President R. Albert Mohler Jr. named alumnus and former businessman Edward Heinze as vice president for institutional advancement at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary earlier this month. Heinze, who takes the role after serving in pastoral ministry for the last six years, has worked as a regional director of development for the seminary in the state of Texas since 2016. He began the new role in November.
“Edward Heinze is a true professional and he and Jennifer are already part of the Southern Seminary family,” Mohler said in a statement. “We eagerly welcome him back to campus for this new responsibility, which is so crucial for us as we look to build Southern Seminary and Boyce College for the future. Our friends already know and love them, and Edward is a passionate servant of Christ who is an important addition to our senior leadership team.”
Southern’s Office of Institutional Advancement and the Southern Seminary Foundation lead fundraising efforts for the seminary, from major building projects to raising money for the school’s annual fund, which defrays tuition costs for students.
“I could not be more pleased that the Lord has led Edward and Jennifer Heinze to return to Southern Seminary to fill this important position,” said Craig Parker, who served in the role previously and who now acts as a senior vice president at the seminary. “They have a tremendous love for Southern and for the mission of the seminary. He possesses the sterling character, the leadership skills, the relational skills, and the pastor’s heart to make him the ideal leader for Southern’s advancement program.”
Heinze, who combines pastoral experience with 15 years of experience in the corporate world, is returning to Southern Seminary more than a decade after first joining the community as a student and an executive employee. During his time as a master of divinity student, Heinze served as director of the school’s human resources office until May 2012, when he left Southern to become the pastor of Rocky Point Baptist Church in Stephenville, Texas.
Heinze believes this new role presents the opportunity to expand the kind of ministry for which Southern Seminary prepared him in the first place.
“There are tons of guys in Norton classrooms who are getting equipped to go revitalize churches,” he said. “I absolutely believe that the strength of the gospel cause at Southern Seminary is found in Norton Hall — in the classes that meet Monday through Friday. I have a passion for what happens in Norton Hall. I know what happens in those classrooms because I sat in those classrooms for five years. Today I can connect what I am doing in advancement with making sure that Norton Hall is full of students, because they can afford to come here and that Norton Hall is full of qualified faculty, because we can afford to hire them.
“While I revitalized a church for six years, I believe I can contribute to the revitalization of multiple churches because I’m helping underwrite what’s happening in Norton Hall.”
Heinze said every step of his career — his time as an M.Div. student, working as a revitalizing pastor, and serving as an executive administrator at Southern Seminary — has prepared him for his new job overseeing institutional advancement at Southern. According to Heinze, the office’s primary objective is clear: support the world-class faculty of Southern Seminary and reduce student expenses as much as possible.
“We’re not appealing to the financially elite to come to Southern Seminary; we’re appealing to the called. So, we need to remove the financial barriers that keep the called from coming. When they do come, we also want them to leave with no debt — unencumbered as they take the gospel to the ends of the earth. And the way you do that is through driving donor funds, and that excites me. That’s a noble, worthy, eternal, gospel-centered cause.”
In addition to earning an M.Div. from Southern, Heinze attended Stephen F. Austin State University where he received a degree in human resources. He has been married to his wife, Jennifer, for 23 years, and the two have two children: a son, Braden, 20, and a daughter KaraBeth, 16.