball, is now on the mission field changing the world for Christ — because of contacts and relationships she established while at BBC. My son, Bobby, also a business major and a basketball player, has also caught the vision for seeing the world won to Christ during his four years on campus.
The question “What would our lives and ministries have looked like without Baptist Bible College?” is impossible to answer, but one thing is certain — it would have no resemblance to what it is today because the influence of Baptist Bible College is written all over it. And that fact motivates me to continue supporting the school through times of transition and change, to participate in the process of honoring the past while preparing for the future, and to find a way to be a part of the solution rather than a part of the problem. That way my grandchildren will never have to face the prospect of life without Baptist Bible College.
To read this entire BBC Alumni Association Special Feature, click here.