Florida Christian University

What are the websites for FCU and AHBE?

 

Almost all of their instructors have their terminal degrees from FCU, and I don't think any have a doctorate from an accredited institution ( http://www.floridachristianuniversity.edu/courses_instructors.htm ). Both are negative signs. I'd continue looking elsewhere.

BTW, have you considered the South African institutions to which UZThD has referred in other threads? I think they are better options than almost anything I've seen in the States for doctoral distance education. And you can't beat the price---I paid more tuition at SBTS for one semester than their entire degrees cost.

Bill

 

I don't mean to be always the bearer of negative opinion, but my concern is that you add to an uaccredited master's the effort, time, and money for a doctorate which, down the road, fails to accomplish what you are really after. Will pastors and churches see a doctorate in music from the institutions you've listed as legitimate and creditable? I don't know, but the question must be considered. I may be wrong about the choices which you've put forth, but that is my only concern.

You are certainly putting a lot of time and research in determining your best route, and I applaud you for that. I hope you the best.

Bill

 

Have you thought about doing work which focuses upon worship? I have a friend who graduated from SBTS with an MDiv in Worship and he is presently an associate pastor/minister of music in a First Baptist Church in northern Georgia. He has a good size adult choir, orchestra, senior adult choir, and, I believe, a children's choir.

With your music degree from Furman (if I remember correctly) and your experience, another "music" degree, per se, may not really be necessary. Adding a master's which focuses upon worship would be attractive to many churches, IMO. For instance, it looks as though Liberty has a distance education MA in Religion which focuses upon worship: http://www.liberty.edu/DistanceLearning/worship_leader_schools.htm . Evidently, one can also pursue an MDiv majoring in worship at Liberty.

I suspect this would fly in Joanna, as well as a lot of other places!

Bill

 

What are the websites for FCU and AHBE?

The website for FCU is:
www.floridachristianuniversity.edu

for the Association for Higher Biblical Education:
http://abhe.gospelcom.net

The page listing affiliates:
http://abhe.gospelcom.net/affiliates.htm </font>[/QUOTE]Thanks. I checked out FCU’s Christian counseling program. They don’t have the foggiest notion of what Christian counseling is. They are mixing Larry Crabb and Jay Adams with every conceivable harebrained pop psychology under the sun. IMHO, they don’t even understand what they are teaching. I think their course descriptions were written from blurbs off the dust jackets of their texts.

Furthermore, I found that their founder, a guy named Shindoll, got his doctorate from his own school. Since Cotton Mather, it has taken a doctor to make a doctor. Seems that Shindoll made himself a doctor by fiat.

 

Bill,
I don't consider any honest and concerned opinion to be 'negative.' As I read over your post, I couldn't help but think back over the last few years. As I would send out a resume' listing my Master's from Clayton, I would typically get the same question: "have you ever thought about going to seminary?" Well, that started me looking for a distance program, and I found Covington. The program may have not been enough, but I did work quite dilligently on it. Now, I realize that I should have looked a bit further. However, if I do go back for another master's degree, where would it be from? I know that Northern Iowa offers a distance Master of Music Ed degree, CSU-DH offers a Master of Humanities with a concentration in music, and UNISA offers a master's degree in musicology. Now how would that degree fly in Joanna? But what do I then say when the "have you ever thought about going to seminary" questions start up again? I realize that music is not something typically taught or learned through distance education, but that is how I will attempt it, if I decide to attempt it at all. </font>[/QUOTE]My advice is to do your own thing. If it is good enough, then people will recognize quality, innovation, and creativity. Don't worry about a piece of paper anyway--it's only vanity in many cases. Most of all, don't be attracted to the sheepskin so much that you buy a bogus rag. Such is a detriment to your quality and character.

 

What are the websites for FCU and AHBE?

The website for FCU is:
www.floridachristianuniversity.edu

for the Association for Higher Biblical Education:
http://abhe.gospelcom.net

The page listing affiliates:
http://abhe.gospelcom.net/affiliates.htm </font>[/QUOTE]The FCU website has a picture of a rather large modern building. I would be greatly surprised if this is all FCU. My hunch is that FCU rents an office suite in this building but most folks would assume from the picture that this whole building is FCU. I could be mistaken. Does anyone know?