 About McDowell Bible College
• Who Are We?
• Licensure and Accreditation
• School Spirit
• Doctrinal Statement
• About the Founder
• We Need Your Support
Who Are We?
McDowell Bible College (MBC) is a non-profit, FREE or low tuition college and seminary serving English speaking Christian students around the world. After over two years of website, administrative and online classroom development, MBC was founded and began operating online at McDowellBibleCollege.org in Spring 2018, testing and evaluating the program through volunteer students seeking free religious instruction. MBC was officially formed as a non-profit, was awarded accreditation and gained state approval to operate in the Fall of 2018. MBC was opened officially for credentialed and credited instruction in January 2019. It is an institution of higher learning formed to provide a quality, free or low cost education especially needed by, but not limited to, lower to moderate income servants of God seeking service in churches or non-profit religious organizations. We exist to serve students from Christian churches who want a quality education that prepares them to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. But more importantly, we provide this service FREE to qualifying students. Now anyone can afford to get the biblical, ministerial and religious service education they need without burdening themselves with governmental bureaucracy and long-term educational loan debt. It is open to any Christian who is reasonably in agreement with our Doctrinal Statement.
| Licensure and Accreditation |  |  | | ↑Click on each to view↑ |
McDowell Bible College (MBC) is a private, nonprofit institution incorporated in the State of Alabama not aligned with any other institution public or private. It is recognized by the Association of Bible Colleges (ABC) as an accredited educational institution meeting their standards for certification and accreditation. MBC has received permission from the Alabama Community College System to conduct training in preparation for the ministry and service in an established church, denomination, or religion in the State of Alabama. Click on the document image links above to more accurately read the details of the state and NBCA certificates. Our academic standards are high, meeting or exceeding the level of many, if not most, older accredited college and university on-line programs. You will be proud of the certificate or diploma you get at McDowell Bible college.
School Spirit
The school spirit for all Christian students and faculty is our knowledge that we have the assistance of the Holy Spirit as we study God's Word and prepare ourselves to better serve Him. As Christians, the interaction between students is, and should be, friendlier than you will find in a secular institution. We like to keep it that way, so as a student, remember to keep it friendly.
The McDowell Bible College logo is the McDowell coat of arms with the words "Bible College", our school motto, the cross and a bible added.
The school motto is the latin phrase sed Deus illuminat which means "God enlightens".
The symbolic mascot of MBC is the Saints. Being mostly an on-line college, we do not have any athletic or scholastic teams at this time. However, as Paul wrote to the early churches calling those members 'Saints', we likewise strive to be like those spoke of, studying His Word so that we might serve Him better as the McDowell Bible College Saints.
The school colors are Blue, White and Gold. Blue signifies truth and faith. White reminds us to be pure in our thoughts and actions. Gold signifies the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ who we lift up in all that we do.
We encourage wearing the school logo and colors proudly, so we occasionally offer reasonably priced student apparel and other items with the logo for sale to our students. The proceeds from those sales are used to help keep costs down for students and allows us to offer scholarships to more.
Interactive Online Global Classroom - We envision a diverse international faculty and student body from around the world in scope, therefore our students can form relationships in their classes with Christians worldwide. They then have a global identity through McDowell Bible College that is Acts 1:8 in scope. This comes from interaction between students and between students and faculty, as we encourage our instructors to add discussion forums as part of the class requirement. These bonds will be carried throughout their life and the perspective of global Christianity is one that adds significantly to their educational experience.
Doctrinal Statement
I have read the McDowell Bible College Doctrinal Statement below:
• We believe that the scriptures in the bible are the inspired Word of God. (2 Timothy 3:16)
• We believe that there is one God that exists in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - each a distinct Person, but all of one essence and all having the same nature, perfections, and attributes, and worthy of the same worship, confidence, and obedience. (John 1:1, John 10:30, John 14:9-11, Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14)
• We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and born of the virgin Mary; that He shed His blood on Calvary as a substitute for our sins and for the salvation of those who, in faith, receive Him as Savior and are born again in the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:20-21, John 5:17, John 1:33)
• We believe that the New Testament church is a local body of baptized believers with Christ as its head and the Holy Spirit as its guide. (1 Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 5:23, Psalm 118:22, 2 Corinthians 6:16)
• We believe in the priesthood of the believers so that every Christian has direct access to God in prayer through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5-9)
• We believe in the Great Commission and that all Christians should help to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and that it is our goal as a bible college to help equip Christians with the knowledge necessary to achieve this goal through quality biblical, ministerial and religious service education at a reasonable cost. (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8)
About the Founder
MBC is founded by Pastor Larry Joe McDowell who has served the Lord off and on as musician, choir director, worship leader, Gideon speaker and pastor over many decades. He began at the age of 15 as church organist. Larry played piano and organ, led choirs and taught Sunday School in military chapels around the world during his 20 years of military service. He took a break in service to obtain a BA in history with a 60 hour minor in English. While in the military, he received his first master's degree in Computer Resources Management and became a professional programmer analyst, carrying that work for many years after retiring from the Army.
Upon receiving the call to pastoral ministry late in life, he attended seminary to obtain additional graduate degrees: MA in Ministry, Master of Divinity and is a candidate for a Doctor of Ministry having completed all course requirements. Now serving as Dean of McDowell Bible College, school Chaplain and lecturer in several course put his education and experience to work. Pastor McDowell also holds a lifetime teaching credential from the California Community Colleges system to teach "English, Writing, Technical Writing, Business Writing, Journalism, English as a Second Language, History, Geography and Social Studies" at the community college level. The five graduate degrees (completed and pursued) and California credentials accredit him to teach and manage the courses for a wide array of subjects that the school offers. Pastor Larry is also a director and President of the MBC non-profit corporation. In addition to administrative duties and lecturing in our courses, he manages our IT department and on-line software and computer resources.
In and out of the military, Pastor Larry is well traveled, having lived a significant time in many countries in North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe. While traveling, he was an adjunct lecturer in five colleges and universities from Japan to Germany to the U.S. In his travels, Pastor Larry has met many Christians, pastors, chaplains and missionaries from around the world. It was his global perspective, college teaching exposure, online seminary experience and programming skills that combined to inspire him to spend years building the international online college and seminary now known as McDowell Bible College. The naming of the institution was not a matter of ego, but by putting his family name on the institution, he wanted to show that he was fully vested in its success and would be reminded not to bring discredit upon his ancestors or the Almighty. He named the library in memory of his mother who gave him the love of reading and the school of religion and seminary in memory of his maternal uncle who spent 60 years serving the Lord as a Baptist pastor. The school of science and mathematics is named in memory of his wife's father who was a very gifted chemical engineer in China.
Pastor McDowell is married and lives in the Birmingham, Alabama area where he and his wife both work hard for the college and are active in their church. They live with their dog, cat, and fish. He often hikes on the mountain trails in Alabama with his dog and sometimes with his wife. Dean McDowell recently completed the Alabama Pinhoti trail of over 182 miles up and down the hills and mountains of the Appalachian Trail. He used it as a fundraiser for MBC. He has two adult children who live in other states with their own family and has been blessed with six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
We Need Your Support
As with any institution of higher learning, in order to keep tuition low and to support as many students who want a Christian education as possible, we depend on donations to our institution from many Christians around the world. We ask that you help us to keep this dream a reality. We hope you will take the time to donate and help us meet this mission of training more church ministers, leaders, administrators, teachers and workers from around the world as they prepare to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ locally and to the "ends of the earth". Please donate through our safe and secure non-profit PayPal account which is linked labeled 'Donate' below.
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