For over twenty years, East Coast Bible College was a place which left a great legacy of training as well as wonderful memories for many students, staff, local pastors, and denominational leaders. It was a place where students and faculty grew in a deeply intimate relationship with the Father. It was a place where hundreds were trained and prepared to step out into places of ministry that still continues around the world. It was also a place where many were able to see God move with great demonstration in spiritual gifts, miracles and forthright testimonies of God’s power. Through these faculty and students, East Coast Bible College still lives today.
During the past few years many East Coast Bible College students, faculty and alumni have shared a strong desire to once again set aside time to reconnect. The feedback that was given was the hope to have a weekend where alumni and faculty could re-establish relationships for both ministry resources and personal friendships, as well as a time to honor and celebrate the legacy of ministry training that was birthed out of Dr. George Voorhis’ leadership.
The 2nd Annual East Coast Bible College Reunion will be held August 29-31, 2008 near the former campus in Charlotte, N.C. The host church will be Life Church in Cramerton, N.C. with host pastor Sammy Oxendine, a former administrator at the college.
Because the college closed, former school officials and alumni agreed it was difficult to maintain a working tool to track alumni effectively. One of the greatest needs in the planning of this event is for effective and quick communication. Because there has not been a central contact for alumni to provide personal information changes, planners of the reunion are asking for help in communicating to East Coast friends, local pastors, churches and leaders information about the reunion.
Jimmie Cox, an ECBC reunion planning team chair leader said, “We understand that there may be many lay leaders in local churches who were also a part of the East Coast family who may not be in full time ministry or in pastoral leadership. We want to include this invitation to all who attended East Coast over the years and hope everyone will assist us in communicating through churches or newsletters, bulletins and communications.”
As part of the reunion effort, planners desire to form a non-profit board, an ECBC Alumni Association. The association will be the future operating structure for a point of contact for communication, alumni resources and relationships, educational scholarships and reunion/event planning for alumni students. The team plans to provide a yearly scholarship funding to the George Voorhis Educational Fund and to provide scholarship funding to other ministry training students.
“We have worked diligently with many of our alumni and previous faculty to gain their feedback, wisdom and insight in making this weekend a time of celebration for all,” Cox concluded. “We desire your feedback as well. We ask that if you learn of ways we can serve this community of students and faculty more fully, please let us know. We look forward to partnering with (alumni and staff) as we celebrate God’s faithfulness to fulfilling His promises and as we set aside a weekend to reconnect with the many students whose lives were changed by East Coast Bible College. We know this time together will be a catalyst of fellowship for future legacies!”
The theme for the reunion is “Honoring The Past, Celebrating The Future!” For more information, please contact either Cox at pastorjlcox@gmail.com [1] or Rev. Nickie Goodman Haas at nhaas@carolina.rr.com [2] .