I am not going to say all my experiences were all bad here so I’ll give a two star, because the cons outweighed the pros. I’ll start with the pros. Most of the classes were very good, I learned a lot especially my freshman year. I was a fairly new believer so I soaked everything up. I made life long lasting friendships here too. And majority of the teachers were great to talk to. I just thought the way this place was ran was kind of odd. Got fined for coming into curfew at 10:30. Weird right? Yeah actually it was 10:30 and some milliseconds after so therefore I get a $5 dollar fine. Speaking of fines, you’ll get fined for EVERYTHING. I missed a meeting once because I was not doing well and I had not much in me that felt okay to go. I got fined $10. If you miss dish crew, it’s a fine of $10. Also the gazebo that you see in front of the student center was paid with fines from a student. The RA’s are “chosen” by some people who are a part of the staff. Naturally, because most of the RA’s who are chosen are fairly young, this can give the RA’s a sense of pride as they think they are more mature and spiritual than the rest of the student body because they were chosen. A LOT of people who I knew immediately became stuck up and their personality changed when they got chosen to be an RA. During my time there, Some of them even have said ,”we know a lot, we just can’t say anything.” It’s kind of weird. And makes you wonder what they talk about in their meetings. The faculty watches people. They know beforehand who to keep on their watch, in case of bad behavior I guess? Odd. You get treated like a child here especially if you’re in a relationship. You’re not allowed to drape your arm over a chair that your significant other is sitting in, you are not allowed to sit “too close”. You can’t hug off or on campus. People did it anyways and in some instances just go off and do more. (Which we all have free will, you can’t control anybody) The way women are also made out to be is not right. Things like if your husband sins sexually, you need to reflect on yourself as the wife and ask yourself if maybe you were the reason why. Also I do agree with the biblical principles of being a godly wife, but it is not a sin for a man to touch a dish and vacuum. They didn’t blatantly say that, but made it out to be that house chores and always taking care of the kids were the wives main purpose in life. Overall, I feel like my time here would have been more enjoyable if this institution was ran a little better and we were all treated like adults. I don’t recommend coming here.
I was a student at Frontier between 2007 and 2009. I have very mixed feelings about my experience. I came with a great desire to deepen my faith and learn more about the God I love dearly. What I found was a school that was grounded in a desire for grace with a bent toward authoritarianism in order to provide what they deemed to be a protective environment. Understanding more now about psychological effects of trauma and other childhood dynamics- I would state that a large portion of the students I encountered were dealing with the unhealed ramifications of developmental trauma. This, in combination with a lack of knowledgeable care, created an environment for enabling abuse within the school. I do believe there were faculty members who desired to do well to the students in their care, but for the strong minority (I being one of them) who came with a dysfunctional view of reality and Biblical truths, I felt severely neglected. I left the school feeling disillusioned with faith, judged harshly, shamed by people, emotionally disregarded and left susceptible to believing false and abusive narratives concerning gender roles, and marital submissive expectations. I feel strongly these unaddressed damaging belief patterns in conjunction with my developmental abuse led me to be set up for my abusive marriage. Many of the students in my graduating class have very similar stories of marrying into abusive and controlling marriages. I would say easily 7 out of 10 couples I knew who met their spouse through the school are now recovering from traumatic relationships ending in divorce and family splits.
On an educational note- I felt the information I learned was akin to a Sunday School class.
I do not feel that I was educated. I felt like the time I spent there was focused far more on behavioral shaping than on maturity of character or elevating my Biblical understanding. The one faculty member who I felt was beneficial to me in my faith journey (Mr. Seymore) is no longer teaching. I would NOT recommend attending Frontier. I have learned more truth and have been drawn closer to God in three episodes of the Bible project videos than I did from the two years I spent at this school. I know that God can and will bring good out of every situation, and I pray that the faculty will take a sincere and dedicated look at the outcomes many students have dealt with after attending their school and reevaluate their priorities in order to truly reflect the heart of Christ. Be Jesus to a broken and deeply hurting world. Do not turn a blind eye, but lean into the difficult. Show grace and compassion to the hurting. And in this way, redeem the damage that has been allowed to flourish under this System.
Some reviews are negative simply because this school did not help them in a secular sense. It didn't help with or provide job opportunities outside of ministry. I just want to say, don't come here if you are expecting it to help in that way. It won't look better on your resume than a secular university. The reason for coming here is to establish your faith, grow in your walk with the Lord, and go into ministry if that is what you are called to. For those 3 things this is an excellent school. Those 3 things are what the school is built around. If you aren't looking for any of that, this school isn't the one for you. If you decide to come anyway and don't have a change of heart, you will walk away feeling let down and disappointed.
On a different note, the staff is fantastic. Each and every one of them is here on missionary support and is not paid by the school. They all are here simply to serve the Lord by pouring into the students and teaching them what the Bible says. They all are very loving, self sacrificing, and godly. They also do their best to create a non-legalistic atmosphere here at the school by making it clear that we do not gain God's love and acceptance by keeping rules and following strict guidelines. Although following God's teachings are important, we are accepted and loved by God based on what Christ did on the cross. What you get out of this school will be what you put into it. You have the potential to walk out of here either bitter and hardened, or in a deep thriving relationship with God, knowing his word and how to use it.
My name is David Snyder. I got my bachelor's degree in Bible with a missions emphasis through this institution. I learned so much about people and the Bible here. I would highly recommend this place for anyone seeking Christian ministry or a competent knowledge of the scriptures for four reasons.
1. The faculty and staff really care about you. None of the faculty or staff are paid. They serve because they love God and the students, and donors give them enough to buy food.
2. This institution is able to focus soley on your Bible education, packing the essentials into three years, rather than dilluting the education with classes on other topics as a liberal arts college would do.
3. Because the staff raise support, tuition is incredibly low, meaning you can work part time and graduate debt-free, as I did.
4. The Christian service assignments force students to join small local churches and learn their gifting, and the fourth year internship lets you put into practice all of the ministry tools you have learned. This makes sure that your education is not divorced from service to real people and churches.
If your desire is not to go into Christian ministry, or you aren't even a Christian yet, or you need to get some big-shot degree, then this school is not for you. If, however, you are a Christian interested in a more complete understanding of God's word and experience in ministry, and you don't want to be shackled with several years of debt, I couldn't recommend this place more highly. These people really know and live out the word of God.
Review from Guidestar
I do not recommend this institution in any way shape or form. I had bad experiences here that led me to a very dark time in my life. It brought violence and hate into my life, and I spent years in recovery. At the conclusion of my time there, I was jobless without any credentials to further my life experience. I had a child that I could not provide for and I had no home. I surrendered my life to this organization and found myself broken. When I approached the leaders of the organization about my situation I was told that I was simply not following Jesus. This is a cult-like atmosphere that should be avoided at all costs.
Review from Guidestar