Heartland Baptist Bible College is a

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independent Baptist Independent Baptist churches (some also called Independent Fundamental Baptist or IFB) are Christian congregations, generally holding to conservative (primarily fundamentalist) Baptist beliefs. Although some Independent Baptist churches refuse af ...

Bible college A Bible college, sometimes referred to as a Bible institute or theological institute, is an evangelical Christian or Restoration Movement Christian institution of higher education which prepares students for Christian ministry with theological educ ...

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

. Before 1998, the college was located in

San Dimas, California San Dimas (Spanish for "Saint Dismas") is a city in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, its population was 34,924. It historically took its name from San Dimas Canyon in the San Gabriel ...

, and was known as Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College.

History

In November 1966, the Western Baptist Bible Fellowship, composed of pastors from that region, met in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

and created the Pacific Coast Baptist Fellowship. The school received the approval of the

Baptist Bible Fellowship International The Baptist Bible Fellowship International (BBFI) is a conservative Baptist Christian denomination. It is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. History The Fellowship was founded during a meeting in 1950 at Fort Worth in 1950 by a group of 1 ...

(BBFI), but was not owned by the BBFI and retained its independence. William H. Brackney, ''Congregation and campus: Baptists in higher education'' (

Mercer University Press Mercer University Press, established in 1979, is a university press operated by Mercer University. The press has published more than 1,600 books, releasing 35-40 titles annually with a 5-person staff. Mercer is the only Baptist-related instit ...

, 2008), , pp. 367–368.
Excerpts available
at

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. Classes at Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College, a co-educational college, began in fall, 1966 in rented facilities upstairs at the NE corner of the intersection of Glassell and Chapman - "The Circle" - in

Orange, California Orange is a city located in North Orange County, California. It is approximately north of the county seat, Santa Ana, California, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District were built before ...

. Under the direction of Rev. Ted Hicks, one of the founders and the first president, and then pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Santa Ana, the college grew and became a preacher-training facility. From Orange, it moved to progressively larger campuses in

Walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...

and

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

. In 1972, the college acquired a campus in San Dimas that had been built in 1928 as a home for underprivileged boys, then became a campus of

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. The school enforced a strict code of student conduct. Enrollment at PCBBC reached 500 students in the late 1970s, with students coming mainly from 300 churches in the western United States which were also responsible for a portion of the college's budget. However, enrollment declined in the following decade and by 1990 the school had 170 students. The college then proposed to demolish the campus, sell for a luxury home development, donate for park land, and rebuild a more compact campus on the remainder. In Summer 1998, because of its financial problems and policy disagreements within the BBFI education establishment, the school moved to

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

, and was renamed Heartland Baptist Bible College.Floyd Norris
"At RadioShack, Some Questions (and Now, Answers)"
''

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'', February 16, 2006. Heartland also withdrew from its affiliation with the BBFI. Heartland was granted an exception to

Title IX Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...

in 2018, which allows it to legally discriminate against

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

students for religious reasons.

Accreditation status

Heartland Baptist Bible College is not accredited by any recognized accreditation body, nor does it seek accreditation.

Sports

Although Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College did have intercollegiate sports teams when it was in California,Gordon Monson
"Shelter From a Tricky Double Play"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', March 14, 1986. HBBC does not now participate in any intercollegiate leagues, but it does offer

intramural sports Intramural sports are recreational sports organized within a particular institution, usually an educational institution, or a set geographic region. The term, which is chiefly North American, derives from the Latin words ''intra muros'' meaning " ...

for students who wish to participate.

Notable alumni

* Paul Chappell, Pastor of Lancaster Baptist Church and President of

West Coast Baptist College West Coast Baptist College is an independent Baptist Bible college in Lancaster, California, offering graduate and undergraduate degrees. West Coast opened in 1995 and is a member of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and School ...

Diane Downs Diane Elizabeth Downs ( Frederickson; born August 7, 1955) is an American criminal who murdered her daughter and attempted to murder her other two children near Springfield, Oregon, in May 1983. Following the crimes, she made claims to police ...

, convicted in the 1983 shooting of her three children (did not graduate and was expelled) * David J. Edmondson, former

RadioShack RadioShack, formerly RadioShack Corporation, is an American retailer founded in 1921. At its peak in 1999, RadioShack operated over 8,000 worldwide stores named RadioShack or Tandy Electronics in the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Austra ...

CEO attended the college but falsely claimed to have received a psychology degree from Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College. * Ralph Shortey, former Oklahoma State Senator and convicted child sex trafficker

References

External links

* {{authority control Unaccredited Christian universities and colleges in the United States Independent Baptist universities and colleges in the United States Seminaries and theological colleges in Oklahoma Educational institutions established in 1966 Universities and colleges in Oklahoma City 1966 establishments in California