Church meets classroom

Bayside Community Church is no stranger to growth.

The nondenominational Christian church started in 2002 at a Bradenton elementary school. It now has some 9,000 members and five locations in Manatee, Sarasota and Hardee counties.

And when lead pastor Randy Bezet wanted to bring the church's mission and values into education, he didn't take the typical K-12 path, like other churches. He instead concentrated on post-secondary education — an area he felt needed more options with a Christian focus.

That's turned into Bayside College, a school with similar growth potential as its namesake church. A partnership formed in 2014 with Southeastern University, a Christian liberal arts institution in Lakeland, gave Bayside College regional campus status. That includes accreditation, a variety of degree programs and the ability for students to receive financial aid and transfer credits earned at other schools nationwide.

“We looked into our own accreditation, which is an incredibly difficult process and very, very expensive,” says John Matson Jr., pastor for the college. “The cost of doing it was not feasible. But Southeastern believes so much in what we're doing, and we believe so much in their level of education, that it's just a perfect fit.”

Students seem to agree, with an attrition rate of 5% between its first and second years. Tuition costs of $9,750 a year have proved attractive to students, allowing them to keep college expenses and their potential post-college debt on the lower end of the spectrum.

About 90 students are currently enrolled, coming from both the local area and as far away as Massachusetts, Iowa and the United Kingdom. Most discovered Bayside through word of mouth. After two years of associate degrees, Bayside will offer bachelor's degrees in the fall in business and professional leadership, business administration and several other disciplines. All the classes are taught with a Christian worldview.

Matson says the college grew nearly 30% in its first year of the Southeastern University partnership and almost 40% last year. He expects similar growth again this year, leading to between 120 and 140 students for the 2016-2017 school year, about the most the college can handle at this point. “This upcoming year will be the first year that we are actually going to put an effort into recruiting,” says Matson. “We've never really recruited before; we just haven't had to.”

Bayside College currently operates out of the church's recently expanded campus on State Road 64 in east Manatee County. It holds weekday classes in spaces used for youth services on the weekends.

A new suite of college offices is currently under construction, along with a computer lab and library space that will join the cafe and coffee areas already available for students. But to reach its goal of 300 to 500 students in the next three to five years, Bayside College will have to think bigger.

“There is talk of a future freestanding building for Bayside College,” says Matson. “It's going to have to happen.”

The plan would be to purchase property nearby so the college remains close enough to make use of the church for chapel and other services.

Dorms are also being discussed. Right now, out-of-area students are provided free room and board through a program that places students with church member families. “But dorms would make life exponentially better and create job opportunities for our third and fourth years as resident assistants,” says Matson.

Almost all of the money that's funded the college's growth so far and will pay for future growth comes from tuition. The church pays Matson's salary because his pastoral duties extend beyond the college. The school has gotten some donations, but it's minimal compared to tuition income.

Bayside's challenge going forward will be to manage its growth while maintaining its mission of preparing Christian leaders for both ministry and the business world. “We have to continue to grow and change with the environment and the times,” says Matson, “without sacrificing our core beliefs.”