My School

I love my school. I can’t say it enough. I’m so thankful for my school. I absolutely love it here.

Making my choice of where to go to college after high school was a long, painful, tear-filled process.

 Just ask my mom. We had lots of late-night conversations about the millions of possibilities out there. Do I take a gap year? Missions? Work? School? Go far away? Stay close to home? Bible college? Secular university? Community college? I applied in Fall of 2018 to five schools. Four of them private Christian universities, one California State University. I got accepted to four out of five of the schools I applied at. So now I had to decide.

But to be honest, I wasn’t thrilled about any of the options I had applied to. I knew I should visit the schools and decide, but I didn’t really want to go visit. I wasn’t interested.

Somehow, in the middle of all this, I heard about this small Bible college about 30-40 minutes from home. A couple people we knew had graduated from this school. My mom heard about it and told me. I looked it up. I was intrigued by what they were offering: a debt-free, missions-focused Bible education. So, I set up a day to go down and visit the school, to see it in person, sit in on a class, and meet some of the staff.

My dad and I drove down there on a Thursday in February, in the pouring rain. We sat in on parts of two classes. My mom joined us, and we talked with one of the staff members, learning more about the school. By the time I left, I was pretty excited about this option.

I remember that after I had applied, my mom observed that this seemed like the only option for school I had really been excited about.

I got accepted, and by May had made my decision final – Eternity Bible College was my school. I spent the whole summer getting ready, getting excited for school to start. And when the semester started, it was better than I had expected. Honestly.

I’m now two finals and a big paper away from being done with my first semester. I made a commitment I’ll share at the end of this post that I’m super, super excited about. But for now, I want to share some of the things that I ADORE about Eternity Bible College.

1-      The Community. We are a small school. Probably only about 50 students on campus total, maximum. I’ve probably met almost all of them by now. So many of them I would consider friends. I’ve had four of them over at my house. We talk about all kinds of things. We hang out outside of class. We laugh. We learn about God’s word together. I love my EBC community. Thanksgiving break felt like such a long time to go without seeing them. Almost every Wednesday, one guy and I have a theological conversation in the library while the others are in class, and I love and value those conversations.

2-      The Teaching. I’ve been mind blown by the teaching and instruction I’m receiving in class. I love my professors. I’m thoroughly addicted to learning more about the Bible. I have been challenged and stretched both inside and outside of the classroom. We took a trip to Hollywood and another trip to San Francisco to learn about different ways that people are doing church and worshipping God. Those trips made me think HARD!

3-      The Atmosphere. Unlike many Bible colleges, EBC is not affiliated with a particular denomination. The statement of faith is broad enough that students of many theological backgrounds can come together and fellowship and learn. We agree on the essentials of our faith, but we may not always agree on the details. It challenges me to think outside of the bubble I’ve grown up in and form opinions for myself on things like spiritual gifts, end times, and demons.

4-      The Affordability. Seriously. I did the math, and EBC costs ¼ of what even a small Christian University like Master’s costs. Why is this? First, our campus. We are housed in a strip mall, four storefronts long. Second, the school is dedicated to keep costs down and let us graduate debt free, so they do what they can to make every dollar count. Finally, donors. We have many amazing donors who help defray the cost so that we can afford to get a wonderful Biblical education focused on missions, mobilizing us to go out in the world and live for Christ to have an impact for the gospel.

This is why I’m writing today. Because today is Giving Tuesday, and as if you haven’t heard enough about who you should donate to, I’m going to ask you to consider joining the team that makes EBC possible for students like myself.

I decided this semester to commit to a four-year Bachelor of Biblical Studies degree that will take me probably five years to complete. That’s my exciting news: I finally picked a degree. I’m beyond thrilled to spend the next five years immersed in God’s word. I’m here for a while. And I love it here. 

Will you consider donating to the school to make it possible for myself and other students to continue to receive foundational biblical training without a huge price tag attached? It’s easy if you decide to do it: eternity.edu/give