Moody Bible Institute

20th century The historic Moody Bible Institute arch viewed from the central plaza Emma Dryer organized the "May Institute", a weekly meeting for prayer and fellowship, with Moody's permission in 1883. Participants in the May Institute encouraged Moody to found a school to train young people for evangelism to carry on the Christian revival tradition. On January 22, 1886, Moody addressed church members: "I tell you what, and what I have on my heart, I believe we have got to have gap-men: men to stand between the laity and the ministers ; men who are trained to do city mission work. Take men that have the gifts and train them for the work of reaching the people." [ 6 ] [ 7 ] As a result of this meeting, held at Farwell Hall, the group founded the Chicago Evangelization Society for the "education and training of Christian workers, including teachers, ministers, missionaries , and musicians who may completely and effectively proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ ." The society was renamed "Moody Bible Institute" after Moody died in 1899. Before 1900, Moody played a significant role in fund-raising to support MBI. After Moody died, however, the institute struggled financially. James M. Gray , the president of the school, invited Henry Parsons Crowell to financially restructure the institute. Crowell established the school on business principles of productivity and performance. The MBI Executive Committee met nearly every Tuesday for the next 40 years. An administration building took years to complete, but when the building was dedicated there was no mortgage and only $50,000 left to pay. [ 8 ] [ when? ]

Since 2012, MBI has received federal financial assistance, which means the religious institution is subject to federal rules, including Title IX , which prohibits sex-based discrimination . After several female students complained of being denied access to the then-male-only pastoral ministry program, the institute changed its policy in 2016. [ 9 ] However, communications instructor Janay Garrick, who helped the students file Title IX complaints, found that her employment contract would not be renewed at the end of 2017. MBI argued that her "views on gender equity (which the college was aware of when she was hired) made her incompatible with the school." As of March 2024, Garrick is pursuing a Title VII sex-discrimination lawsuit against MBI because male colleagues "who shared her egalitarian views and joined her in speaking out against sexism on Moody Bible’s campus faced none of the harassment or retaliation directed at Garrick." [ 10 ] MBI engaged Grand River Solutions to review its Title IX compliance and make recommendations for change. [ 11 ] In November 2017, the institution announced the closure of its campus in Spokane, Washington and reductions in other programs and services in response to continued drops in enrollment. [ 12 ] Faculty were distressed by impending job losses, and penned an anonymous letter to the administration in the student newspaper expressing concerns about faculty layoffs when the administration had just committed $22 million for a new campus building. [ 13 ] Two months later, both the President and Chief Operating Officer resigned, and the provost retired. In its announcement of these changes, the institution cited "widespread concerns over the direction" of the institution. [ 14 ] Mark Jobe, founder of the multisite New Life Community Church, became the new president in January 2019. [ 15 ] In July 2019, Jobe announced a long-range plan to redevelop portions of Moody's campus.

[ 16 ] Proceeds from the sale of 8.1 acres would be earmarked for campus improvements, scholarships , endowment, and financial reserves. [ 17 ] The "North Union" project was approved by the Chicago Plan Commission in July 2021 [ 18 ] [ 19 ] and by the Chicago City Council in October 2022. [ 20 ]

More information No., Name ... No. Name Term Ref 1 Dwight L. Moody [ a ] 1886 – 1889 2 Reuben Archer Torrey [ b ] 1889 – 1908 [ 23 ] [ 21 ] [ 22 ] – Arthur Percy Fitt [ c ] 1901 – 1904 [ 26 ] 3 James Martin Gray [ d ] 1904 – 1934 [ 29 ] [ 30 ] 4 William Henry Houghton 1934 – 1947 [ 31 ] 5 William Culbertson III [ e ] 1947 – 1971 [ 32 ] 6 George Sweeting 1971 – 1987 [ 33 ] 7 Joseph Stowell 1987 – 2005 [ 34 ] 8 Michael J. Easley 2005 – 2008 [ 35 ] [ 36 ] – [ f ] Ed Cannon/Charles Dyer 2008 – 2009 [ 36 ] 9 J. Paul Nyquist 2009 – 2018 [ 37 ] – [ g ] Greg Thornton 2018 – 2019 [ 37 ] 10 Mark Jobe 2019 – present [ 38 ] Close [a] Moody was titled as the superintendent of the institute. [b] Torrey was initially called the superintendent and later was given the title of dean of the institute, though some sources referred to him also as the president. [ 21 ] Although Torrey remained officially until 1908, he was mostly on leave for evangelistic trips and other endeavors after 1901. [ 22 ] [c] During the absence of Torrey after 1901, Fitt was named in several sources as the president of Moody Bible Institute. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] [ 26 ] [ 27 ] [ 28 ] [d] Gray was initially appointed dean and initially served alongside Torrey. He was later the first to be officially given the title president in 1925. [ 29 ] [e] Culbertson was initially acting president from 1947 to 1948 before being appointed to the full-time position. [f] During this period, the school was led jointly, with Ed Cannon overseeing the business side of the office of president and Charles Dyer overseeing the spiritual side of the office. [ 36 ] [g] Served as interim president