Poll: Louisiana Baptist University

Thanks Craig.

 

Yes, Craig, I certainly could be wrong about this. Thanks for the info.

 

It is amazing what a little surfing on the 'net shows -

One LBU student even tossed his hat in the ring for the recall election in California...

Move over, Anuld...
http://www.jasongastrich.com/personal.htm

While I don't know Jason, and certainly have no reason to doubt him...his gubernatorial bid lists his BA/MA...his personal page says he's working on his PhD...but alas his advertisement for his The Skeptic's Annotated Bible lists his credentials as BA/MA/ThD.

Sadly, why do so many purport this credential and then lack the wherewithal to back it up?

Being a martial artist, I have discovered an entire realm of degree mills that operate under the auspices of Christian martial arts ministries. For just $900, I could string together a document where I splice sermons I've preached and be awarded my ThD from an equally unaccredited/unimpressive school.

Sadly, the low road seems well travelled...
Steven King

 

The low road is WELL travelled...

I decided to snoop a little more and discovered that Mr Gastrich was awarded his ThD from -

Shepherd Bible College and Seminary
http://www.sbcollege.net/

Which makes this disclaimer: All degrees awarded by Shepherd Bible College are solely for religious vocations. Transferability of credits earned at SBCS and transferred to another institution is at the discretion of the receiving institution.

Shepherd does play up its affiliation with OCCM (Online Christ Centered Ministries - http://www.occm.org) where Dr. Gastrich is on the Board of Directors - and on his personal resume lists OCCM as being founded by him.

Oh convoluted web, well spun...
Steven King

 

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I see SBCS "declined" regional accreditation ; does this mean it was offered to them .

But at least the school , through WWAC, has "worldwide accreditation." Where have I heard that claim before? At least now that SBCS has "declined" RA, it is free to faithfully teach , they say, God's Word...except for the part about, "Thou shalt not lie," of course.

 

One LBU student?

One would think that most any school has a few students/graduates/alumni who have become involved in some type of questionable activity.

 

Russell,
Good point...my point was that one of the LBU alum's referenced in the "gee look what LBU alums have done" website had tossed his hat in the race for governor. Just making a connection...that's all.

Steven King

 

I was there for the graduation week exit seminars two years ago. I was generally impressed by the quality of people there. The presenters were good to very good and the level of the participants was high. While the seminars were not what I would call rigorous, they were what I would call enriching. I remember that my feelings about LBU were very positive. I had no feeling whatsoever of substandard academic ability in either professors or students. The atmosphere was as much "Baptist" as it was academic--whatever that means, but it was a better executed multi-day seminar than many, if not most, of such events that I hvae attended either at other schools or work places. Whatever shortcomings LBU has, they are mostly shortcomings inherent in distance education itself. Of course there are many people who would find the fundamental Baptist culture too narrow for academic purposes. I was fine with it. I would really like to be able to take a grad seminar on campus; that would give me something I could compare with other programs which I have done that were not DL. I have been surprised, to tell you the truth, how well the degree has been received in my personal experience. I think, expanding on what I said earlier, that LBU is simply following the path of Luther Rice, an institution that LBU administration much admires. I would expect them to go with TRACS, but not until they get solidly comfortable in the new facility and have well over two thousand students. The number of published, well-known people with LBU credentials impressed me a lot.

Blessings

 

Long before Luther Rice obtained TRACS accreditation, the school was used by numerous Independent and Southern Baptist pastors (as well as others), especially for master's and doctoral level study. Charles Stanley is just one example of a pastor who obtained the LRS Th.D., long before LRS was accredited.