In 1982, Fairbanks became Associate Professor of Christian Education and Lay Ministry Development, and Coordinator of the Master of Ministry program at Bethany Nazarene College in Bethany, Oklahoma [REF].
Fairbanks resigned from APNTS in July 1989 and was succeeded as President by Dr. John M. Nielson, then a Vice-President of Eastern Nazarene College, and a former missionary to Denmark [REF].