Maranatha Appoints New President

TheOldJudge

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Maranatha Baptist University Names Dr. David Anderson as President

The Board of Trustees has appointed Dr. David Anderson as the sixth president of Maranatha Baptist University. Dr. Anderson will be succeeding Dr. S. Martin Marriott, who relinquished the office after fourteen years on May 5, 2023.

Dr. Anderson is a 1986 graduate of Maranatha, having earned a Bachelor of Arts in Bible, Pastoral Studies, and Sacred Music. He completed his Master of Divinity from Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, in 1991, and his Doctor of Ministry from Maranatha Baptist Seminary in 2022.

Dr. Anderson has served in full-time pastoral ministry for over three decades, ministering in churches in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois. He has served as the pastor of the Heritage Baptist Church of Roscoe, Illinois, since 2011. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees at Maranatha Baptist University since 2016. Additionally, Dr. Anderson sits on the Board of Trustees of Baptist World Mission, has led the Association of Independent Baptist Churches of Illinois as its president, and is currently president of Camp Joy in Whitewater, Wisconsin.
 
I will be praying for him. I believe I went to school with him there at what was then MBBC in 82-83...Seemed like a good, stable man.
 
Wow, his daughter babysat my oldest two kids numerous times while I was in grad school there.

The church that I grew up in was a "Bob Jones" church and most of the kids went there - except me. I was set on going to another school. And I remember that one of the deacons came to me and offered to pay my way if I would go to Bob Jones. I remember that Maranatha sent one of their singing groups to our church, to recruit and I have always remembered that group because they were very good. I remember that Dr Cedarholm (not sure of pronounciation) was a friend of my pastor and he spoke in our service, I remember.
"Bob", I just assumed that you went to Bob Jones :)
 
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The church that I grew up in was a "Bob Jones" church and most of the kids went there - except me. I was set on going to another school. And I remember that one of the deacons came to me and offered to pay my way if I would go to Bob Jones. I remember that Maranatha sent one of their singing groups to our church, to recruit and I have always remembered that group because they were very good. I remember that Dr Cedarholm (not sure of pronounciation) was a friend of my pastor and he spoke in our service, I remember.
"Bob", I just assumed that you went to Bob Jones :)
Dr. Cedarholm was a great man, and a good and faithful servant of the Lord. He, Dr. Weeks, the Dr.'s Hollowood, along with John Kerr, Larry Oats (who was from my home church), and Ray Fulayter were huge influences on me during my year there.
 
Someone offered to pay my way if I went to HAC...thankfully I never took them up on that offer. Maranatha was definitely the right choice!
 
That was a pretty generous offer!
He was my best friend's father and he always took an interest in me. I remember that our church had a small satellite church and sometimes I would go there and sing and I remember him trying to get me to breathe correctly as I sang (the things we remember). He was a very good man. But yes, it WAS a generous offer and he meant it. He felt close enough to me to even get on to me when he felt my hair was a little too long and needed cutting. Bless his memory.
 
Someone offered to pay my way if I went to HAC...thankfully I never took them up on that offer. Maranatha was definitely the right choice!

I'm glad you have great memories of your school and its teachers, Joe.
 
I know very little about Dr. Anderson; however, I have to be impressed that he received a unanimous vote from the Board of Trustees. The spring board meetings occurred on May 11th and 12th, and the article states that he was named president on the eleventh. Perhaps I am inferring incorrectly, but it seems that the trustees were pleased enough with him as a candidate that they voted him in to the office without any individual opposing the appointment.
 
I know very little about Dr. Anderson; however, I have to be impressed that he received a unanimous vote from the Board of Trustees. The spring board meetings occurred on May 11th and 12th, and the article states that he was named president on the eleventh. Perhaps I am inferring incorrectly, but it seems that the trustees were pleased enough with him as a candidate that they voted him in to the office without any individual opposing the appointment.
If he got Doug Jackson's vote, he's in for life. Jackson has been the controlling force on that board for years.
 
I will be praying for him. I believe I went to school with him there at what was then MBBC in 82-83...Seemed like a good, stable man.
I was there when he was there. Quiet, unassuming. Always smiling.

What makes me uncomfortable is that someone my age is now the president of my alma mater! 😂
 
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What makes me uncomfortable is that someone my age is now the president of my alma mater! 😂
Yup. It ranks right up there with my doctor being 20 years younger than me and he's on the school board.
 
If he got Doug Jackson's vote, he's in for life. Jackson has been the controlling force on that board for years.
However strong his control of the board may be, he does not run the school. Matt Davis would be quite the force to be reckoned with if the Board of Trustees ever attempted to wrest control of the University away from the administration. (What I mean to say is that, in my humble opinion, a BJUesque situation occurring at Maranatha would have a far different outcome than it did in Greenville.)
 
I was there when he was there. Quiet, unassuming. Always smiling.

What makes me uncomfortable is that someone my age is now the president of my alma mater! 😂
Yes, sir! We just be getting older and better every day, FSSL! :)
 
I was referring to the conflict between the Pettit administration and the Board of Trustees that occurred in Greenville, South Carolina, this spring. Both parties tussled, and the board won. It is my opinion that in a Doug Jackson vs. Matthew Davis (CEO of Maranatha) conflict, the former would lose.

Do you know when Jackson nixed these presidential candidates? Does it go as far back as David Jaspers (1998)? That was the year, if I remember correctly, that Jackson first became Chairman of the Board.
 
Yes, that was the first one. David Burgraff was brought forward, a genuine academic, and Doug Jackson shut him down. The opinion of one who was there was that it was because Jackson could not control him.
Dr. Burggraff and I are acquaintances. You are right. He is a genuine academic (second to none, I would say) and a humble, faithful believer.

Hindsight is 20/20, but we can see now that he would have been a better president than Jaspers was.
 
I am never a fan of an organization getting "top-heavy" administratively, but I like the shift to cover the responsibilities and hopefully ensure positive growth for the school. I was there during the Weniger-Jasper transition, and while their personalities were drastically different, looking back, I can see where the school needed some education/business-minded people making the decisions.
 
I am never a fan of an organization getting "top-heavy" administratively, but I like the shift to cover the responsibilities and hopefully ensure positive growth for the school. I was there during the Weniger-Jasper transition, and while their personalities were drastically different, looking back, I can see where the school needed some education/business-minded people making the decisions.
Weniger brought them out of red financially to Black,
 
What years did James Munro serve at Maranatha? My Maranatha friends and acquaintances always said that Mark Stevens ran the finances. My copy of the 2017 Maranatha Advantage that celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the institution claims that Mister Stevens had been there since the 1980s. The obituary of the late Arno Weniger, Jr., states that he became president in 1983.
 
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