Our Administration
Our administration is dedicated to our students’ education. They bring the highest level of academic standards to the classroom and lead lives devoted to Christian service.
Our History
After much prayer and planning, Bluefield College of Evangelism was chartered as a nonprofit religious educational institution incorporated in the state of North Carolina on June 8, 1971. The prior October 1970 had witnessed the establishment of Christian Acres, a Christian service camp, by the Christian churches/churches of Christ in the Bluefield, West Virginia, area. It was believed that a ministerial educational institution in Southern Appalachia would be a vital strengthening force for churches in the Restoration Movement in this area.
Bluefield College of Evangelism thus began with the vision of providing a practical education for various church-related ministries. For several years Christian Acres Christian Camp, with chapel, classrooms, dining hall, kitchen, dormitories, and administrative buildings, served as BCE's first home. Founder David Branholm served as BCE's first president as the college began its first year with a student enrollment of twenty-three men and women on September 7,1971.
By 1986 the college had outgrown these facilities and purchased property adjacent to Christian Acres where a single multi-purpose unit housed the chapel, administrative offices, classrooms, library, and kitchen/dining facilities. Though this location provided a scenic mountaintop view for the college and of the surrounding Bluefield area, navigating problematic roads in the winter and visitor difficulty in finding the campus led to the decision to relocate the college. In 2002 the college campus adjoining Christian Acres was sold.
On December 9, 2002, BCE's Board of Directors, in partnership with the Crossroads Church of Christ, purchased property and a former church building on West Lee Highway in Wytheville, Virginia, to become the college's new location. Joint sharing of the facility provides a worship auditorium, kitchen/dining in a fellowship area, a library, classrooms, and administrative office space for both the church and the college. Following the May commencement exercises of BCE's class of 2003, the college's campus was transferred to the Wytheville location where, as a subsidiary of the original college, the new name, Blueridge College of Evangelism, became official.
The dreams of her founders continue to be realized as BCE's program offerings have expanded to include two certificate programs and several degree programs, including extension, independent studies, directed readings, and graduate programs. Loving links have been established with the Christians in Southern Appalachia and with students from throughout the United States and around the world.
Bluefield College of Evangelism thus began with the vision of providing a practical education for various church-related ministries. For several years Christian Acres Christian Camp, with chapel, classrooms, dining hall, kitchen, dormitories, and administrative buildings, served as BCE's first home. Founder David Branholm served as BCE's first president as the college began its first year with a student enrollment of twenty-three men and women on September 7,1971.
By 1986 the college had outgrown these facilities and purchased property adjacent to Christian Acres where a single multi-purpose unit housed the chapel, administrative offices, classrooms, library, and kitchen/dining facilities. Though this location provided a scenic mountaintop view for the college and of the surrounding Bluefield area, navigating problematic roads in the winter and visitor difficulty in finding the campus led to the decision to relocate the college. In 2002 the college campus adjoining Christian Acres was sold.
On December 9, 2002, BCE's Board of Directors, in partnership with the Crossroads Church of Christ, purchased property and a former church building on West Lee Highway in Wytheville, Virginia, to become the college's new location. Joint sharing of the facility provides a worship auditorium, kitchen/dining in a fellowship area, a library, classrooms, and administrative office space for both the church and the college. Following the May commencement exercises of BCE's class of 2003, the college's campus was transferred to the Wytheville location where, as a subsidiary of the original college, the new name, Blueridge College of Evangelism, became official.
The dreams of her founders continue to be realized as BCE's program offerings have expanded to include two certificate programs and several degree programs, including extension, independent studies, directed readings, and graduate programs. Loving links have been established with the Christians in Southern Appalachia and with students from throughout the United States and around the world.
Our Mission
Blueridge College of Evangelism is a religious institution exempt from state regulation and oversight in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
BCE is an institution where students are given the opportunity to grow spiritually, academically, and socially through participation in an environment where they are led by a faculty that sets Christ before them as Lord of their lives. Thus the mission statement for Blueridge College of Evangelism is as follows:
"Training preachers to preach and workers to work for Christ all around the world."
To "be prepared in season and out of season" (II Timothy 4:2) to carry out this mission, BCE provides a comprehensive academic program in Bible and other ministry-related courses to prepare evangelists and others for Christian service.
BCE is an institution where students are given the opportunity to grow spiritually, academically, and socially through participation in an environment where they are led by a faculty that sets Christ before them as Lord of their lives. Thus the mission statement for Blueridge College of Evangelism is as follows:
"Training preachers to preach and workers to work for Christ all around the world."
To "be prepared in season and out of season" (II Timothy 4:2) to carry out this mission, BCE provides a comprehensive academic program in Bible and other ministry-related courses to prepare evangelists and others for Christian service.
Our Vision
As an academic institution in the Restoration Movement tradition, BCE believes in the following principle: "Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent."
In doing so, the Board of Directors, faculty, and students acknowledge the supremacy of God's Word as the basis for Christian faith and living.
The following goals have been established as a guide for BCE's educational program, with the intent that each brings glory to God. BCE proposes to:
In doing so, the Board of Directors, faculty, and students acknowledge the supremacy of God's Word as the basis for Christian faith and living.
The following goals have been established as a guide for BCE's educational program, with the intent that each brings glory to God. BCE proposes to:
- Nurture spiritual formation and growth by providing a Christian worldview.
- Carry out the "great commission" through worldwide evangelism adopt a lifelong love for and discipline to the study of God's Word.
- Work to achieve unity in believers as promoted in the plea of the Restoration Movement.
- Commit to moral, spiritual, and ethical values as recorded in the Bible.
- Communicate Christ's love and gift of salvation to a world in need of hope.