In a move to connect the rich heritages of two historic Christian universities located only twenty miles from each other, the Trustee Boards of John Wesley University (JWU) in High Point, NC, and Piedmont International University (PIU) in Winston-Salem, NC, voted to move forward with a merger of the two. The merger will officially take effect on June 1, 2018, pending the approval of the Transnational Association of Colleges and Schools, which accredits PIU. The Boards of the two universities have concluded that Piedmont will be the surviving entity, but that the John Wesley heritage and name will be prominently featured in the merged University.