Pillsbury College: The Last Week

It is the last official week at Pillsbury Baptist Bible College, and we awoke to about six inches of new snow this morning. Faculty and students are finishing off final exams this week, and on Friday we will have a last breakfast and a farewell chapel. For many of us, it has been a bittersweet last few days. We will be saying good bye to many colleagues, friends, and students for the last time, because some of us will probably not see each other again for a long, long time. Years from now, those of us who were here as "The Last Comets" will look back and be able to say that in spite of the emotions that we are experiencing now, God provided for our needs and showed us His will for our lives.

On the editorial page of this morning's Owatonna People's Press, the editor penned a nice tribute to Pillsbury. I would like to share that editorial with you:

"It must be a bittersweet time for the students and faculty at Pillsbury Baptist Bible College this week. With the end of the semester just days away and the coming of the holidays just a fortnight away, they must surely feel both a sense of completion and the joy that accompanies Christmas. At the same time, those feelings are undoubtedly tempered with a great sense of loss, knowing that when the final test is taken and final grade recorded that these students and their instructors will be saying goodbye to one another and to the college for the last time as Pillsbury sets to close its doors for good at the end of the month.

Dr. Gregory Huffman, the president of the college, compared the situation at Pillsbury to a death in the family. And as with a time of death, there likely will be mourning by those for whom the closing of Pillsbury touches most closely. During a candlelight Christmas concert on Friday night, Dr. Huffman, a former pastor, did his best to counsel and console the Pillsbury community, reminding them that even though the college will close, it will never die as it continues to live in the service and ministry of the students and the faculty.

They are wise words — words that inspire and give hope.

But there is even more reason for hope. Even as the Pillsbury faculty and staff readied for the closing of the school, word was received that representatives from another Christian college have visited the campus to negotiate the sale of the campus. If that sale occurs — and it is far too early to speculate on the sale or the potential buyor, though rumors about both abound — then it will be good not only the Minnesota Baptist Association, which owns the school, but also for Owatonna. The sale would help the association discharge the debt that led to the school’s closure. But it also would bring another strong Christian college to town. If that college, its teachers and its students are anything like Pillsbury, Owatonna would be strengthened by its coming.

In the meantime, we wish the best for those who will leave Pillsbury and Owatonna for the last time this week. Your presence has enriched this community and your absence will be felt."

Even though Pillsbury Baptist Bible College will be ceasing academic operations on December 31, it is my conviction that the College and its faculty members and students have had a positive impact on the Owatonna community.