When my son was looking for an affordable school to attend for his undergraduate studies, my wife stumbled upon Clear Creek Baptist Bible College in Kentucky.  We took Andrew for a visit and were very impressed.  Clear Creek is not the flashiest school, or the school with the most resources, but is committed to its mission of training theological students.  Although Andrew hasn’t physically attended classes on campus, he was able to take all of his courses online and will be finishing his degree this year.

Because the school is focused on helping students train for ministry, they do everything they can to support their studies.  Part of that includes financial assistance.  Their tuition is extremely low, as is room and board for those students who live on campus.  Every Thanksgiving and Christmas Andrew has received a love gift, and this last semester Andrew received an unexpected scholarship that helped with his tuition!

Let me contrast that with two other schools, both with historic buildings, endowments, and prestigious histories. The first, one of my alma maters, recently held a 10 year anniversary party for their president, to the tune of $50,000.  The second, in an immense story of self-aggrandizement, has just commission 69 stained glass windows for their new chapel to “immortalize Baptists who helped effect the culture change to more conservative attitudes in the Southern Baptist Convention.”  Believe it or not, the current president and his wife will be prominently displayed in a window.

So, which one of these schools is using their resources wisely, and helping their students more?