Pensacola Christian College (PCC) is a
private 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 ...
college in
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principa ...
. Founded in 1974 by Arlin and Beka Horton, it has been
accredited by the
Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools since 2013.
History
Arlin and Beka Horton graduated from
Bob Jones University
, motto_lang = Latin
, mottoeng = We seek, we trust
, top_free_label =
, top_free =
, type = Private university
, established =
, closed =
, f ...
in 1951, and moved to
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principa ...
in 1952 to found a Christian grade school. That school, Pensacola Christian Grade School, opened in 1954; it was later renamed
Pensacola Christian Academy.
In 1974, the Hortons opened Pensacola Christian College to further their vision of "Education from a Christian Perspective." The college had 100 students its first year open, and was based in a single building, Ballard Hall.
Pensacola Theological Seminary, an extension of PCC's graduate school, was founded in 1998. Its avowed purpose is "to fill each student's mind and heart with what the Bible says."
In February 2012, Arlin Horton announced that he would be retiring from the ministry after the May 2012 school year. The school's board voted unanimously to install Troy Shoemaker, a PCC graduate, as president of the college. Mr. Shoemaker, a former administrator at Pensacola Christian Academy, completed his undergraduate education at PCC and holds a
Doctor of Education
The Doctor of Education (Ed.D. or D.Ed.; Latin ''Educationis Doctor'' or ''Doctor Educationis'') is (depending on region and university) a research or professional doctoral degree that focuses on the field of education. It prepares the holder for ...
degree from the institution as well as an
education specialist degree from the
University of West Florida.
Academics
PCC has nine academic divisions including Bible, business, education, engineering and computer science, humanities, natural sciences, nursing, performing arts, and visual arts. Graduate degrees are offered through the graduate school at PCC and through Pensacola Theological Seminary in the fields of Bible, business administration, communicative arts, divinity, education, ministry, music, and nursing.
The college markets its education programs as being specifically intended to prepare educators for employment at Christian schools rather than public schools, though graduates of the programs have been eligible to apply for public school teacher certification in Florida since 2000.
Because the college accepts a literal interpretation of the
Genesis creation narrative from the Bible and rejects
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
and other mainstream theories about the origins and age of Earth, students are taught
young Earth creationism,
["We believe God created the heavens and earth in six literal days, and that God created all life (Gen. 1). We reject the man-made theory of evolution occurring over millions of years and believe the earth is 6,000 years old." page 7] and that God created the Earth in six literal 24-hour days.
PCC's biology classes are based on creationism.
Accreditation
Since 2013, Pensacola Christian College has been accredited by the
Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), a religious
national accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, to offer associates to doctorate degrees.
However, Pensacola Christian College does not participate in any federal or state funded financial aid programs. In consequence, the college is exempt from federal guidelines concerning many forms of discrimination (e.g.,
Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972), investigations into accusations of sexual abuse, and sharing of information about crimes on campus (
Clery Act).
From 1974 until 2011, Pensacola Christian College did not seek accreditation. In numerous publications the school explained that it eschewed accreditation, indicating that an outside agency that didn't share its religious and moral views might try to pressure the college to change or eliminate its beliefs.
The college changed course on November 9, 2011, when the administration informed its students that PCC had been awarded candidacy for accreditation, a pre-accreditation status, by Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. In October 2013, PCC was officially accredited by TRACS.
The baccalaureate and master's degrees in nursing at Pensacola Christian College are also accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing, and the baccalaureate degree in engineering is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET.
Student life
Athletics
PCC participates in the
National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) for intercollegiate sports. Sports include men's basketball and soccer and women's basketball and volleyball. The men's wrestling team won the NCCAA national championship in 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1998, the last year before the NCCAA discontinued the sport.
The Men's Eagles Basketball games as well as the Lady Eagles basketball games are played in the arena level of the Sports Center. PCC also hosts a number of invitational high school sporting tournaments and camps.
In addition to intercollegiate athletics, PCC students are also afforded the opportunity to play intramural sports through their Collegians. Sports offered through collegians include soccer,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
,
softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
,
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
, and
broom-hockey among others, and the Eagles have a
cheerleading
Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ent ...
squad called the Blue Crew. Every fall Collegian Soccer culminates with the winners of the playoffs facing each other in the annual Turkey Bowl held over the Thanksgiving weekend. In the spring, students can play softball and basketball.
Recreation
The campus offers opportunities for individual or group recreation, such as the Arlin R. Horton Sports Center which originally opened in 1993. The sports center has facilities for ice skating, bowling, racquetball, miniature golf, table tennis, and weight lifting.
In addition with an expansion completed in 2008 by Hewes & Company, LLC, it includes a surfing wave, water cannons, an inline skating track, a rooftop sun deck, a snack bar, escape room and
climbing walls.
The campus also has the John Ray Hall Field House in which students can play basketball, swim, work out in the weight room, and play tennis. For students willing to make the 30-minute drive, the West Campus has 24
Hobie catamarans with classes "offered in sailing, kayaking, swimming, and lifeguarding."
Rules and regulations
PCC policies govern many aspects of the students' lives, including dress, hairstyles, cleanliness of residence hall rooms, styles of music, borrowing, off-campus employment, and Internet access. For example, "All students are expected to dress modestly, in conservative fashions and . . . men are not to wear effeminate hairstyles or apparel."
PCC also prohibits physical contact and interaction between unwed members of the opposite sex. For example, a
chaperone and "day-pass" is required for a "mixed group" for students under the age of 23. Students over the age of 23 are not required to have a chaperone on a date, but cannot go to a beach or a park after dark and cannot "visit the home of an unmarried person of the opposite gender."
Most stairwells, elevators, and parking lots on campus are
segregated by gender.
Other prohibited activities at PCC include "fornication, adultery, homosexual behavior, or any other sexual perversion. Also, any involvement in pornography or sexual communications, including verbal, written, or electronic."
In addition, "most forms of dancing," profanity, hazing, discrimination, gambling, stealing and "witchcraft, séances, astrology, or any other satanic practices" are also banned." Students are also not allowed to use, possess, or "associate" with alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs.
Policy violations also include visiting movie theaters, patronizing unauthorized area businesses, being off campus after hours, being in a residence hall belonging to a member of the opposite sex, and engaging in social activities with members of the opposite sex as a group off campus.
Demerits and discipline
The school operates a "demerit" system where "demerits" are "recorded on a student's record for the purpose of limiting continued misconduct, given for continued neglect of responsibilities or for more serious offenses."
PCC has four levels of
punishment; students can be given "infractions," can be "campused", "shadowed", or
expelled.
Students may be given notices, charges, demerits, or be expelled.
Students who have these demerits are subject to administrative review by the Student Court, during which demerits are assigned or canceled corresponding to the degree of the infraction or circumstantial conditions surrounding the incident in question."
In the past (at least until 2008), students who acquired a certain number of demerits in a semester were "campused," meaning they were not allowed to leave campus for a period of time.
Students suspected of more serious violations could be subject to being "shadowed," where they were assigned to a Residence Assistant (a fellow student who was selected by PCC to provide leadership in the residence hall and to enforce college regulations).
This included being required to attend the Residence Assistant's classes and moving to the Residence Assistant's room.
While being shadowed the student was prohibited from speaking with any student other than with the Floor Leader who was shadowing them.
The rules and disciplinary policies at Pensacola Christian College have been the subject of criticism. In 1996 a PCC alumnus started an electronic newsletter entitled ''The Student Voice'', which criticized PCC, particularly the school's rules and demerit system.
It was originally published in a newsletter format distributed exclusively via e-mail, and it was later published at www.pensacolachristiancollege.com. Following numerous attempts by the college to have the website shut down through arbitration and lawsuits, the website's owners relinquished control of the domain to the college, who has redirected the domain to the main PCC website.
Students may also be written up for small things such as but not limited to- frayed pants, going off campus with a person of the opposite sex, watching movies, and listening to "worldly music".
Faith and King-James-only debate
PCC rejects
hyper-Calvinism,
Modernism
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, ...
,
Neo-orthodoxy, and the modern day
charismatic movement and specifically states that "Pensacola Christian is not a part of the 'tongues movement' and does not allow students to participate in or promote any charismatic activities, nor do we permit students to promote hyper-Calvinism."
PCC also states that they believe the ''
Textus Receptus'' is the superior Greek text of the Bible and upon this basis use the
King James Version
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...
of the Bible for all their pulpit ministry and classroom Bible instruction.
Affiliated ministries of PCC
The Campus Church
The Campus Church, an
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 ...
church, meets in the Crowne Center on Pensacola Christian College's Campus and has Sunday morning, evening and Wednesday evening services.
[ page 13]
''Rejoice in the Lord''
The Campus Church holds their weekly services from the Crowne Center at Pensacola Christian College. These services are recorded and edited for the weekly television broadcast of ''
Rejoice in the Lord''. The programming of ''Rejoice in the Lord'' consists of musical numbers performed by the Rejoice Choir, various PCC musical ensemble groups, congregational singing recorded in the Campus Church and preaching by Pastor Jeff Redlin. The hour-long television program is broadcast at 8 p.m. Eastern on Sundays on the
Daystar Television Network.
WPCS
Pensacola Christian College owns radio station
WPCS 89.5 FM, known on-air as Rejoice Radio. WPCS is the main station of the Rejoice Broadcasting Network (sometimes referred to as "RBN"). The content heard on Rejoice Radio consists primarily of inspirational music and syndicated Christian radio programming.
Abeka
Abeka, formerly known as A Beka Book, is a
publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
affiliated with Pensacola Christian College that produces K–12
curriculum
In education, a curriculum (; plural, : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to ...
materials that are used by
Protestant fundamentalist and other
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Evangelical Christian schools, as well as non-fundamentalist Christian schools and
homeschooling families around the world. It is named after Rebekah Horton, wife of college president Arlin Horton, both of whom founded both PCC and Abeka, administering them simultaneously. Abeka and
BJU Press (formerly
Bob Jones University
, motto_lang = Latin
, mottoeng = We seek, we trust
, top_free_label =
, top_free =
, type = Private university
, established =
, closed =
, f ...
Press) have been considered the two major publishers of Christian-based educational materials in America.
Abeka has been criticized for selling works that do not follow a scientific consensus regarding the
origins of the universe
Cosmogony is any model concerning the origin of the cosmos or the universe.
Overview
Scientific theories
In astronomy, cosmogony refers to the study of the origin of particular astrophysical objects or systems, and is most commonly used i ...
,
origins of life
In biology, abiogenesis (from a- 'not' + Greek bios 'life' + genesis 'origin') or the origin of life is the natural process by which life has arisen from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. The prevailing scientific hypo ...
, and
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
. In ''
'', a judge upheld the
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Fran ...
's rejection of Abeka publications for preparatory use because the books are "inconsistent with the viewpoints and knowledge generally accepted in the
scientific community."
In 1996, state and federal agencies requested millions of dollars of unpaid taxes between 1988 and 1995 from A Beka Book, at the time a division of PCC. In a settlement without any admission of wrongdoing, Pensacola Christian College paid $44.5 million in federal taxes. The organization also voluntarily paid $3.5 million Florida state taxes in full even though it had received legislative relief from them and no longer bore any legal liability for them, to avoid any appearance of offense or subsidization by the state.
Chris-Tex
Chris-Tex is a public foundation based in Pensacola, Florida that was founded in 1998 made to function as the investment and endowment manager for Pensacola Christian College. As of 2019 they had $30 million in revenue and $1.1 billion in assets. The primary purpose of Chris-Tex, Inc. is to function as the investment and endowment manager for Pensacola Christian College, a related 501(c)(3) organization.
Notable alumni
*
James Van Huss
James "Micah" Van Huss (born December 31, 1978) is an American politician and former Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing House District 6; he took office on January8, 2013. Van Huss reported within his 2016 ...
- State representative in House district 6 of Tennessee. Huss graduated from PCC with a degree in Computer Science in 2003.
*
Tom Vasel - Well-known podcaster, designer, and reviewer of board games. Vasel co-hosts a long-running and popular gaming podcast titled ''The Dice Tower''. Vasel graduated with a B.S. in Biblical Studies in 1999.
*
Maria Boren - Job candidate on the second season of NBC's reality TV show, ''
The Apprentice'' in 2004. Bore graduated with a Bachelor's in Business, and a minor in Home Economics, in 1994.
*
Garrett Mason - Elected to the
Maine Senate in November 2010; Maine state Senate majority leader. Mason graduated from PCC with a degree in Management in 2006.
*
Cathy McMorris Rodgers - Elected to
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...
from
Washington state in November 2004. McMorris Rodgers graduated PCC with a degree in Pre-Law in 1990.
*
John Libka - Umpire for
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...
(MLB) from 2017–present. Libka graduated PCC with a degree in History Education in 2009.
References
External links
Official website
{{Authority control
Educational institutions established in 1974
Independent Baptist universities and colleges in the United States
King James Only movement
Christian College
Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools
Private universities and colleges in Florida
Education in Escambia County, Florida
1974 establishments in Florida