Whitherbound Southeastern?

by Dr. Lewis A. Dnummond                                                                             Vol. V, No. 1, March 1992

As a very young Christian, and in the military service, I one day picked up a little pamphlet in the base chapel under the title "Whitherbound?" The obvious question the tract posed was, "Where are you going with your life?" Throughout the many years of service to Jesus Christ, I have often been faced with that issue. It is an issue we must all address. Where are we really going with our life? The answer to this fundamental question determines what the final outcome of our life will be. How we answer is vital to our whole experience of God in Jesus Christ.

As President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, I face that same question in a very profound institutional sense. Where is Southeastern Seminary going, and what will the final outcome be? What are the goals we reach for? Whitherbound Southeastern Seminary?

There are three definite goals, by the strength and wisdom of God, that Southeastern reaches in its educational journey. First, Southeastern must go in the direction of a strong, academically respectable, educational program. We do exist to educate young men and women for service to our Lord Jesus Christ. To be derelict in our duty in providing them with a full, well-rounded, conservative, evangelical, theological education would be to forfeit our very right to exist. Therefore, we intend to develop and maintain the finest conservative faculty that we possibly can, under God's guidance. We will be academically respectable, and even outstanding, in every sense of the word.

Secondly, we must prepare our students for practical, workable ministries. It does little good to know a lot of theology, even much of the Bible, and not be able to minister with effect. Therefore, we want to give tools, sharpen spiritual gifts, and equip our students for ministries that will work in our churches and in our various agencies, or wherever the Spirit of God may lead them. They need to be able to do something and do it well in the service of Jesus Christ. That too is where we are headed.

Finally, and perhaps above all, we must be used by the Spirit of God at Southeastern Seminary to develop true men and women of God. To know something, to be able to do something, but not to be something is a travesty of a Christian minister. We want to see our students become men and women of fervent prayer, disciplined Bible study, enthusiastic and mature witnesses, and walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We want our graduates to be not spiritual pygmies, but spiritual giants who can take their knowledge and skills and be used of the Spirit of God to further the Kingdom of Christ.

That is our goal. That is where we are bound. Those are the principles for which we strive and are attempting to develop in the whole life of the seminary. So when the question is asked, "Whitherbound Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary?" the answer is, "We are developing true servants of Jesus Christ." Won't you join us in prayer, support, and in lending your influence among all of our evangelical friends that we might fulfill our mission. Help us recruit students. Help us to raise the necessary funds. If you are a prospective student, consider Southeastern. Above all, help us in prayer. Join us in the journey that we might reach our goals and when the question is presented, "Whitherbound?" you can say we are going with Southeastern right into the will, and consequent blessings, of God.

[Last summer your editor asked Dr. Drummond, President of Southeastern Seminary, to write something for the Banner. He did so and suggested it be published in January or February. In light of Dr. Drummond's recently announced resignation, his article takes on added impact. Potential students, and indeed all conservatives should view the events at Southeastern as indications of positive change and renewal at the seminary. Pray the search committee will seek and find God's man as the new president. As Southeastern completes the wonderful changes begun some four years ago, it will become a major evangelical influence among Southern Baptists. TCP]