Ridings inaugurated as president of Fruitland Bible institute
Editor
Kenneth Wayne Ridings was inaugurated as the seventh president of the Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute (FBBI) March 3.
Ann Ridings sings during the ceremony that inaugurated her husband the new president of the Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute.
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"I promise, by the grace of God, through the leadership of the Holy Spirit, to strive to know the mind of God concerning the ministry of this God-blessed institution," Ridings said in response to his introduction by Max Holland, chair of the board of directors for the school.
Holland, pastor of the Bear Creek Church, Bakersville, is an alumnus of FBBI.
Fruitland provides training for men called into the ministry, regardless of their previous educational background.
Ridings, a South Carolina native, has taught homiletics at FBBI for nearly 30 years. He was 31 when he joined the faculty upon the invitation of Alex Booth, president of the 52-year-old institute at the time.
Booth now serves as director of missions for Carolina Association. He participated in the inaugural ceremonies with greetings from the community.
Ridings, a graduate of North Greenville College, Furman University and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, has served as a pastor, an evangelist and as a teacher throughout his ministry.
His last pastorate was Grassy Branch Church in Asheville, where he served 22 years before entering a full-time ministry of evangelism and teaching in 1996.
Greg Mathis, pastor of Mud Creek Church, Hendersonville, presided at the inaugural service. He is a former president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSC) and professor of evangelism at FBBI.
The Ridings are members of Mud Creek Church.
Harold Grindstaff, Bakersville, and a Class of 1973 graduate of FBBI, led in the invocation. Glenn Felmet, a retired pastor in Inman, S.C., led in the prayer of committal. John Rymer, retired vice president for academic affairs and current professor of Old Testament and theology, pronounced the benediction. Other offering greetings to the new president included:
Ann Ridings, wife of the president, did an organ prelude and later sang "I'd Rather Have Jesus" just before the inaugural address by D.L. Lowrie, pastor of First Church, Lubbock, Texas, and a long-time friend of the Ridings.
Walter Hare, FBBI Class of 1971, presented two special musical selections.
Since 1897, the Fruitland campus has been dedicated to Christian education. After a resident secondary school operated by the Southern Baptist Convention's Home Mission Board closed in 1936, the BSC purchased the property.
According to the printed program for the Ridings inauguration, since 1946 FBBI has been "dedicated to the purpose of training adults called to church-related vocations. In the beginning, it was primarily a 'preachers' school' for mountain pastors who served small churches without much formal training for the task."
FBBI is an agency of the General Board of the BSC. About half of the institute's budget is funded through the Cooperative Program -- approximately $400,000 annually -- and designated gifts.
In 1997, the BSC budget receipts enabled FBBI to receive an additional $105,000 for the Kilby Library.
