Amidst cultural shifts and challenges in theological education, the trustees of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary convened Monday to conduct regular business and praise the Lord for the continued strength and health of the institution. Trustees expressed their continued confidence in the leadership of President R. Albert Mohler, Jr., as he stewards the seminary’s mission of training future ministers and leaders for the Southern Baptist Convention with faithfulness.
During the plenary session of the meeting, President Mohler gave thanks to the Lord for his continued provision for Southern Seminary and Boyce College, as this academic year has seen record enrollment, financial stability, and the repayment of debt. Mohler said, “The Lord has blessed us beyond anything we could have imagined in terms of enrollment at every level. We are very thankful to the Lord for the strength of the institution and thankful for all the work that is to come.” After celebrating record enrollment and financial stability, Mohler emphasized the importance of stewardship in Christian institutions. He said, “Stewardship is required of Christian institutions, and I’m very, very thankful that over the course of the last several decades, we’ve been able to build incredible financial strength. And you know, every dollar that we save is a dollar that we don’t have to charge students, which helps get them into the ministry and mission fields faster and without debt. Both of those are and remain high priorities for us.”
Mohler also recognized the thirtieth anniversary of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Ministry, a milestone the seminary will celebrate throughout the week. “It is a reminder of the fact that if you rewind history just a little over thirty years there is no Billy Graham School, and it is now inconceivable that this institution would be without it,” said Mohler. “And we now see the fruit all over the world of the school and the graduates.”
In other business, trustees approved sabbatical leave for Denny Burk, Professor of Biblical Studies; Kyle D. Claunch, Associate Professor of Christian Theology; David Bosch, Professor of Business Administration; and Robert L. Plummer, Collin and Evelyn Aikman Professor of Biblical Studies. They also approved Terry J. Betts to be designated as the Donald L. Williams Professor of Old Testament Interpretation.
Jon Austin, Senior Vice President for Institutional Administration, provided his regular Treasurer’s Report and updated the trustees that the institution finished the prior academic year with a significant surplus. Jeremy Rhoden, Chairman of the Financial Board, reported that Southern Seminary now has freed up substantial capital by the repayment of the institution’s debt. Addressing President Mohler, Rhoden said, “While institutions of higher education struggle with a slow financial collapse all around us, guiding our institution to a debt-free status and a position of financial health will be remembered as a significant part of your contribution to this institution.”
Chairman of the Board, Keith Daniels, reflected on the essential role trustees play in safeguarding the seminary’s mission and theological integrity. He emphasized that their responsibility extends beyond governance to ensuring the institution’s faithfulness to Scripture and its future impact. “Without question, the greatest fiduciary responsibility for the trustees of SBTS is to uphold the commitment to the truth of God’s Word upon which our institution was founded and has been sustained since its founding. Inherent in the word trustee is the expectation that we ensure the fidelity and integrity of our president, senior leadership, faculty, and staff consistently be maintained at the highest standards in an ever-changing world where we must embrace new technologies and methods to convey and apply the age-old, yet ageless truths and principles of scripture to the next generation’s of scholars here at Southern to the glory of God!”
The Fall 2024 Trustee Meeting reaffirmed Southern Seminary’s commitment to providing the highest level of theological education with the highest level of stewardship in order to maximize the training, educating, and preparing of ministers of the gospel.