Posts by Andrew J.W. Smith

Southern Seminary’s Giving Days raise $300K, alumni share testimonials May 8, 2017

Social media testimonials and a community service project comprised the first-ever Giving Days event to raise over $300,000 for The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, April 20-23. The weekend gave students, alumni, donors, and faculty the opportunity to tell their stories, support the institution financially, and serve the community of Louisville.

Students, faculty, and alumni shared their stories through social media for Tell Day on April 20. Several notable figures in the Southern Baptist Convention recorded testimonies during Tell Day, including Mark Dever, Kevin Ezell, Greg Gilbert, Eric Geiger, and Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr.

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Don’t compromise the gospel in social cooperation, says Mohler at TGC workshop April 13, 2017

Evangelical Christians must not compromise the gospel when cooperating with Catholics on social and political matters, said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, at The Gospel Coalition National Conference on the Protestant Reformation.

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, speaks at a workshop during The Gospel Coalition National Conference, April 4.

Evangelicals partnering with other groups in shared matters of social concern is often necessary — such as with Catholics in the pro-life movement — but should never eclipse the importance of doctrinal differences between the two.

"We can be involved in common moral concerns with Catholics, but we should not call what we are doing a ministry,” said Mohler during his April 4 workshop titled “When to Stand Together, When to Stand Apart: Principles for Social Cooperation without Compromise.”

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Southern Seminary trustees install Gaines to visiting professorship, elect 3 faculty April 11, 2017

Trustees of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary unanimously approved all recommendations in the board’s April 10 meeting, including the installation of Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines to a visiting professorship honoring former SBC President Herschel H. Hobbs. The board also approved an expanded budget for the 2017-2018 academic year and elected three faculty members.

The trustees established the Herschel H. Hobbs Visiting Professor of Christian Preaching to honor the life and legacy of Hobbs, a two-time graduate of Southern Seminary. Hobbs was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1961-1963, served as chairman of the committee that revised the Baptist Faith and Message in 1963, and pastored several SBC churches.

Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. speaks at the plenary session of the Board of Trustees, April 10.
Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. speaks at the plenary session of the Board of Trustees, April 10.

“One of my encouragers all along the way was Dr. Herschel Hobbs — he was so committed to this institution, so committed to Southern Baptists,” said Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. to trustees during the meeting. “Very regularly we will have a visiting professor in his name come to this campus in order to educate students and honor Dr. Hobbs.”

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Jenkins Center takes gospel to Muslims in Dearborn March 16, 2017

Southern Seminary students visited Dearborn, Michigan, home of the largest concentration of Arab-Americans in the United States, to pray for and evangelize local Muslims, Feb. 24-26. Led by Ayman S. Ibrahim — Bill and Connie Jenkins Professor of Islamic Studies and director of the Jenkins Center for the Christian Understanding of Islam — the team interacted with a few of the more than 100,000 Arab Americans who comprise at least 45 percent of Dearborn’s population.

Josh Hildebrand, center, reads from the Gospel of John with two Arab-American men, right, at a local bakery in Dearborn, Michigan.
M.Div. student Josh Hildebrand, center, reads from the Gospel of John with two Arab-American men, right, at a local bakery in Dearborn, Michigan.

The 13 students from Southern and Boyce College visited local Arab bakeries and restaurants, starting conversations with Muslims and discussing the Christian faith. The team also visited the Islamic Center of America, which was one of the largest mosques in the United States when it was built in 2005. Several students received the contact information for Dearborn residents they met during the trip with the intention to have follow-up conversations about the gospel.

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Churches should build ‘communities of resistance,’ says Rod Dreher at SBTS Gheens Lectures February 17, 2017

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (SBTS)—With secular culture increasingly marginalizing the Christian faith, believers should leave behind political battles and embrace the communal life exemplified by St. Benedict of Nursia, said columnist Rod Dreher at the Gheens Lectures, Feb. 7-8, 2017 at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Rod Dreher, senior editor of 'The American Conservative' and author of 'The Benedict Option,' lectures during the SBTS Gheens Lectures, Feb. 7-8.
Rod Dreher, senior editor of 'The American Conservative' and author of 'The Benedict Option,' lectures during the SBTS Gheens Lectures, Feb. 7-8.

Although Christianity continues to spread to Asia and the Global South, in the West it is rapidly losing its influence in the public square, said Dreher, senior editor of the American Conservative and author of the forthcoming book The Benedict Option. His lectures were based on a book to be released March 14 by the Penguin Group. The political influence of orthodox Christianity has waned, he said, and believers should refocus their efforts on maintaining a quiet, faithful presence away from the world’s influence.

“Could it be that the best way to fight the flood is to stop fighting the flood?” Dreher said, comparing the rapid decline of Christianity’s influence to a massive flood threatening to wipe the church off the map. “That is, to quit piling up sandbags in a doomed effort to hold back the rising waters, and instead to build an ark in which to shelter until the water recedes and we can put our feet on dry land again? Rather than wasting energy and resources fighting unwinnable political battles, we should instead work on building communities, institutions, and networks of resistance that can outwit, outlast, and eventually overcome the cultural forces sweeping Christianity away in the West.

“If we are going to be for the world as Christ meant for us to be, we are going to have to spend more time away from the world, in deep prayer and substantial spiritual training — just as Jesus retreated to the desert to pray before ministering to the people.”

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Southern Seminary to launch Giving Days in April February 13, 2017

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary will launch a four-day initiative in spring 2017 aimed at supporting the mission of the institution, announced R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary. From April 20-23, the seminary will hold its first Giving Days, providing students, alumni, donors, and faculty the opportunity to tell their stories, support the institution financially, and serve the community of Louisville.

Christine Gabriel, wife of M.Div. student Kevin Gabriel, serves at the Muhammed Ali Childhood Home Museum during the 1937 Project, April 23, 2016.
Christine Gabriel, wife of M.Div. student Kevin Gabriel, serves at the Muhammed Ali Childhood Home Museum during the 1937 Project, April 23, 2016.

“I’m inviting you to be a part of Giving Days — not only to make a difference in the lives of Southern Seminary students, but to be a force for the future of the church and for the advance of the gospel around the globe,” said Mohler in a Feb. 13 video announcement.

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‘Never been easier’ to improve Greek skills, profs say at SBTS Alumni Academy January 27, 2017

Everyone who has studied New Testament Greek has experienced some degradation of their skills with the language. But whether a student needs a brush-up after a month of winter break or a full makeover after years of neglect, there are plenty of resources to help the Greek student get back on track, said Robert L. Plummer, professor of New Testament interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at the 2017 Alumni Academy, Jan. 13-14.

Robert L. Plummer encourages students to improve their Greek at Winter Alumni Academy.
Robert L. Plummer encourages students to improve their Greek at Winter Alumni Academy.

“It’s never been easier to both maintain and to grow in your Greek skills,” said Plummer, co-author of Greek for Life: Strategies for Learning, Retaining, and Reviving New Testament Greek, which releases in August 2017. “Whatever state you are coming [into your study], you can gain it back.”

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God calls ministers to embrace their calling, says Mohler at SBTS winter commencement December 5, 2016

180 students received degrees at the 2016 SBTS winter commencement.
180 students received degrees at the 2016 SBTS winter commencement.

Christian ministers should not settle for the comfortable and agreeable career of secular professionals, but courageously embrace their prophetic role, said President R. Albert Mohler Jr. in his Dec. 2 winter commencement address to 141 master’s and doctoral graduates of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

“The Christian ministry is a terrible profession, but it is the greatest calling on earth,” Mohler said. “Professions are decent, respectable, recognized, esteemed, regulated, and rationalized … The greater scandal by far are the churches, denominations, and church members who cheerfully domesticate the preacher and the preachers who are so willingly domesticated.”

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Preach in view of a stadium of witnesses, says Lawson at Mullins Lectures November 9, 2016

Heroes of the pulpit like Charles Spurgeon and George Whitefield provide models of bold preaching for today’s ministers, said Steven Lawson in the Mullins Lectures on Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Oct. 25-26. The nation’s second-oldest lectureship on preaching was held in conjunction with the fifth annual Expositors Summit, Oct. 25-27.

Steve Lawson, president of OnePassion Ministries, preaches during the 2016 Mullins Lectures.
Steve Lawson, president of OnePassion Ministries, preaches during the 2016 Mullins Lectures.

"One of the greatest steps of faith that you and I will ever take is the mere act of preaching," said Lawson, founder and president of OnePassion Ministries.

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SBC leaders urge faithful political engagement, trust in God’s sovereignty during SBTS Heritage Week October 17, 2016

Jesus is the “ultimate” refugee and immigrant, and as a result the church has a responsibility to love and care for strangers in their land, said Georgia pastor and former SBC president Bryant Wright during an Oct. 11 chapel message during Heritage Week at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Bryant Wright, pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia, preaches during an Oct. 11 chapel.
Bryant Wright, pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia, preaches during an Oct. 11 chapel.

“The role of government is different. The role of government includes a protection of the citizens, but our role in the church is to love our neighbor,” said Wright, who received his M.Div. from Southern Seminary in 1979. “And we are called to do that in any situation in life as Jesus teaches us to do so.”

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