Scriptural authority, gift of salvation ‘inextricable,’ Mohler says January 29, 2014

The authority and inerrancy of Scripture is necessary to understand the gift of salvation, said The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president R. Albert Mohler Jr. during the spring 2014 convocation address, Jan. 28.

In his address, “‘If You Do Not Believe His Writings, How Will You Believe My Words?’ — The Authority of Scripture and the Gift of Salvation,” Mohler said the inerrancy of Scripture is inseparable from the gift of salvation, and to believe otherwise is dangerous because without the first, the second is impossible.

“Scriptural authority and the gift of salvation are inextricable,” Mohler said. “We cannot have one without the other. We cannot be a gospel people without also being a Bible people.”

In John 5:39-47, Jesus confronts the Pharisees who seek to understand the Scriptures, yet do not believe Moses’ words in the Old Testament, so they do not see Christ or truly believe the Word of God, Mohler noted.

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Piper to Southern Seminary students: ‘Don’t waste your theological education’ January 27, 2014

If seminarians will learn the habit of thinking about God’s truth as a means of enjoying him, then they will not waste their theological education, said John Piper during a special, pre-convocation chapel service, Jan. 23, at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

IMG_2002-lower“God gave you doctrine for delight,” he said in the beginning of his message. “God gave you a mind to be a faithful servant to your heart. Reasoning, thinking, knowing God is the necessary means, and delighting in, being satisfied in, enjoying and treasuring God is the ultimate end of the human soul.”

Piper, popular author, speaker and founder of Desiring God ministries, preached from John 8:28-32, a sermon he called “Don’t Waste Your Theological Education.” In his message to a standing-room-only Alumni Memorial Chapel, Piper applied the theme of his ministry, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him,” to the pursuit of theological education.

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Burk to lead new Center for Gospel and Culture at Boyce College January 22, 2014

Denny Burk
Denny Burk

Boyce College Dean Dan DeWitt announced recently the formation of a new academic center for cultural engagement — the Center for Gospel and Culture at Boyce College. He also announced that New Testament scholar and ethicist Denny Burk, a member of the Boyce faculty since 2008, will lead the center.

DeWitt sees the role of Boyce College, the undergraduate school of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, as preparing and equipping the coming generation of church leaders to engage the culture around them with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“This is the Christian’s task,” DeWitt said. “As the famous apologist Francis Schaeffer said, each generation has to articulate the gospel in the language of the culture. At Boyce, we have a great faculty, all of whom view their disciplines through a gospel-lens. They write books and preach and teach the gospel all the time. And our students experience this gospel focus in every class.”

The center represents an effort to bring together that energy and expertise into one focus that will serve the college’s students and the churches they represent.

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In latest Alumni Academy course, Timothy Paul Jones addresses family ministry January 17, 2014

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Timothy Paul Jones, professor of leadership and church ministry, teaches on family ministry at Southern Seminary's Alumni Academy, Jan. 9-10.

The call to disciple the next generation belongs to parents, said The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Timothy Paul Jones during the most recent Alumni Academy course, Jan. 9-10.

Jones, who in addition to his role as professor of leadership and church ministry is editor of the Journal of Discipleship and Family Ministry, is the author of Family Ministry Field Guide: How the Church Can Equip Patents to Make Disciples, which provided much of the content and structure for the two-day course.

Recognizing the gap that exists between what Scripture demands of parents and what is actually happening in the homes of Christian families, Jones encouraged those in attendance — which consisted primarily of pastors and youth ministers — to teach the parents in their churches, especially the fathers, how to disciple their children according to the expectations that Scripture places on parents. The way to do this is to create a ministry driven by grace, rather than a ministry driven by prescription.

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Jimmy Scroggins: Recovering God’s design for broken families in South Florida January 16, 2014

For many residents, South Florida may very well seem like paradise on earth.

The year-round tropical climate draws both young and old seeking an idyllic lifestyle of warm temperatures, beautiful beaches and carefree living.

But the fallout of the moral revolution is all too obvious in the southeastern corridor of the Sunshine State. Marked by lives broken by the false promises of sexual liberation and family redefinition, many people in West Palm Beach have less than blissful lives.

Jimmy Scroggins, a two-time alumnus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and former dean of Boyce College, Southern’s undergraduate school, saw the devastating consequences of the moral revolution shortly after arriving five years ago as the lead pastor of First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach.

A journey begun

Jimmy Scroggins has served since 2008 as lead pastor of First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, located on the Intracoastal Waterway in the city’s downtown (SBTS photo by Emil Handke).
Jimmy Scroggins has served since 2008 as lead pastor of First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, located on the Intracoastal Waterway in the city’s downtown (SBTS photo by Emil Handke).

Scroggins realized he was no longer in the Bible Belt when seven of eight couples who signed-up for a marriage preparation class were already living together — some after multiple marriages, some with children from multiple prior relationships in and out of wedlock and most were not even Christians.

A native of Jacksonville, Fla., about five hours up the east coast of Florida, Scroggins’ more than 15 years of pastoral ministry experiences there and in Louisville, Ky., were meager preparation for what he found in South Florida.

Scroggins offered the marriage class to get to know his new congregation and so that he and his wife, Kristin, could model biblical marriage. The Scroggins have been married since 1994 and are parents to six boys and two girls, ages 17 to 4.

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At first Cross Conference, Mohler, evangelical leaders encourage college students toward missions January 15, 2014

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R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, takes a question from a participant during Cross Conference, Dec. 27-30 in Louisville, Ky.

A new missions conference attended by 3,600 college students, held Dec. 27-30 in Louisville, Ky., featured Southern Seminary’s president R. Albert Mohler Jr. and other evangelical leaders.

Leadership of Cross Conference — Kevin DeYoung, Mack Stiles, David Platt, David Sitton, Thabiti Anyabwile, John Piper and Zane Pratt — shaped the conference around the theme “missions exists because worship doesn’t,” drawn from Piper’s popular book, Let the Nations Be Glad, in order to encourage students toward missions work to the unreached people groups of the world.

In an interview following the conference, Mohler said that the sizable participation in the conference conference encouraged him.

“What an incredible encouragement to look out and see nearly 4,000 college students giving up time between Christmas and New Year’s Day to do nothing but listen to God’s call to missions in order to expose themselves to respond to it,” he said. “It’s an incredible thing. I can’t imagine anything happier for the church than seeing the quality of these young people here saying, ‘We’re here, and by our presence we’re saying we’re ready to go.’ And I believe many of them will.”

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Bryant Hicks, retired missions professor, missionary and Kentucky pastor, dies at 88 January 14, 2014

W Bryant Hicks croppedWade Bryant Hicks, retired professor of missions at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, died Jan. 12, according to an obituary in today’s edition of Louisville, Ky.’s Courier-Journal. He was 88.

“Bryant Hicks was a man of deep passion and great energy, who shared that passion and energy with his students,” said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the seminary. “He helped to shape a generation of Southern Baptist missionaries. He was also a man of great kindness and collegiality. Our hearts go out to his wife Peggy and the entire Hicks family. The Southern Seminary family is praying for them.”

Hicks, a United States Navy veteran and member of Louisville’s Lyndon Baptist Church, taught at Southern Seminary for more than 40 years, as a full-time faculty member from 1965 until 1993, and then as a senior professor from 1994 to 2006. In 1983, he assumed an endowed professorship as the M. Theron Rankin Professor of Foreign Missions.

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Mohler to be joined by New York Times columnist Douthat, radio personality Prager for ‘Faith and Freedom in the Public Square’ January 13, 2014

R. Albert Mohler Jr.
R. Albert Mohler Jr.

Three nationally renown commentators will participate in a “Faith and Freedom in the Public Square” discussion to be held Jan. 28 on the campus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

Ross Douthat
Ross Douthat

Southern Seminary president R. Albert Mohler Jr., nationally syndicated radio show host Dennis Prager, and New York Times columnist Ross Douthat will participate in the event, presented by Hashtag Productions and WORLD Magazine, the nation’s largest Christian news magazine. Warren Cole Smith, vice president of WORLD, will serve as emcee.

Dennis Prager
Dennis Prager

“The goal of this event is to allow three prominent voices in the public square — one Jewish (Prager), one evangelical Christian (Mohler) and one Catholic (Douthat) — to engage in an open, honest and entertaining dialogue” about the challenges of secularism and changing morality, according to a news release by Hashtag Productions. “This is about asking and answering tough questions in a God-honoring and purposeful way.”

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Strachan: pro-life convictions come with cost of action January 8, 2014

Owen Strachan (center), assistant professor of Christian theology and church history at Boyce College, seeks to counsel women to choose life outside a Louisville, Ky., abortion clinic (SBTS photo by Emil Handke).
Owen Strachan (center), assistant professor of Christian theology and church history at Boyce College, seeks to counsel women to choose life outside a Louisville, Ky., abortion clinic (SBTS photo by Emil Handke).

For Owen Strachan, convictions come with a cost.

Strachan, an assistant professor of Christian theology and church history at Boyce College, has been pro-life for many years. It wasn’t until recently, however, that he decided to act on his conviction.

“I’ve been convictionally pro-life for a long time, but hadn’t taken an opportunity to get involved with the cause,” Strachan said. “I was a passionate advocate for pro-life thinking, but it wasn’t until coming into contact with this ministry — and finding people who were putting their convictions to work — that I started to get practically involved.”

The ministry is Speak for the Unborn, which came to life when Ryan Fullerton, pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., preached a sermon on sanctity of life Sunday in 2009. Dave and Stacey Hare, who were then members at Immanuel, decided to act on the message they heard. The following Saturday, they went to downtown Louisville to do sidewalk counseling outside of the abortion clinic.

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Geoffrey Dennis, former publishing executive, named development vice president at Southern Seminary January 6, 2014

Geoff DennisGeoffrey Dennis, a former executive with evangelical publisher Crossway, has been named vice president for development at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, school officials announced Jan. 6.

“Southern Seminary is very pleased to have Geoff Dennis joining our development team in this crucial new capacity,” said president R. Albert Mohler Jr. “The appointment of a vice president for development to work alongside Craig Parker, our vice president for institutional advancement, represents a great step forward for Southern Seminary in our effort to serve the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention and to meet Southern Seminary’s needs in one of the most God-blessed moments of our history. Geoff brings great skills and deep commitments to this new task and I am very glad to welcome him as a crucial member of the Southern Seminary leadership team.”

Dennis, who began his new duties Jan. 1, worked for the last 23 years in various capacities at Crossway, a leading evangelical publisher based in Wheaton, Ill. He served most recently as executive vice president, chief operating officer and associate publisher with oversight of advancement, sales and marketing, digital and information technology, operations, human resources, fulfillment, finance and literature ministries. During his tenure on Crossway’s Publishing Committee, Dennis was involved in the strategic development, market positioning, production and distribution of the English Standard Version Bible, first published in 2001, and the award-winning ESV Study Bible, published in 2008.

“I could not be more pleased that God is sending Geoff Dennis to be part of the Southern Seminary leadership team,” said Parker. “Geoff is a proven leader who possesses professional skills and experience that are second-to-none. Geoff’s accomplishments are significant, but you do not have to be around him long to recognize that he is also a man of great spiritual maturity, warmth and relational gifting. He is going to be an exceptional ambassador for Southern.”

Parker, who leads the seminary’s development program, said Dennis will be an important asset to the development team as the school is experiencing a “wonderful season of growth.”

“The addition of Geoff to our team will make it possible to seize new opportunities for capital gifts — especially for renovation and expansion of the James P. Boyce Centennial Library — planned giving that will be instrumental for growth of the endowment, and other major gifts that will enable us to contain the cost of tuition that must be borne by our students,” Parker said.

Dennis said, “I have a deep passion for effective Christian ministry that serves the body of Christ, a commitment to the application of sound business practice in the ministry environment and desire for the effective use of digital technologies to extend ministry reach and impact. I have great appreciation for the mission and ministry of Southern Seminary and its remarkable history of serving God’s people since 1859. It will be an honor to serve the Lord — as well as students, faculty and staff — through the exceptional ministry of Southern Seminary for many years to come.”

Dennis earned a bachelor of science degree in business management from National Lewis University in Chicago and a master of arts degree in theological studies from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill.

He and his wife of more than 20 years, Allison, are parents to four children. Dennis has served in various church capacities, including as elder, worship leader and small group leader.

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