Dr. Tony Cleaver Named Jacksonville College Teacher of the Year

(May 11, 2005) The BMAWeb—Each year a full time faculty member at Jacksonville College is selected by students to receive the Jacksonville College Teacher of the Year Award, and this year, students voted to give the award to Dr. Tony Cleaver, Chair of the Department of Religion. He received the award Monday, April 25, at Jacksonville College Awards Evening.

Dr. Cleaver was the first BMAA chaplain in the Army (1977), and he served congregations in Asia, Europe, and North America. He earned his Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Baylor University, and he earned his Divinity Degrees from the Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary (M. Div.) and Luther Rice Seminary (D. Min.). Cleaver also serves as Executive Director for Resource Development at Jacksonville College and is pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Jacksonville. A prolific writer, Cleaver is known by many from his column, “Leave it to Cleaver,” that appears in five state BMA newspapers.

Dr. Cleaver is an encourager in everything he does. Fellow instructor Tam Clark believes Cleaver’s experience as a counselor makes his students feel comfortable and wanted in class.

Every day as he walks across campus, Dr. Cleaver can be seen stopping to chat with students and offer words of encouragement. No one is left out. As the sponsor of the B. J. Albritton Ministerial Alliance on campus, Cleaver also enjoys the relationship he shares with the college’s ministers. Cleaver leads them to become active in campus spiritual life, encouraging them to participate in area preaching, teaching, and ministry opportunities. He encourages them to support their local churches in every way. For Spiritual Emphasis Week, he allowed them to be responsible for contacting the speakers, directing the worship, and presenting pre-service devotionals.

It is no secret that Cleaver enjoys teaching. Although his courses can be difficult, his creative teaching style allows him to use humor to his advantage in the classroom; and his students love him. When asked to share their feelings about Dr. Cleaver, Jacksonville College students were quick to offer praise:



Ryan Gullett (student president of the college’s Ministerial Alliance): “He is a challenging teacher. He helps us strive to be better than we are and put forth more effort than we usually do through his encouragement.… He definitely is an encourager in everything he does. And he is a teacher who loves to research, prepare, and share information with us. He e-mailed us 60 pages of his own notes over just two chapters in his Minor Prophets course.... He is always there for people, and he’s very wise in his counsel. As a preacher he is unforgettable and leaves a lasting impression on you. He shares his wisdom, and he uses colorful illustrations of the Bible.”


Kevin Simmons (youth director): “His sense of humor helps students to be able to connect to him. He gets on our level. He makes it interesting.”


Nicole Thomas (cheerleader): "I learned about the journeys of the life of the Apostle Paul through one of our group class projects, which involved making a bird house to show the different churches Paul established on his missionary journeys."


Tommie Cockerell (BMA preacher): “He usually utilizes a computer and projects on the screen material which immediately captures our attention, such as beginning his class by showing pictures of current events such as Reuters Pictures for the day. He uses PowerPoint presentations with pictures to help us understand that the Bible has an oriental world view, so we learn from the Bible land geography and culture to better understand God's Word. No one is bored in his class because he is able to capture our attention and then ties things into his lesson plan. I would have to say that he is the greatest preacher I know and the only preacher I know who is a better teacher than a preacher.”


Chandy Carson (Miss Jacksonville College and an honors student who graduated with a GPA of 4.0): “The most remarkable thing about his class is his teaching style and class projects. His teaching style makes the class fun. He is able to present the material in a different perspective so that we can learn to apply it to our lives. We have two research papers per semester that we get to select the topic to write on. He uses humor in the class to help make it more interesting. For example, he brings a bag full of noise makes such as kazoo, tambourine, bike horn, bouncing ball that makes weird bird noises when bounced. These are used when he mentions something important that will be on the test. If someone does not bring their Bible he says, ‘Hang your head in shame for two seconds and borrow or go get a Bible.’ The individual or group projects are good examples of ways we are able to learn in creative ways. They are shown to the class through recorded videos to live presentations or dramatizations. We are not the only one to learn something in class. Dr. Cleaver is always learning something new about his students every day in class…. He really sincerely cares for his students, and they know it. He is very polite and always thanks you for coming to each of his classes. He is able to remember things about his students like nicknames to make them feel at home with him.”



Dr. Cleaver’s love of the Lord overflows to his students. He is an encourager who tries to make each student feel special. He loves his students, and they love him. Jacksonville College is blessed to have such a dedicated teacher who is respected and admired by his students and co-workers.