West Coast Baptist College

West Coast Baptist College is an independent Baptist Bible college in Lancaster, California, offering graduate and undergraduate degrees. West Coast opened in 1995 and is a member of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), having been awarded Candidate Status on October 27, 2015; then approved for Accredited Status on April 18, 2019. This accreditation is not retroactive to those who graduated prior to 2015.^[1]

West Coast Baptist College

Motto	Training Laborers for His Harvest
Type	Private
Established	1995; 30 years ago (1995)
Accreditation	TRACS
Affiliation	Independent Baptist
President	Dr. Paul Chappell
Vice-president	Dr. Mark Rasmussen
Dean	Daniel Blehm
Executive Vice President	Dr. John Goetsch
Location	Lancaster , California , USA
Campus	80 acres
Colors	Cardinal Red and White
Sporting affiliations	NCCAA
Mascot	Eagle
Website	wcbc.edu

History

In July 1986, Paul Chappell became the pastor of Lancaster Baptist Church in Lancaster, California.^[2] In 1988, the church raised an initial $50,000 for the down payment on the first twenty acres of property located on the east side of town. In 1995, Paul Chappell and Lancaster Baptist Church approved the beginning of West Coast Baptist College. West Coast Baptist College started with Paul Chappell, John Goetsch, and Mark Rasmussen.

In December 2014, the administration of West Coast Baptist College announced their intention to apply for national accreditation with Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools.^[1] On October 27, 2015, West Coast Baptist College was awarded candidacy status as a Category III institution by the TRACS Accreditation Commission. On April 17, 2019, the institution was awarded accredited status by the TRACS Accreditation Commission, and was affirmed 10 more years of accreditation on October 24, 2023. This accreditation is not retroactive to graduates prior to 2015 and cannot be used outside of the approved TRACS Christian college list. Many colleges and universities within the United States do not accept TRACS accreditation and will not allow credits to transfer.^[1]

Academics

West Coast Baptist College is a conservative Bible college focused on training students for ministry. The school offers:

• Bachelor degree of Religious Education with concentrations in Pastoral Theology, Church Ministry, Evangelism, Missions, Ministry Leadership and Administration, Office Administration, Elementary Education, Secondary Education, Church Music, Music Education, Biblical Counseling, and Visual Arts.^[3]

• Master's degree of Religious Education with concentrations in Biblical Studies, Biblical Counseling, and Christian Education^[3]

Campus

Revels Educational Building

The campus of West Coast Baptist College contains seventeen major buildings extending from Lancaster Boulevard to Avenue J, and are shared by both Lancaster Baptist Church and Lancaster Baptist School.

Beliefs

West Coast is a Baptist Bible college. West Coast Baptist College believes the Bible is the inspired Word of God. It believes in the trinity, in the deity of Jesus Christ, and in Salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone. West Coast emphasizes the importance of the local church. It believes the Bible is preserved for the English-speaking people in the King James Version. WCBC rejects all other translations of the Bible. ^[4]

Scandals

Jeremy Whitman

In early 2013, Jeremy Whitman, who had been a pillar of Lancaster Baptist Church since the early 1990’s, had a mental health crisis deemed by Lancaster Baptist Church to be caused by his “spiritual struggles.” The church and pastoral family continued to “support” Jeremy, although that support has never been fully revealed. It is unlikely Jeremy received proper mental health treatment for the behavior and personality changes he had begun to exhibit.

On January 19, 2014, Jeremy shot himself and another man in what is believed to be some type of dispute over a romantic partner. A blog post was released by Pastor Paul Chappel a few days later stating the church had done all they could to support Jeremy.

Michael Zachary

Michael Zachary was accused of having non-consensual sexual activities with male students on campus. This was not the first accusation against him, as there were also accusations from Golden State Baptist College where he worked prior to coming to West Coast Baptist College. There is no confirmation of whether he ever took advantage of minors, and no police reports were ever filed, it can easily be assumed that cases were settled out of court and quickly swept under the rug. The accusations against Michael Zachary go back to the early 1990's when he worked in small private Christian schools and Hyles Anderson College.

Campuses

• Main Campus (4010 E Lancaster Blvd. Lancaster, CA)
• Online

Athletics

WCBC Men's Basketball

WCBC's athletic teams are nicknamed the Eagles. The college is a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association.^[5] The college has intercollegiate men's basketball and women's volleyball^[6]

WCBC has a men's basketball program and a ladies volleyball program. They are a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), Association of Christian College Athletics (ACCA) and Pacific Christian Athletic Conference. In the 2007-08 season, the West Coast Baptist College athletics received notoriety from the local newspaper. They followed their journey winning season to the national finals. In 2011-2012, they won the NCCAA Regionals against Portland Bible. In February 2012, they defeated Korea University 105-101.^[7]