1956-1985
Judson Baptist College
Portland & The Dalles Oregon OR
Judson Baptist College in Oregon was the result of theologically conservative churches splitting away from the Northern Baptist Convention (now American Baptist Churches) in the 1940’s. A group of conservative pastors met in Chicago in 1943 to found the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society (now called World Venture). They had no intention of forming an entire denomination. Soon thereafter came the Conservative Baptist Home Mission Society (now known as Missions Door). With two mission societies already in place the table was set for the creation of the Conservative Baptist Association of America which launched in 1947. Today this group of churches remains by far the dominate expression of Baptist Christianity in the state of Oregon.[1] “For several years, Mark O. Hatfield, a leading Conservative Baptist layman who served as governor of the State of Oregon from 1959 to 1967, and U. S. Senator [1967-1997], presented the Sunday school lesson at the annual men’s Round-up.”[2]
Working through this division, the Northern Baptists retained control of Camp Arrah Wanna and relinquished Western Seminary into the hands of the Conservatives. In 1951, the Board of the seminary voted to become self-perpetuating and added a word to the title of the institution to become Western Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary.[3] The Northern Baptists kept control of Linfield College in McMinnville where “smoking and dancing were already allowed on campus”.[4]
This division and decision left the Conservative Baptists freedom to start a new college and through a competition the name Judson Baptist College, as submitted by Miss Cathy Owens of the First Baptist Church in Junction City, was selected.[5] “The name chosen for the school, the name of a famous Baptist missionary, was intended to ‘exemplify what we were trying to do…trying to become a lighthouse for the Lord.’”[6] Thus the sixth effort at higher education named for the Judsons was launched. The original motto touted “Education Through Encounter”.
The first few years Judson Baptist College met in churches until she was able to purchase her first campus in 1959. Hill Military Academy (the Bluffs Campus) had enjoyed a storied career in Portland on its 33-acre campus but enrollment declined after World War II. In August 1959, the Academy closed and the campus at 9150 NE Fremont with its 13 buildings was purchased by the nascent Judson Baptist College.
Birthed in theological rancor, Judson Baptist College had a problem from day one with philosophy and finances. Should this college be a Bible College or a Liberal Arts College? It is hard to put conservative Christian and liberal arts in the same mission statement. The liberal arts crowd won this first battle but others in the denomination continued to nibble away at the struggling school. Wounds were opened afresh when the board decided to become self-perpetuating in 1975 thus usurping the control that the denomination previously had in appointing board members.
The College was “a non-selective accredited non-public two-year junior college” through its first 25 years. Its program was designed to provide “adequate lower division courses to transfer to a four year institution.”[7] But in 1978 decisions were made to move the academic program from delivering Associates degrees to Bachelor’s degrees. The strategic plan hoped to triple the size of the student body to about 600 scholars.
At the same time, it was determined that the Bluffs Campus had reached its physical limit and it would be cheaper to move than to try to build in Portland, the population hub of Oregon. The state-owned Columbia Park Hospital and Training School was vacant and available 85 miles east of Portland so Judson Baptist College moved to 400 E. Scenic Drive, The Dalles, Oregon, for the last five years of its existence (1980-1985).
But all this change was too much and the school declared bankruptcy in January 1985 and closed all operations at the end of the spring semester. There was a debt of over $2,000,000 and the new programs, new degrees and new location did not attract new students. The majority of the faculty did not move to The Dalles but resigned and stayed in Portland. Enrollment dropped from 310 in 1980 to less than 100 in the final year. Judson Baptist College closed in 1985 and its records are now available at Southwestern College, Phoenix, AZ.
The longest serving president of Judson Baptist College, Neal Davis, reports proudly on the success of the small Baptist school:
- A student beginning at JBC was more likely to earn a bachelors degree than a student entering any other private college or university in Oregon;
- Although we were small, our library contained more “books per student” than any other higher education institution in Oregon;
- We had the highest percentage of resident students of any college in Oregon;
- We had the highest percentage of Conservative Baptist students of any college, Bible college or seminary anywhere;
- We took international trips during my last four years in Portland, and, so, had the highest percentage of student with passports of any college in Oregon.[8]
The Conservative Baptist Association of America now does business as Venture Church Network with headquarters in Arizona. They are the coordinating body that works with Western Seminary in Portland as well as the original home and foreign mission societies formed in the 1940’s. With the demise of Judson Baptist College, the Venture Church Network has identified with Corban University in Salem, Oregon.[9]
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[1] Neal Davis, President of Judson Baptist College, 1973-1981, email to Jerry Cain, June 28, 2022.
[2] Albert J. Wardin, Jr., Baptists in Oregon (Portland, Oregon: Judson Baptist College, 1969), p. 534.
[3] Ibid., p. 471.
[4] Ibid., p. 530.
[5] Ibid., p. 537.
[6] Thomas Paul Wolbrecht, Why Did This One Fail? A Case Study of the Demise of a Small Christian College. Unpublished EdD dissertation, Portland State University, 1990, p. 51, 43.
[8] Neal Davis email to Jerry Cain, June 28, 2022.
[9] https://venturechurches.org/connect/partners/