Ben Lippen Podcast

Mountain Of Trust: Generosity At Ben Lippen

• Ben Lippen Podcast • Season 2 • Episode 3

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A mountain of trust, a school reborn, and a community knit together by generosity—this conversation with Kelly Davis, Ben Lippen’s development director, uncovers how giving has guided the school from its Asheville roots to a thriving, multi-campus community in Columbia. We revisit the origin story, from summer conferences to a boarding school, the heartbreak of the 1980 fire, and the decision that set a new course. Through it all, one thread remains: a mission to educate from a biblical worldview and prepare students to impact the nations.

Kelly offers a candid look at development as more than fundraising. It’s stewardship of relationships, a heart posture that views resources as God’s and giving as discipleship. You’ll hear unforgettable stories: a retired teacher’s unexpected six-figure gift that honors decades of faithful classrooms, a trembling $5 check that moves a team to tears, and Jim’s life changed by a church collection that led him to Christ and later to launch a scholarship so others could follow. These moments show how generosity—small or large—creates a lasting ripple across generations.

We also unpack the Falcon Fund, Ben Lippen’s annual giving program that delivers the margin of excellence beyond what tuition covers. From classroom tools and teacher support to student programs across all campuses, the Falcon Fund turns vision into everyday impact. Whether you’re an alum, parent, or friend of the school, you’ll come away with a deeper sense of how prayer, service, and financial gifts work together to sustain kingdom education and shape whole lives.

If this conversation resonates, share it with someone who loves seeing students thrive, subscribe for more stories like this, and leave a review to help others find the show.

Mrs. Erin Kay:

Welcome to another episode of the Ben Lippen Podcast. Today I have with me Kelly Davis, our development director, to share with us more about generosity, what it means, why it matters, and how it shapes every part of Ben Lippen school. Kelly, welcome.

Mrs. Kelly Davis:

Thank you so much, and thank you for having me. Happy to be here because Ben Lippen is far more than a job to me. 19 years ago, my husband and I enrolled our oldest son in kindergarten. All three of my boys have gone through Ben Lippen and have since graduated. And it really has just been our whole life, our whole community. And they are still friends with all of their friends that they made here. They're still in contact with teachers and coaches from here. And of course, I still work here. I started working at Ben Lippen 13 years ago, and I'm in my eighth year in the development office. And I stayed here because I love the people. I'm passionate about our mission and about supporting our mission. And it is just truly an honor to serve the Ben Lippen family.

Mrs. Erin Kay:

Let's go back in time for a minute. Take a few moments to share with our listeners the rich and very unique history of Ben Lippen, including the original mission that was established.

Mrs. Kelly Davis:

Yes. So Ben Lippen is celebrating 85 years this year. It was founded by CIU Columbia International University, which was CBC Columbia Bible College at the time. And the mission was simple to educate students from a biblical worldview to impact the nations with the message of Christ. And that is still our purpose today. But our unique history tells a great story about God's faithfulness and how he finishes what he starts. CIU's first president believed strongly in summer conferences because he had been saved at a revival when he was young. He asked the board and got support for starting a summer conference series, and they used borrowed property up in the mountains of North Carolina. But they were praying and looking for their own property. During that time, the conference was named Ben Lippen, which is actually Scottish for Mountain of Trust. In 1929, CIU found and purchased an entire mountain. It was called Dryman Mountain, and it is just outside of Asheville, and it cost them $9,000. They built an outdoor pavilion for the preaching sessions, a chapel, and the conference inn, which was the grandest building. It was multi-storeys, it had a beautiful front porch with tall columns, and you could see it from anywhere in Asheville sitting up on top of the mountain. In 1940, President McLogan started believing that it was poor stewardship to leave the facilities up on the mountain unused for nine months out of the year. It was only used during the summer. So he proposed to the board that they open a boarding school so that it could be fully used. And that's what happened. In the fall of 1940, they opened Ben Lippen Boys' School, which was a Christian boarding school. Girls were then admitted in 1952. And for several decades after that, Ben Lippen became a great educational resource for missionaries that were serving overseas that didn't have a good education system for their own children. So they sent them to Ben Lippen. And it had a fantastic multicultural flair to it. The teachers lived right alongside the students. They worked together and dined together and played together. And it really was a very close-knit family. Many students attended CIU after graduating from Ben Lippen, and many of them even went on to serve in the mission field on their own. So in December of 1980, there was a fire that actually destroyed the inn. And it was incredibly sad. I think probably for all of Asheville, but it was extremely difficult for the students and the teachers and even the alumni. Efforts were made to rebuild, but several years later, CIU decided to bring Ben Lippen down to its own campus here in Columbia. And that did meet a real need because there was no Christian school in the capital city. Ben Lippen opened in Columbia in 1987. It was high school only. It focused primarily on day students, but we still had six boarding houses.

Mrs. Erin Kay:

How does the 1987 enrollment of Ben Lippen differ from what Ben Lippen is today?

Mrs. Kelly Davis:

We definitely look different today. We have grown. We have 1,200 students in pre-K3 through 12th grade. We have three lower school campuses, a middle school and a high school. And then we still do have an international student program right here. But the mission that was established with Ben Lippen on the mountain is still our mission today. What I really love about our history is that the leadership learned to rely on the Lord from the earliest of days and that set of pattern that we still use today. They would identify a need, they would send out a letter explaining the need, and they would trust that people would give. And they did. That $9,000 mountain purchase back in 1929, the final gift was received and the last payment made to the bank the day before Black Tuesday. So despite the difficulty of the coming years, CIU celebrated the ownership of a mountain and from it proclaimed the good news. There are so many stories that point to that pattern and ultimately showcase God's faithfulness. Time and time, God has shown up for Ben Lippen. He was faithful then, just as he is faithful today. And that tells us that we can trust him with everything. We can trust him with Ben Lippen. This is his school, and he will provide everything that we need.

Mrs. Erin Kay:

Can you specifically share how the development office has carried out this specific mission from 1940 all the way to 2025?

Mrs. Kelly Davis:

Yes. Development is the process of bringing out possibilities. It causes growth or expansion. So school development means raising money to support, grow, or expand the purpose of the school. Many do it by fundraising, which we do that too, but it is also bigger than that. At Ben Lippen, it is about relationships. So what we say is development is creating and stewarding relationships with people who are called to support kingdom education. We present the opportunity to invest in the lives of students who will go beyond these walls someday. What we do is grounded in the belief that everything that we have belongs to God. That includes our money. It is all God's, and everything that we have is only on loan. So it is the Lord who moves in the hearts of others to give. And that is why I say often that giving is a heart issue. It is not a result of anything that my office does or says. It is a result of the Lord working in individuals who believe in the mission of Ben Lippen.

Mrs. Erin Kay:

Generosity and stewardship are key components of mission-focused development. How does the development office of Ben Lippen describe and infuse generosity and stewardship into their work?

Mrs. Kelly Davis:

Well, generosity goes way beyond financial gifts. It includes committed prayer warriors, an army of volunteers, and obviously people who give generously. Ben Lippen would not be who it is without those three things. The Ben Lippen community is incredibly generous. They already give to their church, to missionaries, to organizations and causes, and to Ben Lippen. And this kind of generosity is biblical. What we want to do then is steward well the relationships and resources that we are given. I love this quote from Henry Nowen. Fundraising from the point of view of the gospel says to people, I will take your money and invest it in this vision only if it is good for your spiritual journey, only if it is good for your spiritual health. In other words, we are not looking for gifts the same way as the world. We need financial gifts and we do ask for them, but we want the donor to be enriched in every way for their great generosity, as it says in 2 Corinthians. So yes, there must be an understanding of how gift money is a necessary resource. And we ask our parents to always look beyond what is right in front of them. But overall, it's the parents, the grandparents, alumni, corporations, and friends who pray, give, and serve.

Mrs. Erin Kay:

Kelly, thank you for sharing with us how the development office here at Ben Lippen really works towards that original mission founded on the mountain back in 1940. So, how do you see stewardship and generosity embodied at Ben Lippen through the joy of giving?

Mrs. Kelly Davis:

So there is joy in giving at all levels. I want to say that first. And everybody's heard, you know, it's better to give than to receive. And that is definitely true. But what I love about our donors is that there is joy for them and there is joy in the receiving. And putting those two things together is really neat. I would love to give you a couple examples or stories of how giving and the joy of giving is so inspiring at Ben Lipon. Not too long ago, I opened a check for $125,000, and it was completely unexpected. It was from a wonderful teacher who taught at Ben Lippen back in the 50s and 60s. And her students and her coworkers have made such an impact on her growth and development. And she's just wants to see that multiplied at Ben Lippen today. And in the last three years that she has been giving, she's become one of Ben Lippen's top donors of all time. She is a true champion for what our teachers are doing in the classroom each and every day. But my favorite check to open is one where I've noticed that the handwritten address on the outside is getting shaky. I know that when I open that envelope, it's going to be a $5 check. And this alumnus is incredibly faithful, but it really does bring a tear to my eye every time I get it. And I make sure that I share it with the team because it is so encouraging to see that he cares enough about Ben Lippen that he he is doing what he can to expand that mission. Another example is Jim. Jim graduated in 1955, and Jim was raised by a single mother, and he was going down what he describes as the wrong path when a couple of the men from the church thought that it was time to get involved. So they passed a collection plate in order to raise tuition for Jim to go to Ben Lippen. And it changed his life. He met the Lord there and he developed his theology there. And everything he did from that point was for the Lord. In fact, he turned around and looked at Ben Lippen now, and he wanted to make sure that students like him could afford Ben Lippen. So he started a scholarship that was named for the Lord in order to allow students who may not be able to have a Christian education to afford Ben Lippen. And it's a huge blessing. We have parents give because they've seen their child's entire outlook improve after transferring to Ben Lippen. We have families that are on the other end that are struggling to make tuition payments only to have somebody come in and pay off the rest of their bill. We even have a teacher who has a small amount coming out of their paycheck every single month. And one would think it doesn't amount to much, but they have been giving it for 27 years. So our students also hear us talk about giving, and in particular to the Falcon Fund. And over the years, I've also been given baggies that has change in it that is literally their allowance. And they bring it because they love their teacher or they love their best friend and they just want to do something for the school.

Mrs. Erin Kay:

So what I'm hearing you say is it doesn't matter the size of the gift, it's the heart behind the gift that truly makes an impact. That is very true. So tell us about the Falcon Fund. What is it? What is the heartbeat behind it? And how does the Falcon Fund support Ben Lippen?

Mrs. Kelly Davis:

There are many different ways and places that you can support Ben Lippen. You can give to scholarships, capital projects, or facility improvements. You can give to debt reduction, endowments. But the one thing that we need each and every year is the Falcon Fund. The Falcon Fund is Ben Lippen's annual giving program and our top fundraising priority. It's the first and most important gift each year because it touches every student and every teacher from K3 through 12th grade and on all of our campuses. Tuition alone doesn't cover everything that makes Ben Lippen so special. So the Falcon Fund provides what we call the margin of excellence, which is the difference between doing what is necessary and doing what is exceptional. And when the Falcon Fund is strong, everything else can flourish. Classrooms are equipped, teachers are encouraged, and students are supported in every area of the school.

Mrs. Erin Kay:

Kelly, thank you so much for being with us today. If listeners want to give, what are the best ways to do so? And what is the best information to contact you?

Mrs. Kelly Davis:

So we are quickly approaching our biggest giving season, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Listeners can support the Kingdom Work of Ben Lippen by visiting our website, www.binlipen.com slash giving. Or you can email me at Kelly.com. I love hearing from people. I want to hear your Ben Lippen stories. I'd love to answer any questions. I love talking about kingdom education.

Mrs. Erin Kay:

So please reach out. Kelly, thank you so much for being here with us today and sharing the heart of generosity that has been a part of Ben Lippen School since its inception. Again, if you'd like to give, the website is www.binlippin, b e n l i p e n dot com backslash giving. We look forward to seeing y'all on the next episode of the Ben Lippen Podcast.