With the updates and revamping of the WesleyCollege.edu web site, the Message boards have been off-line.  Since there is no link currently on the main site, they have been added to the News page on the left.  Wesley College Students, Faculty, Alumni, and friends are invited to take advantage of the Message Boards and online flash games – great for blowing off steam.

On October 30, Wesley College was priviledged to host Misissippi Governor Haley Barbour. Governor Barbour met with a group of local pastors at a reception, and then spoke in the College chapel. The Governor’s message was clear – Your personal faith shapes your values, and Judeo/Christian values were the foundational values that shaped our country. Governor Barbour expressed to the students that Christians today should be involved in the political process.

Celebration is a high school youth retreat and college preview weekend. The goal is to have a lot of fun, grow in our spiritual life, and learn something about Wesley College.  Students will come from all over to participate in this annual event. Cameron Shiflett, Youth Pastor at Rock Springs Congregational Methodist Church in Milner, Ga, will be our speaker. Cameron is a dynamic speaker, and we are looking forward to having him with us for the weekend.

Check out the schedule below for more info on exactly what we will be doing.

Celebration Schedule 2007

 THURSDAY
2:00-5:00          Registration

5:00-6:00           Dinner

6:00-7:15            Rally, Go Bananas

8:00-9:30           Service with Cameron Shiflett

10:00-11:00        Capture the flag 

FRIDAY

8:30-9:00           Breakfast

9:00-9:30           Devotion

9:30-11:00          Classes

11:00-12:00        W.C. Spiel

12:00-1:00          Lunch/ Youth pastor luncheon

1:00-4:00           Recreation

5:00-6:00           Dinner

6:00-7:30           Service with Cameron Shiflett

8:00-10:00         Movie on the lawn     

SATURDAY

8:00                      Breakfast/Devotion

10:00                    Checkout

Costs are:

 Seniors -                    Free!                       

Freshman - Juniors – $50                        

Chaperones -                $30

For more information, or to register for Celebration, please call 1-800-748-9972 or email us at admissions@wesleycollege.edu.

Florence MS. – May 11, 2007

Wesley College held its annual commencement exercises on Friday, May 11, 2007, at the Florence Mississippi Middle School Auditorium. This year’s graduating class is notable – not because of the small size, but rather the quality of the graduates.

Of the thirteen seniors in the class of 2007, one graduated Cum Laude, three Magna Cum Laude, and four graduated Summa Cum Laude. All thirteen graduates intend to pursue advanced degrees. Most of the graduates have already applied and been accepted into graduate programs at schools including: Wesley Biblical Seminary, Belhaven, Jackson State, Jacksonville State, Memphis Theological Seminary, and Asbury Theological Seminary.

2007 also marked the first year that Wesley conferred degrees in Christian Counseling, with two graduates receiving degrees in that program.

Class Valedictorian Blair Chandler gave a rousing speech entitled “The Challenge,” generating thundering applause from the hundreds on hand.

The commencement address was delivered by Dr. Thomas H. McCall, Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Divinity School. Dr. McCall is an ordained minister in the Wesleyan church, and has served pastorates in Michigan and Alaska; he has also taught philosophy at Calvin College. He has contributed to Philosophia Christi, the Trinity Journal, and the International Journal of Systematic Theology, and is a member of the Evangelical Philosophical Society of Christian Philosophers, and the Wesleyan Theological Society.

In addition to the conferring of traditional degrees, Jerry Jones, Gerald Jones, and Marvin Peed were honored with Honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees, for their long time service to the college.

Immediately following the exercises, hundreds of family and friends greeted the new graduates at a reception held on the Wesley College campus.

-mdc

On Saturday, April 14th, 2007, the Clarion Ledger newspaper published an article about Wesley, written by Jean Gordon.

FLORENCE — At Wesley College’s morning chapel this week, seniors Masato Ito and Calvin White spoke from the stage about their Christian faith.

Ito, a Tokyo native, grew up a believer in a country where 99 percent of the population is not Christian.

White was raised in Bentonia, a small Yazoo County town of 500 where church sits at the center of community life.

Though the students’ paths differ, both led them to this tiny Bible college just south of Jackson.

To read the article, click here…

Tremors from Clinton
While victories over the likes of Belhaven, Southeastern University, and Tougaloo had caused some eyebrows to be raised, virtually no one expected Wesley College of the NCCAA division II to walk away from the campus of Mississippi College with a win. The closest Wesley had come to besting the Choctaws was the thirty point defeat of 2005. The fallout from the 2006 match-up was massive by Wesley College standards. The game was covered by several local television news crews, and the outcome was in the Clarion Ledger. Because of the win over MC, Wesley began to receive attention and recognition. When the first NCCAA rankings were released a short time later, Wesley would find itself holding the #1 position in the land – a position it would hold for the majority of the season.

A Big Bite for a Small Dog

The four game stretch following the MC victory was probably the most difficult stretch of games in the history of the Wesley College program. To start the five games off, the MC game went to overtime. Then the Warriors would find themselves facing two NCAA division three programs (one highly ranked), and two NAIA division one programs, in the stretch of five days. During this time, the warriors would also find themselves traveling almost a thousand miles by van. The result was a 1-3 road trip, with the lone victory coming against NAIA division I Spring Hill College of Mobile Alabama. Spring Hill had played four consecutive exhibition games against NCAA division one opponents, almost pulling upsets against McNeese State and Louisiana Lafayette. The Spring Hill Badgers had played Florida State to an 18 point game, holding a 5 point halftime lead. The Warriors won that game 91-86 in overtime. Wesley would use this stretch to catapult them into winning three games against USCAA and NCCAA opponents.

Sliding into Christmas Break

As Christmas Break approached, Wesley was once again faced with a brutal stretch of schedule. First, they had to travel to Tennessee and take on two NAIA division II opponents (including top 10 ranked Lambuth). The final pre-Christmas game was a trip to Monroe Louisiana, to take on NCAA Division 1 University of Louisiana Monroe. The Warhawks of Louisiana Monroe were co-champions of the western division of the Sunbelt Conference in 2007, earning head coach Orlando Early conference “Coach of the Year” honors, as well as region 8 “Coach of the Year” recognition by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Wesley played hard, but the depth of a full scholarship NCAA division 1 team was too much to overcome as the warriors lost 101-64, despite trailing by only 11 at the half.  150 student Wesley Bible College had played valiantly against a 10,000+ student university.

Wesley rolled into the Christmas break holding a 13-7 record and a #1 ranking in NCCAA division 2, despite playing a schedule that thus far had featured only five home contests.

When the 2006/2007 basketball season tipped off, the Warriors of Wesley College were barely a blip on the radar of anyone outside the Florence Mississippi area. For that matter, few outside of those who inhabit the modest forty acre campus just off of highway 49 knew that Wesley even had a college basketball team. That was soon to change.

The First Upset Victim: Belhaven Blazers

Belhaven was not the FIRST team on Wesley’s 2006/2007 schedule, but they were the first team to be a certain loss for the Warriors. Belhaven – a private Christian College offering a variety of degrees – has an undergraduate student body of over 1400, and competes in NAIA Division I. That means that their players are scholarshipped athletes. Meanwhile, Wesley’s team is made up entirely of non-scholarshipped athletes majoring in Bible related fields. The fact that Wesley had won their first four games by an average of 110 to 63 was not lost on everyone, and some predicted a close game. Few expected the Warriors to dominate the more experienced and deeper Blazers 95-84 on their home court.

Big Win #2 – Southeastern University

Anytime Wesley College plays against a school with “University” in their name, it is worth taking a look. Wesley is a diverse and growing institution, but it is still very small. The total enrollment at Wesley College is considerably less than most other Christian Colleges, much less a “university.” Southeastern University of Lakeland Florida has a student body over twenty times larger than Wesley and was the defending NCCAA D2 national Champion. Final score: Wesley 75 – Southeastern 72

Belhaven was the first setback

Playing Belhaven twice in seven days was probably not a good thing, especially since they remembered the first game. Wesley slipped to 5-1 with the loss.

The Perfect Storm

Following the loss to Belhaven, Wesley notched two more victories over much larger programs, within just a few days. First to fall was NAIA D1 foe Tougaloo. Next up was NCCAA Division I Pensacola Christian. The contrast between Wesley and PCC is startling with PCC having an erollment over thirty times that of Wesley. Still, nobody was really taking notice, and nobody expected what was about to happen.

Nobody expected tiny Wesley college to give Mississippi College much of a test. The broadcast radio team from MC feigned respect in the pregame, but it was obvious that they held little hope for an entertaining game, much less a challege for the MC team that many had predicted to compete for the NCAA Division 3 championship. Listening to their broadcast replay is entertaining. In the early going, they comment about the “10 or 15″ Wesley faithful cheering on their team. During the overtime period, they mention the “40 or 50″ who made the drive over from Wesley College. MC finished the regular season ranked #3 in the nation in D3 with a 25-2 record. Wesley was one of the 2, handing MC just their 2nd home loss in 37 home games,84-82.

March 9, 2007 – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

On paper Wesley College was the home team and Mid-America Christian University was the visitor. In reality, nothing was further from the truth.

In the semifinal match-up between host team Mid-America Christian University and Wesley College, Mid-America was playing on their home floor against Wesley – who was 620 miles from home. Wesley built an early 9-0 lead, only to see the Evangels of Mid-America University rally to take a 25-23 lead at the 10 minute mark. Wesley regained the lead and built it to 8 points at 42-34. As time expired in the first half, Donald Thorne of MACU hit a short jumper in the paint to cut the Wesley College lead to 6 at 42-36.
The second half was nip and tuck, with neither team able to build a commanding lead. Late in the second half, Wesley went cold from behind the three point line and the rebounding of Mid-America enabled them to pull ahead to a 69-68 lead with four minutes remaining. Down by one at the 3:25 mark, Donyelle Magee was fouled by Donald Thorn. Wesley called time out. Coming out of the timeout, Magee made one of two from the line to tie up the game. MACU quickly scored to take a 71-69 lead at the 2:45 mark. A pair of free throws extended their lead to 4 at 2:30 remaining in the game.
With leading scorer Dexter Morris fouled out, Wesley was unable to overcome the home court advantage held by the Evangels. Clutch free throw shooting late, along with consistency on the offensive boards sealed the game for the Home team – whichever one it was.
Final Score, Wesley College 76 – Mid-America 84

Mid-America will meet Southwestern University in for the National Championship on March 10, at 8:00 pm. Wesley will play Kentucky Christian at 6:00 pm in the third place game.

-mdc

March 8, 2007, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The Wesley College Warriors and the Mid-America Christian University Evangels are to meet in the semifinals of the NCCAA National Tournament on March 9, 2007 at 8:00 pm.

Mid-America, the host team of the tournament, advanced to the semifinals by pulling the upset of the #4 seeded Southeastern University Fire, 76-71. Wesley fans should be familiar with Southeastern. Southeastern is from the South Region and the Warriors played the Fire three times during the 2006/2007 season, posting a 2-1 record.

Adding intrigue to the match-up with Mid-America is the noteworthy fact that President Lance Sherer and Director of Student Affairs Charity Nielsen of Wesley College are both graduates of Mid-America.

-mdc

March 8, 2007, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The Wesley College Warriors of the NCCAA South region defeated the West region Multnomah Lions Thursday afternoon, by a final score of 98-91. With the win, Wesley moves to 25-11 on the season. Multnomah ends their season at 21-16.

Wesley entered the game as the #1 seed. Multnomah was the #8 seed. Trailing by 14 at the half (55-36), Multnomah outscored Wesley in the second half 55-48. The effort was too little, too late, as Multnomah had no answer for Wesley’s Terence Robinson. Robinson had 35 points on 12 of 21 shooting, including 7 of 15 from three point range. Multnomah was paced by 6′2″ guard Matthew Nelson of Portland Oregon. The senior finished his career with a commendable 28 points in over 37 minutes on the court.

The difference in the game was turnovers and points off the bench, as Multnomah forced Wesley into 20 turnovers but came away with only 14 points, while Wesley forced Multnomah into giving the ball up 13 times and was able to convert that into 25 points. Wesley’s bench accounted for 28 points, while Multnomah’s bench contributed just 17.

Wesley will face the winner of tonight’s match-up between #4 seed Southeastern University, and the host – #5 seed Mid America Christian University. Friday’s match-up will tip off at 8:00 pm, central time.

-mdc