Greater Updates

As Bethel College moves toward becoming a top-five most influential Wesleyan college in America by 2022, we are well into the first year of GREATer 2014-2018, focusing on five institutional priorities: growth, revival, encore, aesthetics and testify. Here are some examples of the GREAT momentum building on campus as we strive to become GREATer, for the greater glory of God.

G: GROW

  • Adult and graduate studies (AGS) added 175 noncredit extended instruction students in customized training and other AGS programs.
  • Due to an aggressive recruiting strategy, Bethel’s transition to teaching program tripled enrollment, necessitating a fall cohort for the first time in Bethel history.
  • Bethel’s summer high school basketball tournament has grown exponentially, from having just 12 teams on campus in 2011 to 154 teams in 2014 — including 200 coaches and 1,500 students. Next year, it will be sponsored by Adidas as the 2015 Adidas Summer Shoot-out.

R: REVIVAL

  • Before students arrived for the fall semester, faculty and staff came together for prayer and communion during an all-campus chapel service.
  • As part of faculty retreat, many faculty members participated in a campus prayer walk.
  • President Chenoweth led a prayer walk for the pastors who attended the Missionary Church North Central District pastor’s meeting on campus in August.
  • Two students made a decision for Christ while on a mission trip to Mexico with the men’s soccer team.
  • Revival sparked on Aug. 29 during “Friday Night Fire,” a student-led gathering focused on worship and prayer in Shiloh Prayer Chapel. The service lasted nearly four hours as students cried out to God in repentance.

E: ENCORE

  • Bethel launched Lifelong Learning Webinars in September, aiming to provide students, alumni and friends of the college with free training and educational opportunities.
  • Bethel recognized faculty and staff members who have done an exemplary job in living out the GREATer priorities.
  • The library created an app that allows students to access materials with their smartphones.
  • Response time for service calls has been greatly expidited in IT (95 percent of requests are resolved within 72 hours) and the physical plant (93 percent of calls responded to within five minutes last month).

A: AESTHETICS

  • The softball complex is undergoing renovations that will include a new field, bleachers, sound system and press box.
  • Estate fencing and a new entrance sign are under construction along Liberty Dr., with future fencing planned for LaSalle St.
  • A new intramural field, complete with lights and irrigation, was installed over the summer.
  • Plans are underway to remove a portion of the track and tennis courts, creating green space. (The tennis team will practice on state-of-the-art courts at Knollwood Country Club in Granger, Ind., through a new partnership).

T: TESTIFY

  • Bethel was named a top tier college by U.S. News for the 11th consecutive year and remained 19th on the list of the Midwest’s Best Baccalaureate Colleges in the 2015 edition of “America’s Best Colleges.”
  • Bethel is also positioned highly in several important categories in the Midwest, including seventh for freshman to sophomore retention, eighth in percentage of freshmen in the top 25 percent of their high school class and 12th for graduation rate.
  • Nationally, Bethel’s overall score places the college in the top 16.8 percent of all baccalaureate colleges.