Southeastern Receives Endowment

by Norman Miller                                                                                                 Vol. VII, No. 4, May 1994

Trustees of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, met 14-15 March and voted to establish a professorial chair of evangelism, approved curriculum changes adopted by the faculty, and formed a study committee on the feasibility of offering undergraduate courses. Board chairman Ned Matthews, pastor of Parkwood Baptist Church in Charlotte, read a letter from anonymous donors whose gift of $1 million will sustain the chair of evangelism, which will be named in honor of Southern Baptist evangelist Bailey Smith. The donors expressed gratitude for Southeastern's evangelistic emphasis and commitment to the authority of Scripture. The letter asked SE President Paige Patterson to "continue to keep the school solidly on the inerrant Word of God" and expressed confidence that Patterson would always emphasize "the priority of winning souls to Christ."

Southeastern President Paige Patterson said additional chairs are planned, and he asked trustees to "pray that God will put it in the hearts of the people" to donate to this effort. Patterson also said he hopes to announce the endowment of more chairs soon.

Trustees also approved changes to SE's Master of Divinity program. Patterson said the curriculum revision will "have a stronger emphasis upon the biblical languages of Greek and Hebrew, should more adequately equip God's ministers for the pastorate and for church growth, and will reflect a return to classical theological education."

Regarding the possibility of offering upper level undergraduate courses at SE, Patterson said, "What we envision is a curriculum which would offer up to 70 hours toward completion of a B.A. in biblical and theological studies. Students will complete the history, math, and science courses normally required for an undergraduate degree at an accredited institution. Then they could finish their junior and senior years [here] in a program of study designed to prepare them for the intensity of theological study at the graduate level." Trustees also formed a committee to study whether SE should continue granting tenure to its professors. [SE release]