People You Need To Know: Mark Milioni

Everywhere that Mark Milioni seems to go, growth follows.

It’s happened in his pastoral roles, and he’s seeing upswings at Mission University, where he’s been employed for over 14 years as president.

One noticeable switch for the school is a name change in January 2024 to Mission University from Baptist Bible College.

“It’s really opened up the door,” Milioni says of the name change. “I began realizing that there’s a lot of people that didn’t think they could come here because of our name.”

Baptist Bible College was formed to train pastors and missionaries, Milioni says.

The name change, he says, has opened up new denominations of Christians to join the college and grown interest in programs like business, which is the school’s most popular degree program.

Pastoral degrees still remain, but Mission University has added several more. There’s education degrees, and the school partners with Southwest Baptist University for healthcare degrees.

“I think we came to learn that it was hindering people that wanted to come,” he says of the Baptist Bible College moniker.

Milioni says he meets with every Mission University prospect and takes note of their wants and needs.

Since the school became Mission University, Milioni says he’s been interviewed by other college leaders and podcasters on how to successfully implement a new name.

“It’s a long, expensive project, but we did it the right way, and it’s gone really well,” he says.

Milioni additionally is a champion for Springfield’s north side. Mission University operates at 628 E. Kearney St.

“Being on the north side ... it needs our influence,” he says. “It needs our love, and if we want to see it get better, then we need to be better.”

The school works with local elementaries, Milioni says of an example of how Mission University is impacting its surroundings.

“We just want to do what we can to see the north side helped and improved,” Milioni says.

Milioni says there is no blueprint, other than having all organizations improve along the corridor.

“We’re going to make this happen,” Milioni says. “It was just a decision to love our neighborhood, to love our city.”

Additionally, he says past versions of the university were not as purposeful about embracing the north side.

“It’s our own fault,” Milioni says. “We kept to ourselves. We didn’t encourage students to be involved in stuff.”

Milioni says he’s a fixer, and that includes Mission University as well.

“We had been declining for 40 straight years here,” he says, pointing to student enrollment, financials and facilities. “We’ve just been able to see a little bit at a time to turn this thing around.”

Milioni is well-equipped to do so. He has years of experience with religious organizations, and he has two doctorates, among other education.

He says in a previous pastoral role, when he was 25, he quickly took on the leadership post.

“And 10 years later, we quadrupled in size,” Milioni says.

At the next church he pastored, there was drama between the organization and the city. He says he learned a lot through listening.

“I learned a lot about education. I learned about accreditation,” Milioni says, noting the church grew to 850 members from 180 over a 10-year period. “We fixed that.”