Is It Time for You to Start a Scholarship?

By DAVID ERICKSON, PH.D.
President, Jacksonville College

​Have you ever wondered what it would take to start a scholarship for a student at Jacksonville College? You might assume it requires $50,000 and a stack of paperwork to permanently endow one. But simply giving a scholarship, one that helps a student now, is easier than you think. Here are a few churches and associations that started one recently, and how they are helping students.
 
PLAINS BAPTIST ASSOCIATION
Last year, the Plains Baptist Association decided to start funding a $3,000 annual scholarship by sending $250 a month to the college. The average scholarship a Jacksonville College student receives is $3,000. For the Plains Association, it works much like a regular donation, except it’s designated for student scholarships. The college holds the money and applies it to a student’s account at the start of the Fall and Spring semesters, giving a Christian education to a student who could not afford it on their own.
 
CHEROKEE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION
The Cherokee Baptist Association began a scholarship fund this year aimed squarely at future ministers. Their churches stipulated that the scholarship must go to a student pursuing a ministry degree. The college honors that restriction, and if it should happen that no student currently qualifies, the money would simply wait until one does. That means every dollar these churches give is guaranteed to go toward preparing the next generation of pastors.
 
UNION BAPTIST CHURCH
Union Baptist Church in Springtown is not huge, but it is growing, and young families mean a new generation of students will soon be looking at colleges. Pastor Jeremy Blackwell led the church to start setting aside money now, so that when their own students graduate high school, a scholarship will be waiting to help send them to Jacksonville College. It’s a church making a long term investment in Christ’s kingdom by helping its own young people get a Christian education.
 
CRAFT BAPTIST CHURCH
Pastor James Dorman led Craft Baptist Church to build its scholarship a different way. The church committed to giving $100 a month, then challenged members to close the remaining $150 gap through individual gifts. They’ve responded generously, and the church expects to have the full scholarship funded soon, in time to help a student this year.
 
YOU CAN START ONE TOO!
Four different approaches, but the same ultimate result: students at Jacksonville College who can afford to keep preparing for their work in Christ’s kingdom. As Pastor James Dorman put it, “We challenge every church to fund a scholarship for students at Jacksonville College.”
 
If your church or association would like to start a scholarship of your own, contact the president’s office at Jacksonville College for details on how to establish one.

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