An avid fly-fisherman and backpacker Alton Lacey enjoys the outside. "I mean he really roughs it," claims his wife and First Lady, Pat Lacey. "He goes out with Aaron (their son) or some friends and roughs it for a week with only a backpack." She was trying hard to convince me, but I still had the mental image of Dr. Lacey standing in the middle of a river wearing a double-breasted suit and waders. But as much as an outdoorsman as he is, Lacey is also a closet-techie, quietly sporting a palm computer that helps keep him in contact with his office email. He even has his own web site (www.lacey.to), where I found a photo of him fly-fishing - sans a double-breasted suit.

In regards to technology, Dr. Lacey has long understood the place it has in the educational process. Three years ago, he reconfigured the Computer Technology Committee and gave it the bold directive to academically empower faculty and students through technological means. Three years and over a half million well-spent dollars later, MBC boasts one of the most technologically sound campuses in the Midwest. Ignoring the flashy computer trappings other institutions have become burdened with, MBC has completed plans to fully integrate new technologies into every classroom and curriculum.

MBC has been an institution melding faith and learning since its inception. Even as early as in his 1995 inaugural address, Lacey noted of an MBC eduction, "As a Christian college, we are poised to provide a values laden education that gives the student a moral and ethical base for decision making." Last year, Dr. Lacey made the specific integration of faith and learning priority-one in the classroom, establishing a task force to define a pragmatic structure for further developing virtue and moral character. "We are first and foremost a learning institution, but we are a learning institution under the control of Christ. We want to serve all Baptists and indeed be a place where anyone who attends can grow spiritually while pursuing academic objectives. It is not our mission to be a church, but we will always take seriously our charge to integrate our Christian faith with classroom instruction."

Perhaps the best manner to know him is to hear from his own words and Dr. Lacey speaks well of the College and Christian education. "Untimately, the development of morals and ethics comes down to the relationship between teacher and student. This is why I place such an importance on faculty. Everything else we do supports the basic educational enterprise. We can survive almost anything - a change in leadership, a change in the Board, whatever - but we will not survive without good teaching. We do not have the name recognition or facilities of an Ivy League that will attract and keep students. What we do have are dedicated, talented, spiritual faculty. Our responsibility is to insure that they have the resources and freedom to do the task they are called to do. We have a rigorous process in place for hiring and evaluating teachers and we must be diligent in recruiting people who not only have a passion for their subject but also are equally as passionate about teaching under the Lordship of Jesus Christ."

"The new Chapel/Fine Arts building will be an incredible facility for our students," Lacey continued. "When finished, this new building will be a place of worship and a place to celebrate the wonders of the human spirit through song and drama. It will provide facilities for the teaching of music, drama, broadcast and telecommunications. There will be a place to assemble, to entertain, and to fellowship. People who come to the campus will be drawn to the building's beauty and appreciate its functionality. It will stand as a tribute to the profound faith and unshakable resolve of all that have believed in this project and worked to make it possible."

Beyond the easily quantifiable achievements the College has experienced in the last five years, one significant aspect emerges. Dr. Lacey has been able to balance living in the house while it is being built. While many of the College's changes have changed the foundation and structure of the institution, Lacey has charted a visionary plan for the future.

"Integrity, leadership and excellence." Three words with concise denotations, but wieldy connotations when held as standards for man or institution. The College has recently adopted these as much more than a sound-bite slogan to replace the era-ending Spirit of Excellence. They define the College's state of attainment and existence in its mission for entering the next century with Dr. Lacey at the helm.

In the front of our strategic plan there is a quote by Victor Hugo that reads, "The future has several names. For the weak, it is impossible. For the fainthearted, it is unknown. For the thoughtful and valiant, it is ideal." In asking Dr. Lacey what one word he would use to describe the College's future, he replied with two: "welcome" and "possible." "With clarity of mission, a commitment to hard work, the grace of our Loving Father, and an ear to the Spirit, we march confidently into the next century."

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