Fire at SWCC

By Jack Evans, President
In an horrific fire in the pre-dawn hours of January 27, 2008, the administration building and an adjacent building at Southwestern Christian College of Terrell, Texas, was destroyed. Thankfully, there were no injuries. Please know that two of the seventeen campus buildings were destroyed, but the college is still very much intact, because the essence of Southwestern Christian College is people dedicated to an eternal cause. And no fire or any other catastrophe
can destroy that essence. The real Southwestern Christian College operates in physical buildings, and physical buildings can be rebuilt, which is precisely what SwCC plans to do in
this instance. The word Christian in our name tells who we are
and what we do, even in times of adversity. We believe that in every burden there is a blessing. The apostle Paul puts it this
way: And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulations worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. (Rom. 5:3-5).
Christians are not isolated from the fiery trials of life, but we are insolated against any adversity that we may encounter in life. And it is these principles that we seek to instill in every student who chooses to matriculate at this grand old institution. Thus, we build buildings from the outside up; but we build character in the student from the inside out.
For though the outward man perishes, the inward man is renewed day by day, asserts the apostle Paul. For it is said that the sole of education is the education of the soul. And this is the task of the real Southwestern Christian College.
The God we serve turns tragedy into triumph; burdens into blessings; and ashes into beauty. The prophet Isaiah affirms this by saying: To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified (Isaiah 61:3). Thus, like the proverbial Phoenix, Southwestern Christian College will
rise from the ashes of this disaster and will be a bigger and better institution of Christian higher education and go on in
fulfilling its mission of educating the minds of its students that they may be of greater service to the church and to the world community in which they live. You are invited to come and grow with us.