ABOUT THIS ISSUE
At Southeastern Seminary, we believe that the church’s mission is the Great Commission and that we serve churches best by equipping students as faithful disciple makers. Over the past 75 years, Southeastern has distinguished itself as a Great Commission seminary that champions the final marching orders of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Since its charter in 1950, Southeastern has been committed to serving the church by equipping students for ministry in the U.S. and beyond and has expanded its efforts in recent decades to numerous countries worldwide. In this issue, we highlight stories of Southeastern’s impact over the past 75 years, highlighting testimonies of God’s favor on the institution and the myriad ways he has used Southeastern graduates to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission around the world.
A MILESTONE MARKING GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
HERE I RAISE MY EBENEZER, HITHER BY THY HELP I'VE COME.
— Robert Robinson, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
As I reflect on my journey with Christ, I see how God directed my path through various twists and turns. His gracious hand was and has been my help every step of the way, leading Charlotte and me to this point, to enjoy the blessing of serving Southeastern now for more than 21 years. I imagine you, too, could say something similar about God’s faithfulness in your life.
The problem, however, is that you and I often neglect to remember and retell stories of God’s faithfulness in our lives. Yet his kindness to us bears repeating! We regularly need reminders that we are where we are and have made it through what we have endured because God has been our help. We need reminders lest we forget what God has done in our lives. We see this same truth in the history of Israel. After the Philistines fiercely defeat rebellious Israel in 1 Samuel 4, the Israelites turn from their idolatry, and the prophet Samuel prays to the Lord. In mercy, he answers Samuel in chapter 7 by throwing the Philistines into confusion. In response to this miraculous deliverance, “Samuel took a stone and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, explaining, ‘The LORD has helped us to this point’” (v. 12 CSB).
Samuel knew that God’s people needed a reminder of what he had done. That’s why he set up this Ebenezer stone. As the Israelites continued to take their stand among the peoples of the land, they needed to rehearse how the Lord had been their help. In the days to come, the stone would not only remind them of God’s faithfulness in the past but also rally and encourage them to trust in his help and provision for their future.
As Southeastern enters its 75th year, we do so remembering the Lord’s blessing and faithfulness to our school — from our charter, through seasons of recovery, to the present flourishing of Southeastern and Judson College. This significant milestone for our beloved school is a reminder to rehearse the ways the Lord has been our help and has blessed our Great Commission seminary.
King Jesus is the hero and captain of this story, and his Great Commission has been the wind beneath our sails from the first class until now. Make no mistake. The growth, health, and expanding reach of our school is not owing to its exceptional faculty, administration, or students — though we are blessed in all these ways. Southeastern owes its success to the sovereign, gracious hand of
the Lord leading us onward: “The LORD has helped us to this point.”
In the stories to follow, we will trace the Lord’s hand at work in the history of this wonderful institution, leading us straight to the mission we know so well: glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ by equipping students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission. We hope you will be encouraged by these stories and the ways God has blessed the Southeastern family to carry on this Great Commission legacy for 75 years and counting. We invite you to join us this year as we celebrate this milestone to God’s faithfulness among us, and we thank God for how he has used you to bless our beloved school and to partner with us in this sacred mission of equipping men and women to make disciples of King Jesus until he comes again. Truly, our Lord has done great things. Praise his name!
Danny Akin President
MILESTONES
SIX SIGNIFICANT ANNIVERSARIES FOR SOUTHERN BAPTISTS
DRS. STEVEN A. MCKINION & STEPHEN BRETT ECCHER
Life is filled with significant events — some good and some bad — that are memorable for one reason or another, and we regularly remember such events when they appear on our calendar. Birthdays and wedding anniversaries are the most common moments we remember annually. For Americans, July 4 is a day of celebration, but December 7 and September 11 are dates that live in infamy. Good dates. Bad dates. Memorable dates. When we celebrate our wedding anniversaries, we mark another year of marriage with a nice meal, a movie, or sometimes even a weekend away. Of course, somewhere along the way we always jest to our brides about the great catches we were, knowing full well we both married way beyond ourselves!
These anniversaries are times of remembrance, when we consider the blessing of marriage. But remembrance is not just enumerating past events; it is about sharing the present and the future. Our common experiences with our spouses have shaped us, formed us, and provided us with a cause to celebrate.
We also celebrate other significant milestones in our lives. A decade at a single place of employment. Five years since recovering from a major illness. A century of a church’s faithful ministry to a community. Remembering the past in order to celebrate the present and look towards the future is an important part of life — especially the Christian life.
For Southeastern Seminary and Southern Baptists, this year brings with it a confluence of anniversaries extending back 1,700 years, providing us the unique chance to remember six critical milestones from our shared history. What happened in each of these remarkable events, and why do they matter? Let’s answer those questions in turn.
UNDERSTANDING THE MILESTONES
THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA
1,700TH ANNIVERSARY
In 325 the Nicene Council and its resulting Nicene Creed affirmed the Bible’s teaching of the full deity of Jesus and truths about the Trinity.
THE BAPTIST FAITH AND MESSAGE
100TH ANNIVERSARY
In 1925 Southern Baptists penned the first Baptist Faith and Message, a consensus statement that sought to describe Southern Baptist beliefs and help define the theological boundaries for our Baptist cooperation.
RECOVERY OF BELIEVER'S BAPTISM
500TH ANNIVERSARY
In 1525 during the Swiss Reformation, a group of Christians at Zurich renounced infant baptism and embraced believer’s baptism. This marked the recovery of believer’s baptism after more than a thousand-year absence.
THE COOPERATIVE PROGRAM
100TH ANNIVERSARY
In 1925 Southern Baptists created the cooperative program, a powerful sending tool allowing thousands of churches to partner together for the sake of gospel proclamation around the globe.
MEMORIAL VIEW OF THE LORD'S SUPPER
500TH ANNIVERSARY
In 1525 Ulrich Zwingli observed the first reformed “memorial” Lord’s Supper at Zurich. Zwingli argued the bread and wine were symbolic reminders of Christ’s presence.
SOUTHEASTERN SEMINARY
75TH ANNIVERSARY
In 1950, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary was founded in Wake Forest, NC, to train pastors, missionaries, and church leaders for gospel ministry.
WHY THE MILESTONES MATTER
It is important to remember and reflect on these milestones because in doing so we have the opportunity to remember where we came from, apply lessons to our own lives, and look to the future.
1. WE REMEMBER WHERE WE CAME FROM.
We look back on these six events so we can remember our own history. For example, when we look back at the Council of Nicaea, we remember the defense of the gospel against the threat of heresy. And we honor the Christians in the 16th century by remembering those who recovered the practice of believer’s baptism in the face of persecution, even from the hands of other Christians. We consider those who contemplated the significance of the Lord’s Supper. We ponder the genesis of a Baptist people on mission, cooperating together around one sacred effort to take the gospel to the nations. And we reflect upon the founding of Southeastern Seminary with its mission to equip generations of students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission — carrying with them the heritage of believers who came before.
As we look back at these various events, we discover that they are not merely isolated historical details. They are our heritage, and a gospel thread connects them all.
The Great Commission from Matthew 28:18-20 permeates Southeastern’s ethos, motivating every aspect of our institutional mission. We are committed to sharing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Who is the God at the heart of this gospel? At Nicaea, the Father, Son, and Spirit were explicated as Christians carried forward the biblical portrait of a triune God unlike any other. With the recovery of believer’s baptism, Christians rediscovered Scripture’s teaching that water baptism occurs following a person’s genuine belief in this gospel. In the Baptist Faith and Message and Cooperative Program, our spiritual forefathers created a framework and funding mechanism to take this gospel to the nations. Southeastern stands firmly in this Great Commission legacy. Remembering these events helps us remember our own heritage and steward it well.
2. WE APPLY LESSONS TO OUR OWN LIFE.
In addition, remembering these milestones can lead to practical applications in our own lives, ministries, and churches. Two examples come to our minds.
First, we can learn how to think biblically about our own worship. At the heart of the redress that was the Protestant Reformation is the recovery of biblical patterns of worship, like believer’s baptism, and the establishment of new practices in our worship that better honor the text of Scripture. Despite what many might think, these were not innovations but, rather, restorations of prescriptions and examples Christians found in the sacred Scriptures. We, as Baptists, are indebted to them for their ecclesiastical reforms. Our worship today would not look and feel the way it does without
these corrections. Thus, reflecting on these Reformation recoveries allows us to better understand what the reformers accomplished and why. Such reminiscence affords us the important chance to reflect on and ask questions about our own worship — lest we too become accustomed to doing things out of rote repetition without any sense of real purpose.
Second, we can also learn how to suffer well. Both of us have children who have faced serious medical problems. We know that every day with them is a gift from God. When we think back to 1525, we see that those who committed themselves to the doctrine of believer’s baptism faced opposition and oppression from those closest to them. Such was the painful reality in the Reformation era, and we can learn from their suffering. In the same way, those who took a bold stand to follow the commands of Jesus in Scripture experienced severe marginalization, fierce persecution, and sometimes even death.
Southeastern President Danny Akin often says, “Being in the center of God’s will is not always easy. Nor is it always safe. But it is always best.” It is this “best” that we are reminded of through such times of heartache. The fact remains that Jesus can be exalted in our sufferings as much, perhaps even more, than through our successes in life. He is present with us always in these moments of difficulty — never leaving us nor forsaking us — faithfully walking alongside us even through the valley of the shadow of death. Reflecting on these milestones helps us suffer well.
REMEMBERING WHO WE ARE
3. WE LOOK TO THE FUTURE.
To remember is to recommit. We look to the past, celebrate our heritage, and apply it to our lives — not just for the current moment, but in order to steward this heritage for the future.
Some of the milestones have a forward-looking nature built into them. Think, for example, of the first reformed memorial Lord’s Supper instituted at Zurich in 1525. During our observances of the Supper, we look back to remember Christ’s passion and death, seeing not only the end of our sin but also the love of God embodied in sacrifice.
Yet we also reflect on the past, as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 11, to inevitably set our gazes forward on the return of Jesus. Remembrance is eschatological as we affix our eyes to the East, awaiting our coming King.
Other milestones shape how we move forward. Think, for example, of the Baptist Faith and Message. When it was first penned in 1925, the churches of the convention were making a collective doctrinal commitment. Since then, times have changed, and we have been through much as a convention of churches, both good and bad. Yet looking back on that written statement of faith should compel us to recommit ourselves to sound teaching. We look to the future, committed to the truth of the Bible.
For us as professors at Southeastern, we steward this heritage in our classrooms as we train the next generation of pastors, missionaries, and ministry leaders from the framework of our Baptist convictions. We want them to know the significance of these events, hold biblical convictions, and take the gospel to the ends of the earth. So, for us, these milestones are not mere history; they shape the way we train students. Southeastern’s 75th anniversary offers the opportunity to thank God for his faithfulness to this school and to consider the profound responsibility of training up leaders who will carry their Christian heritage with them wherever God may take them.
The work of remembering presses us forward into the future — not just any future but a future based on commitments forged in the fires of life and ministry. As we at Southeastern commemorate these six moments, many of these reflections remind us who we are. We are a gospel people seeking to elevate the name of Jesus so that the triune God of Scripture might be magnified. We are also a Baptist people with deep convictions about the ordinances and the nature of the gathered body of believers — which both believer’s baptism and the Lord’s Supper help to embody. So too we remain a people of the Book, with deep and unwavering convictions about doctrine as well as a desire to obey everything God has commanded. We are also a cooperative people who seek to amass the greatest missions force the world has seen. And in the end, we are a people committed to training students for ministry so that those entrusted to us might be equipped to serve our churches and fulfill Christ’s Great Commission.
SCAN HERE or visit SEBTS.EDU/MILESTONES to watch Drs. McKinion & Eccher discuss these events and more with Dr. Scott Pace in their new video podcast “Milestones.” Reflect on your Christian heritage and its practical outworkings in your life and ministry.
As Southeastern Seminary reflects on the past 75 years of Great Commission theological education, God's enduring faithfulness is evident, particularly in the lives of our faculty and students.
As a theological institution, Southeastern is committed to equipping students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission. Southeastern's exceptional faculty share this same heart and are motivated by a passion to make disciples and train up disciple makers. With every passing year, more stories emerge of the generational Great Commission impact these faculty members have on our students and, by extension, their ministries.
The following feature section highlights some of these inspiring stories, beginning first with a reflection on Southeastern's origins and concluding with 12 bold prayers from President Danny Akin for Southeastern's future. Join us on this journey of remembrance and gratitude as we celebrate God's faithfulness to Southeastern for 75 years and counting.
THE ORIGIN OF SOUTHEASTERN SEMINARY
EXCERPT FROM THE FIRST CHAPTER OF "DIFFERENT BY DESIGN" BY DR. KEITH HARPER, JOSH PRUITT, AND FAITH STEELE
A DIFFERENT BY DESIGN
seminary in the East had been discussed as early as 1945 and dreamed of long before that. Most SBC churches were in the Southeast region of the United States. Some of those churches saw themselves as “mature,” and they wanted a seminary that reflected their self-perception. Other churches wanted a seminary that functioned more as a traditional Bible institute that trained preachers. The founders of Southeastern wanted to create a seminary, and it promised to be unique. It would be different by design.
The new seminary’s genesis begins in September 1945 when a group of ministers from Buncombe County, North Carolina, asked the SBC’s Executive Committee to consider using Ridgecrest as a site for either a new seminary or a branch campus of an existing seminary.1 The Executive Committee had no authority to create a new seminary, but they appointed a committee of nine to study the feasibility of a new seminary in 1947. The committee found “widespread enthusiasm” for the project but suggested that any call for a new seminary had to come from the Convention, not the Executive Committee.2
In 1949 the Theological Education Survey Committee issued an extensive report to the SBC. The Committee maintained that the SBC needed two new seminaries “to relieve congestion, provide facilities for the increased number of men who ought to have theological training, and to serve great areas now remote from the seminaries we have.”3 These two seminaries would become Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Golden Gate Theological Seminary.
Once the Convention approved the new eastern seminary, the issue shifted to finding a suitable location. After much discussion, the Committee on Theological Education considered ten pos-
sible sites. Atlanta and Charlotte both seemed like good ideas, given their accessibility to Baptists in the southeast region. The main thrust of the discussion focused on Ridgecrest and Wake Forest, both in North Carolina and each claiming to offer unique opportunities for education. However, Wake Forest College offered numerous advantages over any other option. It was available for immediate use if not complete occupancy. Likewise, Wake Forest was a quiet, off-the-beaten path kind of place, but its proximity to Raleigh and Durham meant that prospective students would have more opportunities to find work.
Wake Forest had one advantage over all others. The College planned to relocate to Winston-Salem, NC. Once the new campus was built, there would be an unused campus available. The sale price of $1.6 million included a fully functioning college campus and nearly 480 acres of land. Wake Forest College could not relocate until 1956, so the two institutions agreed to share facilities for six years. However, considering the cost of building a seminary from the ground up, the promise of a full campus outweighed the inconvenience of sharing facilities for several years. The campus at Wake Forest seemed worth the wait.
Southeastern was missionary from its beginning. Over time, however, defining that mission became increasingly contested. Southeastern’s earliest leaders wanted to create a seminary that was different from the others, and they were largely successful. That mission was always subject to modification, but Southeastern was always different — and it still is.
1. Minutes of the Executive Committee, SBC, 1945, Executive Committee Administrative and Program Planning Files. Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee, AR 627-1, Box 69 Folder 6. 168.
2. EC Minutes, January 22, 1947, Southern Baptist Convention. Executive Committee Administrative and Program Planning Files, AR 627-1, SBHLA, 2.
3. SBC Annual, 1949.
I ABOUT THE BOOK
n spring of 2022, Senior Professor of Baptist Studies Keith Harper recruited two Southeastern students, Josh Pruitt and Faith Steele, as his research assistants for a book that was 75 years in the making.
Over the next three years, Harper, Pruitt, and Steele set about researching and writing the complete history of Southeastern Seminary from its founding in 1950 to its 75th anniversary in 2025. Along the way, Harper promoted Pruitt and Steele to the roles of coauthors as they labored together on what would become Harper’s last scholarly work.
In summer of 2024, Harper was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, around the same time that he retired from teaching at Southeastern. He and his wife, Johnnie, moved down to South Carolina to be near family over the coming months. Despite his illness, Harper did not put the book on hold. In fact, he and his fellow authors pursued the finished product with even greater zeal. On April 23, following a sudden decrease in health, Harper went home to be with his Savior. He left the final edits of the book in the capable hands of Pruitt and Steele, having continued work on the project even into the last weeks of his life.
In his absence, Harper leaves a legacy shaped by his love for history and the local church. His profound contributions to scholarship were matched if not exceed by his immense investment in the lives of countless students.
SCAN HERE OR VISIT
SEBTS.EDU/HARPER-HOMEGOING
TO VIEW DR. HARPER'S MEMORIAL PAGE AND READ MORE ABOUT HIS LIFE AND IMPACT
DR. KEITH HARPER
FAITH STEELE
JOSH PRUITT
A THE PATH OF OBEDIENCE FROM STUDENT TO TEACHER
ssociate professor of biblical counseling and director of EdD studies, Kristin Kellen has been teaching at Southeastern Seminary and Judson College for almost 10 years. While many know her as their professor, Kellen is also a three-time alumna of Southeastern, having completed a Master of Arts, a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), and a Doctor of Education (EdD) during her time here. The story of her journey to seminary is an abundant testament to the sovereign and guiding hand of God.
“I wanted to go into medicine,” Kellen told me as we sat down together in her office one Tuesday morning. “I had worked in doctors’ offices and PT offices and done hospital internships — the whole gamut,” she explained.
“During my first year, I was going back to Chapel Hill,” — where she attended college — “after going home for a weekend, and I just decided that instead of listening to music, I was going to pray.”
It was a decision that came seemingly out of the blue, but it would very
quickly change the course of her life.
“I said, ‘Lord, is it med school?’” Kellen recalled. “‘Is that what you have for me? What do you want me to do?’” It was the first time she’d asked God directly if this was what he wanted for her.
“It was almost as if someone was sitting in the car with me,” she remembered, “that clear and distinct. The Lord said, ‘It’s not medical school.’”
In a moment and a single prayer, Kellen’s life shifted.
“It was substantial enough and significant enough,” she explained, “that I knew if I went to medical school it would be disobedient.”
And so, pragmatic, 18-year-old Kellen then offered up another prayer, likely not expecting a similar response.
“Okay, Lord, if it’s not medical school, I need you to tell me what it is because I have to register for classes.”
God’s response, as clear and conclusive as the moment before, came immediately: “I want you to go to seminary.”
THE START OF A BIG JOURNEY
After that drive back to school, Kellen faced a choice: continue on the path she had set for herself or change course towards a path only God knew. Still confused and uncertain, Kellen chose to step out in prayerful obedience and follow God’s direction. Over the course of the next two weeks, her choice was confirmed as four people approached her separately and unprompted, asking, "Why aren’t you going to seminary?” Only two of them were Christians.
Over the next several years, Kellen jumped back and forth between majors, struggling to determine what exactly God wanted her to do. Neither religion nor psychology seemed like the right fit at the time, so finally she settled on international studies, thinking that it might prepare her for the mission field if that’s where God called her.
As graduation approached, Kellen began considering the next move to seminary. Through the connection of a friend and (then) current student at Southeastern, Kellen had the opportunity to visit campus and sit in on an ethics class with Mark Liederbach as he taught through a book of the minor prophets.
“I remember sitting in that class,” Kellen said, “thinking, ‘This is what my heart desires:
to glean from the richness of God’s word and in a way that doesn’t add to it.’” This realization confirmed her next steps. “I left there and decided, ‘I’m going to Southeastern.' I didn’t apply or visit anywhere else.”
It was the start of a big journey; at Southeastern, God would not only equip Kellen to pursue her own calling but also use her to equip hundreds of other students for the work of his kingdom.
“I WANT YOU TO TEACH”
On the very first day of her first counseling class, Kellen sat listening to a lecture by Sam Williams, professor of counseling at the time, and in a moment of clarity and understanding she realized just how sovereignly God had orchestrated her path to Southeastern.
Williams’ words, as she remembers them, described the work of counseling as such: “Medical doctors are the physicians of the body; counselors are the physicians of the soul.”
Even during the seasons when she felt uncertain and lacked clear direction, God knew what she needed and where he wanted her to go. Southeastern, and specifically a degree in biblical counseling, brought together her passions for the Christian faith, for healing, and for missions — all in pursuit of God’s glory.
With her direction clarified, Kellen poured herself into her studies and into the work of biblical counseling. Within two years she completed her master’s degree, which turned out to be only the start of her academic journey.
During Kellen’s graduate work, God gave her another directional nudge, this time in the middle of a Southeastern chapel. With her thoughts turned inward, she offered up a quiet, inquiring prayer for the future.
“And the same voice, with the same clarity,” Kellen recalled, “answered, ‘I want you to teach.’”
“I’m not exaggerating,” Kellen prefaced for me, “when I say I was the student that did class presentations physically shaken and red faced. It terrified me to be in front of people.”
God knew this too, and in his kindness, he gave her what she needed to lay her fears aside and pursue teaching.
A TEACHER’S METAMORPHOSIS
Williams, Kellen’s first counseling professor and a friend who would soon become a colleague, took it upon himself to prepare her for the work of teaching. With Williams’ advice, Kellen began pursuing a PhD. Frequently throughout the program, Williams ensured that Kellen taught a lecture for the graduate students in his classes.
“No joke,” Kellen told me, “every single time I taught for Dr. Williams, at least one female student would come up to me afterwards and say, ’I’m cheering for you. We need women to teach here. We hope it’s you.’”
Even then God was showing Kellen how her teaching could impact others. The words of those women encouraged her and remained with her years later after she became the second woman to join Southeastern’s faculty and an exceptional addition to the counseling department.
Upon completing her dissertation, an argument from Scripture for the use of medication in treating mental illness, Kellen earned her doctorate and started teaching on the faculty at Southeastern a year later.
Little did she know, what once had been her greatest fear would soon become her passion. As she began teaching, she realized — not only did she love it, but she wanted to become a better teacher. Her PhD had equipped her as an expert in the field of counseling, but, she decided, teaching expertly in a classroom required something more.
And so, she donned the hat of student once more and began pursuing an EdD while still teaching and also raising her growing family alongside her husband and greatest supporter, Josh.
Within the first semester of her EdD program, Kellen completely rewrote one of the classes she was teaching. She started to transition towards peer-, group-, and discussion-based learning opportunities. The result was more than rewarding.
In a class primarily composed of first-semester master students and ending with a 25–30-page case study research paper, “Every student earned an A,” Kellen said. She emphasized the word “earned.”
The EdD transformed Kellen’s teaching style, and her understanding of herself as a teacher experienced a complete metamorphosis.
“Most people tend to teach the way that they were taught, and usually that is a quasi-passive learner with an active instructor,” she explained. “I think we would do better to view ourselves as facilitators of learning, and that means forming active learners while serving as active teachers.”
After all, the ultimate end of teaching is not only passing on knowledge but also practically equipping students to handle that knowledge with wisdom and excellence.
THE REWARD
At the end of each semester, Kellen sees the grace of God in her own life and in the lives of her students as they go out, equipped, into their respective fields of ministry.
“Graduation is the best day of the year,” she told me, reflecting on the many faces of the students she has watched walk across Binkley’s stage. “Through them, I get to see the Lord work in places I could never go, with people I could never counsel, and that is an incredible privilege."
Now, the director of the EdD program since 2024, Kellen also has the unique privilege of watching many of these students return for doctoral work and become scholars, contributors, and, as she described, “the new gatekeepers of the field.”
Over the years, Kellen has grown to understand that “what the Lord calls you to, he equips you to do, and he has a place for you to do it.”
This truth is powerfully demonstrated in the story of her own life and is something that she seeks to model for her own children and for the next generation of students, counselors, teachers, and leaders.
We believe biblical counseling should address the whole person by applying biblical truth and wisdom while engaging with the best of clinical insights. That is why we train our counseling students to be biblically driven and clinically informed as missional counselors wherever God sends them.
SCAN BELOW OR VISIT SEBTS.EDU/COUNSELING TO STUDY WITH DR. KELLEN AND OUR OTHER EXPERIENCED COUNSELING FACULTY.
STUDENT TESTIMONY
Dr. Kellen has had a tremendous impact upon me in my time at Southeastern. She has helped me practically apply concepts learned in courses to my counseling practice while keeping God’s Word as the foundation. She values high quality scholarship while meeting each student where they are. Dr. Kellen is approachable, humble, and has shown me what it means to faithfully serve the Lord as a professor, counselor, and mom. She has been a gift for me and for many students on campus.
JoLynn Hennerberg
Counseling Alumna
"Ireally believe this might be it,” said Jeff Struecker, assistant professor of Christian leadership at Southeastern. “I really believe this generation around us might have such a commitment to the Great Commission that they’ve decided, ‘Whatever sacrifice it takes, whatever I’ve got to do, I’m going to do it... because it’s that important.’”
“The quality and the heart of the people that are showing up to Southeastern — I wish every Christian got a chance to see the heart of the people that I get to be with in the classroom,” he expressed.
The Great Commission has been the driving force of Struecker’s life since he was a young man. In fact, if it wasn’t for the words of mission-minded believers, Struecker’s testimony today would look drastically different. Growing up, Struecker had no access to the gospel and no one to tell him about the love of Christ. His parents divorced when he was young, and before Struecker even finished high school, he and his mom moved a total of 22 times.
When he was 13 years old, he heard the gospel for the first time from a couple who lived in his apartment complex and took it upon themselves to share Jesus with him.
They were nervous, Struecker remembered, but their words struck and resounded in his heart. So deeply, in fact, that he knelt by his bed that night and surrendered his life to Christ.
At the time, neither Struecker nor his neighbors could have known the full impact of their gospel conversation with him. Struecker and his mom moved once again only a couple weeks later. However, the change in his heart was a lasting one.
“After I came to faith in Christ, I got up every Sunday from there on out, no matter where we lived, and I walked to the closest church,” Struecker recalled. “I showed up on Sunday and just sat in the back and tried to learn what it meant to be a follower of Jesus.”
“I didn’t really get discipled until I was a young man, a sergeant in the Army,” he said. “I got plugged in to a local church in Columbus, Georgia, and the pastor really took me under his wing and started to disciple me.”
CALLED THROUGH FIRE
During his time serving as a sergeant in the Army, Struecker’s faith underwent a transformation forged by the very real threat of death, and that change resulted in a radical calling. Struecker led a squad of soldiers during the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia.
During that battle, several things happened. Most immediately, Struecker and his men came face to face with the likelihood of death. In that moment, Struecker found the hope of Christ to be not only sufficient but superior to all else.
Years ago, when his neighbors first told him about the gospel, they made
a promise to him, saying, “Jeff, when you turn your life over to Christ, he will radically deal with your eternity. You don’t ever have to worry about what happens to you after you die.”
They didn’t know that death was a fear he had struggled with for much of his young life. In fact, it was one of the reasons he had joined the Army in the first place.
“I wanted to go to war,” he said, “I wanted to get shot at — I wanted to know, am I really over this fear of dying?”
In his moment of greatest need, he discovered that his hope in the gospel and God’s promise of eternal life gave him the courage to face death head-on.
It was also in that moment that God changed the trajectory of Struecker’s life.
In the Battle of Mogadishu, one of Struecker’s friends died instantly next to him, and he realized, “‘Jeff, you’ve never talked to him about heaven and hell, and now it’s too late, and you can never get that back.’ And that was the moment that God attached to me this gospel urgency that I think should go with every Christian who understands the Great Commission.”
Somehow, in some way, he realized, God was calling him to the work of ministry.
WHERE LEADERSHIP AND THEOLOGY MEET
Today, Struecker serves both as a professor at Southeastern, teaching courses in Christian leadership, and as the founding pastor at 2 Cities Church. Over the years, God has used him in a variety of ways.
From 1997 to 2000, Struecker attended Southern Seminary, where he received his Master of Divinity. Following graduation, God called him back onto the field where he served as an active-duty Army chaplain for the next 10 years.
to do following retirement, Struecker realized the path of ministry still lay before him.
“I wanted to spend the rest of my life in the local church, but I felt like I had a lot left to learn about leadership and specifically about the theological underpinnings of leadership.”
Two things in particular drew him to Southeastern: its Great Commission call and President Danny Akin’s leadership.
Struecker's heart for the Great Commission had remained with him since God first called him to ministry. In fact, he began to grow concerned as he observed a lack of urgency for the Great Commission in local churches. He also wrestled with leadership failures that he continued to see within the church.
Struecker recognized at Southeastern a mission-centered heartbeat that mirrored his own, and he began to realize his own passion for equipping leaders within the church.
Upon his retirement from the Army in 2011, Struecker directed his attention towards pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at Southeastern. He was excited because the seminary had recently developed a Christian leadership cohort for the PhD in applied theology.
“The Army invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in teaching me leadership and giving me leadership experience,” Struecker explained. However, something was missing. As he was deciding what
“I said this to Dr. Akin and to many others — I still say this to my leadership classes,” Struecker explained. “Every pastor that I’ve known or even heard of that’s been fired from a church, if it’s not for a moral reason, then every other one of them has been fired for a leadership failure.”
This realization motivated Struecker's desire to teach and train up other leaders following his graduation from Southeastern.
He said, “I don’t ever want to see a church suffer because the pastor is struggling to lead. And it’s not that the pastor isn’t trying; he just doesn’t know how to lead because he hasn’t been given the tools. So that’s how I ended up teaching at Southeastern.”
A GREAT COMMISSION COMMITMENT
Christian leadership, Struecker maintains, is a subject that applies to everyone — not just the president of an institution or an Army chaplain or a pastor.
“As I look at the Scriptures and what Jesus is calling his people to, the Great Commission inherently calls us to be leaders,” Struecker explained.
“The command ‘teaching people to observe all things that I’ve commanded you,’ alone, makes you a leader — not to mention the ‘making disciples’ command of the Great Commission,” he added. “It’s baked into the Great Commission; it’s part of our DNA.”
Struecker has been particularly encouraged by the Great Commission drive exhibited by his students in the classroom. During a recent hybrid course, he encouraged his class, saying: “You might be the generation that accomplishes the Great Commission. I believe that because of what I hear coming out of your hearts in this room — it’s got me so excited for the future.”
As Struecker equips men and women to serve as leaders in the local church and across the world, he also prioritizes his commitment to his own church, to the military community, and to the work of making disciples.
“God has given me a privilege to be alive at this moment in time. And I don’t know how many days I have left, but I’ve made a commitment to God,” Struecker said. “I’m going to go as hard as I can until my last day, and I hope I fall over dead on a mission trip somewhere. I hope I fall over dead in the pulpit. I hope I fall over dead trying to chase after the Great Commission.”
SCAN HERE TO LISTEN TO DR. STRUECKER'S CHAPEL MESSAGE ON FAITHFULNESS AND ENDURANCE AS A LEADER
PASSING THE BATON
RUNNING AS THOSE WITH GOOD NEWS
In October of 2014, Professor of Preaching Jim Shaddix gave a sermon in Binkley Chapel entitled “Passing the Gospel Baton.” Preaching from the first two chapters of 2 Timothy, he explained how “the apostle Paul understood the baton that he and Timothy were passing from one to the other [was] the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
“Beloved, we have been handed this gospel baton," he told those listening. “Every single one of us has been beckoned into this race, handed this baton, and called upon to give our lives — to sacrifice everything about us — for the sake of preserving it in our generation and passing it on to people who come behind us.”
In his own life and ministry, Shaddix persevered faithfully towards this end. Called at a young age to pursue the preaching of God’s word, Shaddix set about this work with whole-hearted passion.
In those early years while completing his master’s degree, Shaddix swore two things: “Number one, I would never do doctoral work. Number two, I would never teach. I had absolutely no interest in either one of these things.” His heart was set on preaching the word and preaching the word alone.
And yet, God had different plans for him.
AN EMMAUS ROAD ENCOUNTER
The same year that Shaddix delivered his “gospel baton” sermon at Southeastern, a young pastor named Landon Dowden co-taught his first DMin seminar as an adjunct faculty member of the seminary.
Dowden, a three-time graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS), possessed a deep passion for the work of biblical exposition and spirit-empowered
preaching. He inherited this passion from his long-time mentor and teacher: Jim Shaddix.
In fall of 1999, Dowden walked onto the campus at NOBTS where Shaddix then served as both dean of the chapel and professor of preaching. Despite the resolutions of 15 or so years before, God had indeed directed Shaddix’s steps towards both doctoral work and fulltime teaching.
“The first time I met him was in the classroom,” Dowden recalled, “and then when he approached me to be a mentee in his Emmaus Road group, and my life and ministry were forever changed because of that opportunity.”
One of Shaddix’s close friends had given him a call, advising him to bring Dowden into the Emmaus Road mentorship after hearing the incoming student preach at a camp that summer.
Emmaus Road was a group that Shaddix had started to help young aspiring pastors learn from the preaching of others. Composed of both graduate and doctoral students, the group would meet at the Shaddix house for a homemade meal, courtesy of Debra Shaddix, fondly referred to
as Miss Debra. Afterwards they would gather around the television to watch and critique a sermon on a VHS tape.
Shaddix also invited two other young men, Tony Merida and David Platt, to join the group. Dowden, Merida, and Platt — all first-year students — soon became fast friends and would remain so through doctoral studies, pastorates, and the many years to come. However, when they first met Shaddix and joined his mentorship group, they had much to learn.
At one point during that first meeting, Dowden joked to Merida, “I don’t think we belong here,” as a PhD student used his Greek New Testament to critique the preacher’s exposition of the text.
Thinking back on those times with amusement, Dowden said, “We’ll all talk about our pre-Shaddix and post-Shaddix sermons. We had a lot of great illustrations. We had terrible exposition.”
“The first time I heard Dr. Shaddix preach,” he recalled, “it was an Emmaus Road experience for me because my heart burned as he opened the Scriptures, and I could never go back.”
THE ROLE OF A MENTOR
As a professor, both then and later during his years at Southeastern, Shaddix sought to impress on his students the authority of God’s word and the all-surpassing importance of prayer. As a scholar, he emphasized excellence and walked alongside many doctoral students as their major professor. His passion for discipleship also led him to care for and pour into the next generation of preachers outside of the classroom.
“It was never just about lectures. It was about opening his life and having us in his home to see how he interacted,” Dowden recalled. “He taught us his system for memorizing Scripture and praying Scripture and then praying for his children.”
“He modeled transparency; he modeled consistency; he modeled even what it looked like to pastor locally.”
In many ways, Shaddix modeled the life of Paul — and ultimately Jesus — as he taught and discipled the multitude of young Timothys who came through his classroom. Paramount in his heart was a desire to grow their love for the Lord and for the word of God so that they might handle it with the utmost care — for through the word of God, as Shaddix often reminded them, God’s people are fed.
“There’s one thing I never doubted about Dr. Shaddix,” Dowden said. “He loved Jesus.”
CONVERGING PATHS
It was Shaddix’s love for Christ that taught Dowden the importance of approaching God’s word rightly.
“As our heads become full with homiletical knowledge and skill and technique,” Dowden explained, “our hearts should not grow cold. Our hearts should blaze even more as we see Jesus in the text and help other people see Jesus, and that’s an influence from Dr. Shaddix in my own life that I get to carry over with Southeastern, and I’m thankful.”
When Dowden first came to Southeastern as an adjunct in 2014, he was excited for the opportunity to teach alongside his former professor. During that first week, he and Shaddix taught two separate seminars on campus. Outside of teaching, they shared meals together and stayed
in the same guest housing where they watched a national championship football game one evening.
Over the next 10 years, Dowden and Shaddix’s teaching paths continued to cross.
“There was never a time I came to town that we didn’t share a meal and share a hug and conversation,” Dowden reminisced. “The highlight was when he and I taught a PhD seminar together on the theology of preaching.”
Over time, Dowden grew more familiar with the world his mentor had walked in for many years. He began serving as a pastor of a local church in 2005 and, in 2018, transitioned into the role of lead pastor for his current congregation, Hebron Baptist Church.
For both Dowden and Shaddix, preaching to the body of Christ and teaching the next generation are never divorced from each other. The gospel must be both proclaimed and passed on, in the pulpit and the classroom.
“In the end, if you are faithfully preaching the Bible, this is how we measure success,” Dowden explained. “We don’t measure success by movement at an altar after the service. Success is measured by faithfulness to preach the text in the Spirit’s power and point to Christ.”
“The whole Bible points to Jesus in one way or another. He is the hope and the help that we desperately need, and so faithful Christ-centered exposition is, in the power of the Spirit, making much of Jesus wherever we are in the Scriptures.”
Through expository preaching, the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed and the church of Christ is made to look more like her Savior. Through the work of teaching and discipleship, the gospel baton is given from one believer to the next.
THE PASSING OF THE BATON
In January of 2025, Jim Shaddix finished his race and went home to be with his Lord and Savior in glory.
In the months leading up to his death, Shaddix battled a severe form of brain cancer that weakened his body but in no way weakened his witness for Christ or his passion for discipleship and the word.
“In my last conversation with Dr. Shaddix, I told him I wanted him to know how much I loved him,” Dowden said. “I wanted him to know how grateful I was for him, and I wanted him to know that, by God's grace, I wanted to steward well what he had entrusted to me with exposition and with mentoring and with pouring into others as well as I could.”
“Teaching allows an opportunity to pass on what’s been entrusted. It meets a desire the Lord has placed in my heart,” Dowden said, “and it also gives me a chance to hopefully help these students take some good steps and avoid some missteps.”
At Southeastern, Dowden has recently transitioned from the position of adjunct faculty into the role of associate professor of preaching and pastoral ministry. He plans on continuing pastoring in the local church and is excited to also invest more deeply in equipping future pastors and ministry leaders.
As he, in many ways, follows in the footsteps of his own mentor, there are
SCAN HERE TO LISTEN TO DR. SHADDIX'S CHAPEL MESSAGE ON PASSING THE GOSPEL BATON
many students still to come who have yet to experience their own Emmaus Road journey or their first expository sermon.
“I don’t want the baton to drop,” Dowden said, recalling a conversation he had with Platt at Shaddix’s funeral. “I want to keep running with it now that it’s in our hands, until we hand it to other brothers and sisters coming behind us.”
When Shaddix gave his 2 Timothy sermon in 2014, he wanted his listeners to know the importance of the gospel and the task set before them and to bring it before God on their knees.
He urged them: “Would you ask God to give you that other worldly power today, to provide a stable target, to run your leg with endurance, and to pass this gospel baton in a steady way to those who come behind you?”
In God's great kindness and mercy, he granted this request in Shaddix's own life. Now, the baton continues forward, carried in the hands of countless students, pastors, leaders, and teachers, so that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9-11 ESV).
SCAN HERE OR VISIT SEBTS.EDU/JIM-SHADDIX-LIFEREMEMBERED TO VIEW DR. SHADDIX'S MEMORIAL PAGE AND READ MORE ABOUT HIS LIFE AND IMPACT
THE HISTORY
OF MISSIONS AT SOUTHEASTERN
SOUTHEASTERN HAS DISTINGUISHED ITSELF AS A GREAT COMMISSION SEMINARY, STEADFAST IN CHAMPIONING THE FINAL MARCHING ORDERS OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. SINCE ITS CHARTER IN 1950, SOUTHEASTERN HAS BEEN COMMITTED TO SERVING THE CHURCH BY EQUIPPING STUDENTS FOR MINISTRY BOTH IN THE U.S. AND AROUND THE GLOBE.
MISSIONAL
BEGINNINGS
WE WILL EMPHASIZE MISSIONS ON OUR CAMPUS JUST AS MUCH AS WE EMPHASIZE EDUCATION AND EVANGELISM. THESE THREE MUST EVER CONSTITUTE THE TRIPOD OF SOUTHERN BAPTIST STRENGTH.
DR. SYDNOR L. STEALEY
SOUTHEASTERN’S FIRST PRESIDENT, 1951-1963
LOUIS MCCALL, MEMBER OF FIRST GRADUATING CLASS, BECOMES
SOUTHEASTERN’S FIRST COMMISSIONED [FOREIGN] INTERNATIONAL MISSION BOARD MISSIONARY, SERVING IN THAILAND.
MISSIONAL CURRICULUM 1955 1974
DR. GEORGE BRASWELL BEGINS TEACHING AT SOUTHEASTERN WITH A DESIRE FOR ROBUST GREAT COMMISSION CURRICULUM.
JOHN JEFFCOAT, MEMBER OF SECOND GRADUATING CLASS, BECOMES
SOUTHEASTERN’S FIRST COMMISSIONED [HOME] NORTH AMERICAN MISSION BOARD MISSIONARY, SERVING IN ALASKA.
IF WE’RE GOING TO BRING THE LOCAL CHURCHES IN ON WHAT’S HAPPENING ALL AROUND THEM, NOT ONLY ABROAD, BUT IN THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES, WE’VE GOT TO EMPHASIZE MISSIONS.
DR. GEORGE BRASWELL EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF MISSIONS AND WORLD RELIGION
CURRICULUM CHANGES UNDER DR. BRASWELL'S INFLUENCE
MISSIONAL CENTER
1991
THE CENTER FOR GREAT COMMISSION STUDIES IS ESTABLISHED TO BE THE HEADQUARTERS FOR THE GREAT COMMISSION EFFORTS AT THE SEMINARY. ONE YEAR LATER, THE CENTER IS RENAMED IN HONOR OF LEWIS DRUMMOND, SOUTHEASTERN’S FOURTH PRESIDENT.
THE MASTER OF DIVINITY WITH INTERNATIONAL CHURCH PLANTING IS CREATED, ALLOWING STUDENTS TO DO TWO YEARS OF ON-CAMPUS PREPARATION AND THEN TWO YEARS OF INTERNATIONAL CHURCH PLANTING OVERSEAS.
CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON THE JACUMIN-SIMPSON MISSIONS CENTER.
MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP
2004
DR. DANIEL L. AKIN BECOMES THE SIXTH PRESIDENT OF SOUTHEASTERN. HIS HEART FOR MISSIONS IS REFLECTED IN HIS CHALLENGE TO STUDENTS: “ASK NOT WHY SHOULD I GO? BUT RATHER, WHY SHOULD I STAY?”
2006 1994 2000
DR. AKIN ANNOUNCES A NEW MISSION STATEMENT FOR THE SEMINARY.
SOUTHEASTERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY SEEKS TO GLORIFY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST BY EQUIPPING STUDENTS TO SERVE THE CHURCH AND FULFILL THE GREAT COMMISSION.
THE GO CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES TO UNIFY THE SCHOOL IN A COMMON CRY: “GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS.”
A MISSIONAL COLLEGE A MISSIONAL STUDENT BODY
THE COLLEGE AT SOUTHEASTERN IS RENAMED JUDSON COLLEGE TO HONOR ADONIRAM JUDSON AND EMPHASIZE A HEART FOR MISSIONS.
THE ELLIOTT HOUSE IS ADDED TO JUDSON’S HOUSE SYSTEM, NAMED AFTER LARRY AND JEAN ELLIOTT, SOUTHEASTERN GRADUATES WHO SERVED AS MISSIONARIES TO HONDURAS AND IRAQ FROM 1978 UNTIL THEIR DEATHS IN 2004.
OVER 100 SOUTHEASTERN STUDENTS AND ALUMNI NOW SERVE WITH THE IMB ACROSS ALL AFFINITIES.
SCAN HERE OR VISIT THECGCS.ORG/PRAYER-CARDS TO PRAY FOR OUR STUDENTS ON THE MISSION FIELD
12 PRAYERS FOR THE FUTURE OF SOUTHEASTERN FROM DR. AKIN
Prayer exposes the heart — the hearts of leaders and of their institutions — all the more vividly at significant moments of reflection and anticipation. On Southeastern Seminary’s 75th anniversary, as we look back and look ahead, it is fitting to recall President Danny Akin’s prayers for his beloved school, which he shared in chapel last year.
“God put it in my heart that I would bring a short challenge to Southeastern as we
look ahead to the next decade and into this century,” Akin told the Southeastern family after taking the stage in Binkley.
What followed were 12 heartfelt prayers that not only expressed Akin's heart for Jesus and for Southeastern but also reaffirmed the spirit and mission we’ve come to love and celebrate about our seminary: a humble, joyful submission to God’s word and a passion for the Great Commission of King Jesus.
1.
LORD, HELP US KEEP THE GREAT COMMISSION OUR PASSION AND PRIORITY UNTIL YOU COME AGAIN.
If you only know one thing about President Akin, then you know his heartbeat is the Great Commission. Every time he addresses the Southeastern family, he holds before them the “last words” — the “final marching orders” — of King Jesus as a charge to go make disciples among all the nations.
Since its charter, and in increasing measure during Akin’s presidency, Southeastern has cemented its identity as a Great Commission seminary. For Akin, this is precisely what makes Southeastern such a sweet community.
“I've learned in my 20 years here at Southeastern alongside of you,” Akin reflected, “that a Great Commission people is a happy people. A Great Commission people is a joyful people. Why? Because their heart is knit together with the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Chad Burchett
“Jesus could have said many things when he went back to heaven, but . . . what did he say? ‘Go and make disciples of all the nations.’ If that was on the heart of Jesus, I believe with all my heart, that should be on our heart as well.”
For Akin, the Great Commission is top priority, which is why he invited the Southeastern family to join him in praying for its Great Commission passion to endure.
“This is not something we can take for granted. This particular generation of students may have a great passion for the Great Commission, but that is not sufficient for the next generation,” noted Akin. “So, I invite you to join with me in praying fervently that Southeastern Seminary will be faithful and passionate to the Great Commission until Jesus comes again.”
2. LORD, HELP US MAINTAIN OUR DOCTRINAL FIDELITY AND CONVICTIONS AS EMBODIED IN OUR CONFESSIONS OF FAITH.
“Lord, keep us orthodox, evangelical, and Baptist,” Akin added.
In God's kindness, Southeastern’s robust confessional identity safeguards against doctrinal drift and roots its students in the faith. More than ever, amid the shifting winds of culture, Christians need deep doctrinal roots to stand with conviction.
“Those who have truly decided to follow Jesus Christ in radical discipleship — denying themselves, taking up their cross daily, and following him — they've never been in the majority,” Akin noted. “And that number today is not growing. It is shrinking. But at the same time, that's a glorious thing, because your devotion to Christ will stand out all the more. Your transformed life is one aspect of how God opens the door for the effective sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
3. LORD, HELP US HOLD TO OUR COMMITMENT TO THE BIBLE AS THE INSPIRED, INFALLIBLE, AND ALL-SUFFICIENT
WORD OF GOD.
Akin reminded the Southeastern family that it is no longer sufficient simply to say, “I believe the Bible.” We now must qualify and make crystal clear the extent of our belief and commitment to the Bible because many have embraced a diminished view of its inspiration, reliability, and sufficiency.
That is why Akin urged us to pray for Southeastern to remain firmly committed to every affirmation Scripture makes of itself, including Jesus’s unabashed statements about God’s word.
“If you ever decide that you no longer believe the Bible to be the completely true and trustworthy word of God, just keep in mind two things: Number one, you're saying that when it comes to the Bible, Jesus was wrong. And you're also saying, number two, that when it comes to the Bible and what it actually is, I'm smarter than Jesus.
“I would submit to you that is the road of a fool,” warned Akin. “Stay away from it. Hang on to this word. It got you started, and I guarantee you it will get you home as well.”
4. LORD, HELP US REMAIN DEVOTED TO FAITHFUL, CHRIST-CENTERED EXPOSITORY PREACHING.
"Apart from the word of God, you have no word worth listening to,” Akin emphasized. “God has not promised to bless your rhetoric, but God has always promised to bless his word.”
Expository preaching has long been the hallmark not only of Akin’s ministry but also of Southeastern’s preaching program. We must continue to pray, as Akin noted, that God keeps us “latched to the Book” as we preach “book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, phrase by phrase, word by word.”
6. LORD, HELP US KEEP MISSIONS AND THEOLOGY IN HEALTHY BALANCE.
5. LORD, HELP US TRAIN UP GENERATION AFTER GENERATION OF SERVANT LEADERS WHO WALK IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS.
Akin prayed that current and future leaders of Southeastern — and of the churches it serves — would build the Church and make disciples with humility just like Jesus.
“We've always lived in an age where those whom God calls to leadership are susceptible to becoming autocrats, dictators, and frustrated drill sergeants,” observed Akin. “They lord it over those that God has placed under their watch care, forgetting that Jesus said in Mark 10 that if you want to be great, if you want to be first, then you be a servant and you be a slave of all. That’s how he led. That is how we are to lead too.”
“I do not believe that you can be a great theologian if you do not have the heart of a missionary,” Akin reminded students with his familiar caution. “But I also do not believe you can be a good missionary without the mind of a theologian.”
Calling the Southeastern family to pray, Akin pointed out that Southeastern’s future theological health and missional effectiveness depend on how we integrate these pursuits.
“The key to having healthy theology is having a heart set on fire for reaching lost people," Akin pointed out. “But the key to keeping that alive is to make sure you know what you believe and why you believe and that you are loving God, not just with your heart but also with your mind.”
7. LORD, HELP US LOVE WELL.
“Help us, first and foremost, to love you. Help us, Lord, love truth, which we find in your word. Lord, help us to love your Church,” Akin prayed.
Addressing common trends among young Christians, Akin noted that many are highly motivated to make a difference in the world, yet many do not truly love the Church. This is cause for prayer because, as Akin pointed out, love for the Church should be “part and parcel” of every Christian’s DNA. “Christ died for his Church,” so we should pray Christ grows our love for his Bride, whom he will one day present as blameless before the Father.
8. LORD, HELP US EQUIP GOD-CALLED AND SCRIPTURALLY QUALIFIED MEN TO LEAD CHURCHES — MEN WHO HAVE THE HEART OF A PASTOR, AN EVANGELIST, A MISSIONARY, AND A THEOLOGIAN.
“My prayer for the men in this room whom God has called and will scripturally qualify to lead our churches: be pastors; be missionaries; be evangelists; be theologians. Give them the total package,” urged Akin.
“You may think, ‘I'm not like all of that.’ Yes, but God can make you like all of that, if you will trust him.”
9. LORD, HELP US BE A SCHOOL OF PRAYER CORPORATELY AND INDIVIDUALLY.
Akin knew that a 12-point message on prayer would not make Southeastern a school of prayer. What would solidify a corporate culture of prayer is the resolve of individual Christians to pray consistently and earnestly before God.
“Ask God, ‘Lord — it'll never happen by accident — help me to become a prayer warrior that recognizes I only move forward on my knees before your throne,’” Akin encouraged, recounting his own journey toward faithfulness in prayer.
10. LORD, HELP US DELIGHT IN YOUR BLOODY ATONEMENT AND YOUR PENAL SUBSTITUTIONARY WORK ON THE CROSS.
“Young men and young women, don't you ever, ever, ever shy away from glorying in the penal substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ,” Akin charged students. “Don't you ever shy away from and apologize about his blood.”
To have a future marked by faithful gospel witness, Southeastern and its students can never be embarrassed by the blood of Jesus Christ. For Akin, this bedrock truth is the indispensable truth and joy of the gospel we proclaim.
11. LORD, HELP US SEND OUT GRADUATES WHO WILL BUILD AND BE MEMBERS OF CHURCHES ON EARTH THAT LOOK LIKE THE CHURCH IN HEAVEN.
When there are still thousands of unreached people groups, as Akin noted, and the throne room vision of Revelation 7 is so beautiful and clear, how can we ignore the spiritual needs of a world without Christ? Holding this reality before the Southeastern family, Akin posed a familiar question:
“I put the question before you: Don't pray, ‘Lord, should I go?’ Instead, pray, ‘Lord, why should I stay?’”
As a rallying call to make disciples, Akin’s question is also a prayer that the Lord would send workers — perhaps even us — to the rural towns, urban centers, and hard-to-reach places of the world.
12. LORD, HELP US NEVER LOSE OUR FIRST LOVE, WHICH IS ALWAYS TO BE YOU.
Near to Akin’s heart is a desire to please Jesus above all. That is his prayer for himself and for the future of Southeastern. What does that look like? Loving Jesus by embracing his mission, which will, in turn, grow our love for him.
“Do you want to love Jesus more and more and more?” Akin asked. “You just love his mission, and you'll find your heart filled with joy unspeakable at what a wonderful Savior is Jesus Christ, our Lord.”
CLOSING PRAYER
Father, I pray that we indeed will be a faithful seminary until you come again. Lord, these are very simple propositions, but, Lord, I believe they are true to your word. I believe, Lord, that they are what you want us to be until you return. And so, Lord, I pray for these students. I thank you for each and every one of them that you've brought here. I pray, Lord, that you will use them greatly for your glory among the nations. And I pray, Lord, they will be faithful to the end. AMEN
PRESIDENT DANNY AKIN
SCAN HERE TO WATCH PRESIDENT AKIN’S CHAPEL MESSAGE, ENTITLED “TWELVE SIMPLE REQUESTS TO GOD FOR SOUTHEASTERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY UNTIL OUR LORD RETURNS."
The Heart of God in Evangelism
Sophie Rhoads
ver fall break, I had the opportunity to participate in one of Southeastern Seminary’s short-term mission trips. We traveled to a borough called Camden in the heart of North London to get a taste of cross-cultural evangelism and church-planting.
When you think of London, you likely picture red phone booths, Big Ben, and people saying, “Cheers.”
While I did get to say my fair share of “cheers” on my trip, what I didn’t realize is how spiritually dark London has become. As we aided an International Mission Board (IMB) team, I experienced just how different the culture of London is from my home in the southeastern portion of the United States. Back home, evangelism often involves helping nominal Christians understand the true call of the gospel; in London, we engaged a post-modern culture that wanted nothing to do with organized religion or the person of Jesus.
Looking for God in All the Wrong Places
On one of the days of outreach, a fellow team member and I spoke with a local about the Bible and the person and work of Jesus Christ. It was apparent to me early in the hour-long conversation that he was familiar with the Scriptures and prepared to argue about why the Bible doesn’t line up with his understanding of morality.
My classes had prepared me to engage in a gospel conversation with someone who does not believe in absolute truth or morality, but standing in front of such an individual was an entirely different experience. For this man, the beauty of the gospel, Christ’s love for us, and the salvific power of the atonement were all overshadowed by the issues of God’s judgment and wrath, his testing of Abraham in the Old Testament, and the exclusivity of the gospel. In a culture that worships tolerance and fluidity, the exclusivity
of the gospel did not fit within his definition of love and grace.
I did not have a perfect answer for all his questions and arguments, but I realized in this conversation — and across the week as a whole — that the Londoners I met were not looking for forgiveness for their sins but for spiritual peace, the ability to overcome addiction, and greater purpose. Is sin an essential element of the gospel message? Absolutely, and we must address it. On this mission trip, I recognized how people were searching for the things of God in all the wrong places. They were turning to new age mysticism for peace instead of the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). They were turning to drugs or alcohol for satisfaction instead of the true God who gives perfect satisfaction (Psalm 90:14). They were trying to fight addiction by their own strength instead of through the Lord who grants wisdom to all who ask for it (James 1:5).
Southeastern Student Master of Arts in Cross-Cultural Counseling
“Our love for the lost must be what drives our evangelism.”
Yet the good news of the gospel message is relevant to all people at all times. It is a diamond, and through its many facets we can see all the different ways it affects our lives. These different facets resonate with different people, and in Camden I saw how the gospel offers spiritual peace and reflects Christ’s selfless love. The people there deeply yearned for these realities; they were just looking for them in all the wrong places.
Loving the Lost
God’s heart behind his mission is love for people: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16 ESV). Our heart for missions must reflect God’s. Our love for the lost must drive our evangelism, spurring us to know people deeply, walk alongside them, recognize the spiritual needs they hopelessly fill with false things, and show them how Jesus is “the good
portion” (Luke 10:42). It’s a slow and intentional work, but it reflects God’s love and patience with us.
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
My time in London showed me the evangelistic value of building relationships and identifying people’s spiritual yearnings. Behind the intellectual debate my friend on the street wanted to have was a soul angry at God, searching for love and purpose and struggling with hard questions. When we see through the mist and press into the questions someone is really trying to ask, we can apply gospel truth to his or her life and communicate how the work of Christ is sufficient.
The harvest is plentiful in places like Camden, as I learned during this Southeastern short-term mission trip. People are searching for God in all the wrong places, and we have the beautiful task of carrying the good news to them. When we lovingly share what the gospel is and how it satisfies our hearts’ longings, we get to partake in evangelism that is not merely a rigid, rehearsed spiel, but a conversation in which we listen and respond with biblical truth in love.
PRAYER POINTS
1
2
Pray for the people of Camden, that God would soften their hearts and open their eyes to the gospel.
Pray for the IMB church planters in Camden to have strength, endurance, holiness, and encouragement in the work to which God has called them.
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Pray for Southeastern students going on upcoming short-term mission trips, that God would use and shape them.
Pray that students who go on short-term trips would come back with a heart for the Great Commission.
VISIT THECGCS.ORG/TRIPS OR SCAN HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT OUR UPCOMING MISSION TRIPS AND HOW YOU CAN PRAY FOR THEM
WHO WE ARE
Established in 1995, the Southeastern Society is made up of generous men and women from all walks of life who share a desire to assist Southeastern as we seek to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by equipping students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission. To date, the Southeastern Society has given over $66 million to support Great Commission theological education.
Because we have been so blessed, we need to bless others. One person has a very limited amount of time and resources to share the gospel, but Southeastern Seminary is able to multiply our resources and efforts by training a missionary force, equipping and sending people to places we cannot go. That’s exciting to us, and that’s why we support Southeastern.
– JIM & RUTH ANN DYER –Southeastern
Society Members since 2016
WHY WE GIVE
Due to the faithful giving of Southeastern Society members, Southeastern is able to keep tuition affordable. As a result, graduates have more financial freedom as they heed God’s call to serve him wherever he leads.
HOW TO JOIN
Join by giving $1,000 or more annually to fund the training of gospel-ready ambassadors for Christ.
For more info or to become a member, contact Drew Davis at ddavis@sebts.edu or visit sebts.edu/ses.
with Allan Moseley
Dr. Allan Moseley has taught at Southeastern Seminary for the past 29 years. As senior professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, he is passionate about cultivating in his students a love for God as they grow in their understanding of his word. In the following Q&A, Moseley takes some time to share about his life, how God called him to the work of ministry, why he decided to teach, and what he's learned over the years.
How did God save you?
My parents were Christians, and they took my sister and me to church; that’s how I heard the gospel. We had a pastor who preached about putting our faith in Christ, not only as Savior but also as Lord. So, I understood that if I received Christ as my Savior, he would be my Lord, and therefore I would be giving control of my life to him. And I did not want to do that. So, I resisted, until finally the conviction of the Holy Spirit brought me to the point of yielding my life to Christ as a teenager. I was 13 years old, and everything about my life changed at that point.
How did God call you to ministry?
It happened the summer before my senior year in high school; I could take you to the spot where I sensed the Lord speak to me and tell me that my future was serving him vocationally. And of course, I thought, “That was a powerful spiritual experience. But maybe it was just emotional. Maybe it was just my idea, not God.” So I said, “I’m not going to tell anybody about that. I’m just going to pray about it a long time.” And I did, for seven months. I prayed and continued to seek the Lord and ask, “Is this your will?” And finally I decided, “I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that’s what God’s called me to do.” I didn’t know vocationally what that would be, but I knew I was going to pursue ministry, so I stepped out in that direction.
How did you meet your wife, Sharon?
She doesn’t remember the first time we met. But then, to be honest, we weren’t really meeting each other; others were present. Later, though, we were in choir in college together, and I sang behind
her. Then we started talking with one another and then getting together to study, and we became friends. We prayed together, studied together, talked, and then our hanging out changed into dating at some point. We got married in December of 1979, 45 years ago.
What originally led you to pursue Old Testament and Hebrew as your studies?
In college I had an Old Testament intro course with a professor who was profoundly liberal and denied the truth of the Old Testament miracles and some of its history, and that was a major challenge to my faith. I was only 18 years old, and it really blew me out of the water. I’ve often wondered if maybe that was part of my decision to pursue Old Testament, and Hebrew too, so that I could be a professor of Old Testament and Hebrew and also believe the Bible, being an inerrantist. That way I could give students the kind of experience that I did not have when I first studied the Old Testament.
Which Old Testament book is the most challenging to teach, and which have you found the most encouraging?
I think, for me, Isaiah is the most challenging because it’s so large. In terms of breadth, its 66 chapters address Isaiah’s lifetime all the way to the consummation of the age — the prophecies go that far. As for depth, to consider all the messianic prophecies and what they mean — there’s a lot to talk about.
The most encouraging book is probably Proverbs. I love the practicality of Proverbs, and I wrote a book on it. The more I’ve studied Proverbs, the more I see connections to the rest of the Old Testament. For example, Yahweh is mentioned numerous times, and we’re told to trust in him. The fear of
the Lord is also prominent. These are important ideas in Old Testament theology, so it is not only very related to everyday life but also related to faith in the Lord.
How do you want your students to grow in their understanding and love of God as they spend more time in the Old Testament texts?
I think a lot of students, and a lot of Christians, have sort of a truncated view of God. I’d like them to see that, yes, God is gracious and merciful, but he is also holy and hates sin. And, yes, we are to love him and feel close to him, but also we are to fear him, worship him, and stand in awe of him. I hope that they would see that there’s more to God than we can put in a box and that they would begin to see his mystery and inscrutability — that God is bigger than they might have thought. When we walk through the Old Testament, book by book, I’d like for them to encounter ideas about God and about the structure of the universe that cause their thinking about God to expand and deepen.
What projects are you currently working on?
I’ve got two projects that I’m working on writing. One is an Old Testament theology book that I would like to call “God’s Call to Life with Him.” That’s a major project, and I’ve got a lot of pages written, but it’s a long way from being publishable. The second is more attainable. It’s a book on suffering as it is reflected in the Old Testament. The topic of suffering has always interested me, and collecting books on suffering has been a hobby of mine through the decades. It’s something I personally have struggled with, preached on, and thought about, and I would like to help others by writing on that.
What do you and your family like to do in your free time?
I like to fish, and I like to read. I’m a bass fisherman, but I’m not a purist. I just like to catch fish. I bought a boat last year, so I try to go more. I would also say one of my hobbies is getting together with my family. We like to get together, and we talk and eat. My wife and I love to play with the grandkids (nine of them), and we just play anything — throwing a ball, board games, you name it. We like doing anything with them. We try to take our grandkids somewhere special on their birthdays too, just to go out to eat, go to a movie, or something like that.
How has your experience as a pastor impacted the way that you teach and vice versa? How do you see these roles relate to each other?
1. A keepsake in memory of his father-in-law
First, I think my teaching and my academic work have made me a more careful preacher, impressing on me that what I say in the pulpit has to be right; it has to be well informed, and my exegesis has to be responsible and faithful. Over the years, people ask, “Do you still get nervous preaching?” It’s different now. 2 1 5 6 3 4
2. A sculpture of Ruth and Boaz from Jerusalem
3. Moseley and his wife, Sharon, on their wedding day
4. A basalt stone from the shore of the Sea of Galilee
6. Big Al, of the University of Alabama Q Q A A
5. Moseley in an archeological excavation in Israel
I’m not nervous about people anymore. What I’m scared of is God, because I fear saying something about his word that is not true. My reverence for God and of the task of preaching his word — the weight of that task — have grown over the years. I didn’t feel that so much as a young man, but now as an older man, I see more clearly that I don’t even deserve to be saved. I don’t deserve to be called to the ministry. I don’t deserve to stand up and preach his word. This is all of God’s grace, and I had better get it right.
My pastoral work has made me more people-oriented in my teaching. And by that I mean we’re learning the Bible and theology and Church history to help people. It’s all about either getting lost people to Christ or about discipling believers and helping them grow. None of the information that we learn and teach is as important as loving people.
Q
How does the Old Testament broaden our understanding of the Great Commission?
A
When I teach Old Testament theology, I say that the big theme of the Old Testament is God’s call to life with him. Throughout the Old Testament, God is calling people to himself. He calls Israel to himself, but he wants to use Israel as a light to the nations to call all nations to himself. Even, for example, books like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, which we would say are less mission oriented, are about the shape of life with God. In other words, once we are in God’s presence, living for and in relationship with him in faith, what does that look like in the everyday? It means that we’ll live in wisdom, and I think that’s where wisdom literature fits into the overall theme of God’s call to life with him. That is where the Great Commission begins.
Dr. Moseley’s Latest Book
In texts of Scripture often overlooked and unattended, God is still faithful to reveal himself and the glory of his salvation. In their recently published commentary, “Exalting Jesus in Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah,” authors Allan Moseley and Jonathan Akin exposit and explain the beauty of the gospel as revealed through these four books of the Bible. Contributing to the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series, this volume highlights the centrality of Christ in Scripture and seeks to give readers the tools they need to better understand and apply these profound biblical texts.
“These books illustrate the certainty of God’s sovereign control of history as he guides all things to fulfill his prophetic word,” said Moseley in an interview about this recent publication. “That history leads ultimately, in God’s perfect timing, to the coming of Jesus the Messiah. And during this Church age, God continues to guide history to its consummation and Jesus’s universal exaltation.”
To read Dr. Moseley’s full interview about “Exalting Jesus in Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah,” scan the QR code below.
SOUTHEASTERN FUND THE
The Southeastern Fund is a vital financial resource designed to assist students by offsetting their tuition costs. By providing essential funding, the Southeastern Fund makes theological education more accessible and affordable for all students at the seminary. This support helps alleviate the financial burden on students, enabling them to focus more on their studies and spiritual growth without the constant stress of financial constraints. The fund plays a crucial role in fostering an environment where students can thrive academically and spiritually, preparing them to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission.
As the pastor of a local Southern Baptist church, Southeastern prepared me to be on mission through their commitment to making every classroom a “ Great Commission" classroom. It’s an honor to give back to the institution that the Lord used to shape my ministry.
DAVID SONS SENIOR PASTOR AT FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH NORTH AUGUSTA
$1,314,000 ANNUAL GIVING 876 AVERAGE NUMBER OF GIVERS
$1,500 AVERAGE GIFT AMOUNT 3-YEAR AVERAGE Cash or Check Stock
$525 TUITION OFFSET PER FTE (FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT) STUDENT SCAN HERE OR GO TO
Donor Advised Funds WAYS TO GIVE TO THE SOUTHEASTERN FUND IRA Real Property Matching Gifts Planned Giving
Newly Released Faculty Works
The Southeastern Theological Review is full of top-notch evangelical scholarship on Scripture and theology, as well as book reviews of significant current titles.
Read or download your copy at sebts.edu/str
Navigating Destructive Relationships: 9 Steps Toward Healing
Brad Hambrick
July 2024
Overcoming Addiction: 9 Steps Toward Freedom
Brad Hambrick
July 2024
Perspectives on the Historical Adam & Eve: Four Views
Kenneth D. Keathley, Kenton L. Sparks, William Lane Craig, Andrew Loke, and Marcus R. Ross.
August 2024
The Way of Christ in Culture: A Vision for All of Life
Benjamin T. Quinn and Dennis T. Greeson
August 2024
Faith and Science: A Primer for a Hypernatural World
Kenneth D. Keathley
September 2024
The Work of Christ
John S. Hammett & Charles L. Quarles
September 2024
Reading the Bible Latinamente: Latino/a Interpretation for the Life of the Church
Miguel G. Echevarria, Ruth Padilla DeBorst, and M.
Daniel Carroll R.
October 2024
40 Questions About Suffering and Evil
Greg Welty
November 2024
New Testament Textual Criticism for the 21st Century: A Practical Guide
Charles L. Quarles
March 2025
Serving Jesus without Burning Out: Faithful Ministry for the Long Haul
D. Scott Hildreth and Steven A. McKinion
May 2025
God is Great, God is Good
D. Scott Hildreth
October 2024
Swing Low: A History of Black Christianity in the United States (Volumes 1 & 2)
Walter R. Strickland II
October 2024
Jesus Daily Bible CSB
Dwayne Milioni and CSB Bibles by Holman
January 2025
Greek Word Studies for Everyone: An Easy Guide to Serious Study of the Bible
Benjamin L. Merkle and Robert L. Plummer
March 2025
A Short Guide to Evangelism and Missions
D. Scott Hildreth
May 2025
What is Reality? An Introduction to Metaphysics
Ross D. Inman
October 2024
Confessing Christ: An Invitation to Baptist Dogmatics
Steven A. McKinion, Christine E. Thornton, and Keith S. Whitfield
November 2024
Christ-Centered Exposition: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah
Allan Moseley and Jonathan Akin
February 2025
Disrupted Journey: Walking with Your Loved One Through Chronic Pain and Illness
Nate Brooks
March 2025
Christ-Centered Exposition: Deuteronomy
Landon Dowden, David Platt, Danny Akin, and Tony Merida
June 2025
Newly Released Alumni Works
Guided Prayer Journal for Teen Girls
Missie Branch
May 2024
Gospel Conversations Reimagined: A Missional Framework for Today
Cas Monaco
July 2024
Letters of Paul in 30 Days: CSB Edition
Trevin Wax
August 2024
An Introduction to Philosophy: A Christian Guide to the Things that Really Matter
Peter Rasor II, Richard A. Holland Jr., Steven B. Sherman, Gary S. Osmundsen
March 2025
Habakkuk: The Christian Standard Commentary
Susan Maxwell Booth
June 2024
Revelation
Alexander E. Stewart
July 2024
Before You Go: Wisdom from Ten Men on Serving Internationally
Matthew Bennett and Joshua Bowman
June 2024
Beholding the Triune God: The Inseparable Work of Father, Son, and Spirit
Matthew Y. Emerson and Brandon D. Smith
August 2024
Spurgeon: A Life
Alex DiPrima
August 2024
Mystery of the Ordinary: 8 Statements Your Kids Need to Hear...and Why!
Linc Taylor
March 2025
The Baptist Vision: Faith and Practice for a Believers’ Church
Matthew Y. Emerson, R. Lucas Stamps, and Heath A. Thomas
April 2025
Featured Alumni Work
THE GOSPEL WAY CATECHISM: 50 TRUTHS THAT TAKE ON THE WORLD
TREVIN WAX AND THOMAS WEST
In an era saturated with competing cultural narratives about identity, purpose, and truth, “The Gospel Way Catechism” invites the Church to recover the ancient practice of catechesis — not merely as a method of instruction, but as a means of deep discipleship. Co-authored by Southeastern Seminary graduates Trevin Wax and Thomas West, this resource presents 50 essential Christian beliefs in a clear, question-and-answer format, tracing the grand narrative of Scripture from creation to new creation. By juxtaposing biblical answers with contemporary lies and offering gospel counter-narratives, the catechism equips disciples to discern and resist the subtle catechesis of the world. Designed for use in various contexts — individual study, family devotions, small groups, or church-wide discipleship — “The Gospel Way Catechism” serves as a timely tool to cultivate resilient faith and gospel fluency in a culture desperate for meaning. It stands as a call to embrace the gospel story as the ultimate lens through which we understand life, forming disciples who are both rooted in truth and radiant with hope.
TREVIN WAX
VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH AND RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AT THE NORTH AMERICAN MISSION BOARD
THOMAS WEST
PASTOR OF NASHVILLE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
SEPTEMBER 8 th 2025
Headlines
The Jim Shaddix Chair of Expository Preaching
• In December 2024, Southeastern Seminary established the Jim Shaddix Chair of Expository Preaching to honor Jim Shaddix’s decades of faithful service. The Shaddix Chair will continue his legacy for future generations.
• Scott Pace was named the first professor to hold the Shaddix Chair. A longtime colleague of Shaddix, Pace has taught at Southeastern since 2018 and serves as provost and dean of graduate studies.
Southeastern Mourns the Loss of Shaddix and Harper
Jim Shaddix passed away on Feb. 1, 2025, after a battle with brain cancer. Over the course of more than 40 years of ministry, including 12 years of teaching at Southeastern, Dr. Shaddix left an indelible impact on the lives of countless individuals.
Keith Harper passed away on April 23, 2025, after a battle with lung cancer. Harper taught at Southeastern for 28 years until his retirement in 2024, and he was a scholar in the fields of Baptist, Southern, social, and religious history. He was a prodigious encourager and cared deeply for those God placed in his life.
Global Missions Week 2025 Calls Students to Consider the Nations
• Global Missions Week in February 2025 offered students a variety of missions-focused events, including a multiday missions fair, early morning prayer walks, and panels on practical challenges of life on the mission field. Missionaries shared their experiences and reallife wisdom with those considering overseas ministry.
• Chuck Lawless preached from Psalm 19 in Tuesday’s chapel, highlighting the urgent need to bring the gospel to the over 4 billion people with little or no access to it. Tony Merida preached from 1 Corinthians 15 in Thursday’s chapel, reminding attendees that Christ’s resurrection is the foundation of their faith and mission. His message reinforced the truth that gospel labor is never in vain.
Southeastern Hosts Regional Meeting for Evangelical Theological Society
• More than 175 scholars attended the southeast regional meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Evangelical Philosophical Society, hosted at Southeastern Seminary in March 2025. The theme was “Nicaea: 1,700 Years of Gospel Confession.”
• Scholars presented a total of 100 academic papers over two days. Southeastern students, alumni, and faculty members were among those presenting, and this year’s paper winners included two Southeastern alumni, Gabrielle Berry and Nicholas Dawson.
Redeem and Restore: New Counseling Conference
• Southeastern Seminary’s first Redeem and Restore counseling conference in March 2025 encouraged and equipped Christians to counsel with care and to think redemptively about the ministry of counseling.
• Over 250 attendees heard from Southeastern counseling faculty Kristin Kellen, Nate Brooks, Brad Hambrick, and Sam Williams (retired). Rotating breakout sessions covered practical topics such as confrontation, conflict, grief, trauma, worldview in counseling, and the counselor’s character.
New Southeastern MDiv announced at Board of Trustees Meeting
• In its April 15 meeting, the Southeastern Board of Trustees unanimously approved changes to the Master of Divinity (MDiv) core, along with changes to the Master of Arts core. The new MDiv core includes a dedicated hermeneutics course, an integrated evangelism and discipleship course, and an elective.
• Trustees approved updates and revisions to undergraduate and advanced curricula.
• Trustees also unanimously voted to approve two faculty promotions: John Burkett to associate professor of rhetoric and composition and Walter Strickland to associate professor of systematic and contextual theology.
Nate Brooks
John Burkett
Walter Strickland
Kristin Kellen
Sam Williams & Brad Hambrick
Christ-Centered Exposition Workshop
• Robert Smith Jr., Jonathan Akin, and Allan Moseley led the one-day Christ-Centered Exposition Workshop in March 2025. The speakers covered interpretive issues in Joshua, key themes of the book, and valuable preaching tips.
• Hosted by the Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership, this workshop equipped 125 pastors and students to become more effective communicators and expositors of God’s word.
Southeastern Students Help with Hurricane Relief
• In October 2024, a team of 26 students, faculty, and staff from Southeastern Seminary and Judson College traveled to Western North Carolina to support disaster relief efforts after Hurricane Helene.
• The team gutted homes and distributed supplies in conjunction with North Carolina Baptist churches and Baptists on Mission. They also left behind Bibles signed by the team in every home. Their efforts reflected a commitment to combining gospel action with gospel proclamation.
Southeastern Celebrates 261 Graduates in the Fall
• Last fall, Southeastern Seminary and Judson College celebrated the graduation of 261 students, representing a total of 13 countries. These graduates joined the ranks of thousands of fellow alumni seeking to fulfill the Great Commission around the world.
• “I’m excited about what the future holds as the Lord sends you — for many of you, around the globe, for others, across North America,” said President Danny Akin. “But wherever he sends you, you go with our prayers and our blessings, and we believe that God is going to work through you mightily for his great glory.”
Robert Smith Jr.
Photos courtesy of Shelly Ham
Southeastern graduates are serving in all 50 states and in 40 countries around the world. When your church gives to the Cooperative Program, you support Southeastern’s mission to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by equipping students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission. Thank You fortoGiving the
Southeastern received $4.46 million last year
because Southern Baptist churches like yours committed to bringing good news to the whole world.
www.sbc.net/cp
We enthusiastically joined the Legacy Society because it was a small way to give back to a place that meant so much to us. Planning to give at our passing allows us to ensure that the institution that helped shape us continues to impact future men, women, and families for God’s kingdom. It is a gift of eternal significance that you can pursue at any income level.
As we praise God for his faithfulness and provision through Southeastern’s first 75 years, we invite you to consider including Southeastern in your will or estate plans so that we might continue to equip students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission for the glory of King Jesus! Join us in praying for 75 new planned givers in honor of our 75th anniversary. Will you be one of the 75?
To join or for more information, visit sebts.edu/give or email ddavis@sebts.edu.
LETTER FROM THE VP
This year marks the 75th anniversary of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, a milestone inviting reflection and anticipation. Since its founding in 1950, Southeastern has stood as a faithful witness to the truth of the gospel, preparing generations of God-called men and women to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission. As we celebrate this historic occasion, we give thanks for God’s provision, the seminary’s gospel-centered mission, and the unwavering leadership that continues to chart its future.
At the heart of Southeastern’s story is a clear and compelling vision: to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by equipping students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission. This vision shapes every classroom lecture, chapel service, international mission trip, and graduate who walks across the stage. It is not merely a motto, but a lived conviction embedded into Southeastern’s DNA.
Since 2004, Dr. Danny Akin has embodied this Great Commission vision in his life and leadership. Dr. Akin’s tenure is marked by bold faithfulness, theological clarity, and a relentless focus on global missions. His passion for the nations, heart for students, and commitment to the inerrant word of God continue to
make a lasting impact — not only on Southeastern but also in the broader Southern Baptist Convention. Under Dr. Akin’s leadership, Southeastern has become known as “the Great Commission seminary,” mobilizing students to take the gospel to unreached people groups and challenging the local church to think globally and act missionally.
Dr. Akin’s influence is also evident in the culture of grace and conviction that permeates Southeastern’s community. He fosters a learning environment that values academic excellence, personal holiness, and a deep love for Christ. The faculty reflect those same values — as scholars who are not only experts in their fields but also shepherds of the next generation.
As we look back on 75 years of ministry, we also recognize the legacy of those who laid the foundation for today’s flourishing. From early leaders who helped reclaim biblical faithfulness to the students and alumni who carry biblical conviction and Great Commission focus into churches, mission fields, and classrooms worldwide, our history is rich with stories of sacrifice, perseverance, and gospel-centered service.
Yet this anniversary is more than a tribute to the past — it is a springboard for the future. The same
convictions that shaped our founding will shape our future. As the cultural landscape shifts and new challenges emerge, Southeastern remains rooted in the infallible, inerrant, all-sufficient word of God; the centrality of Christ; and the urgency of the Great Commission. The seminary continues to invest in innovative programs, global partnerships, and new technologies to equip students for a rapidly changing world. Yet, we remain committed to reaching students through residential and online programs, partnerships with local churches, and a growing global footprint. Southeastern is preparing leaders who will speak truth with love and lead with courage. The 75th anniversary of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary is a moment to rejoice in God’s faithfulness, renew our commitment to our confession, and focus on the mission ahead. We celebrate what God has done and what he will continue to do through this seminary, which stands unashamed of the gospel and unafraid to go wherever Christ leads.
Here’s to 75 years of gospel legacy — and the next chapter of Spiritempowered, Christ-centered, and mission-driven ministry. May Southeastern continue to be a place where the nations are reached, the church is served, and Christ is exalted.
Jonathan Six, Vice President for Institutional Advancement
SOUTHEASTERN BAPTIST
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
WAKE FOREST, NC
DANIEL AKIN
PRESIDENT
SCOTT PACE PROVOST
RYAN HUTCHINSON
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT FOR OPERATIONS
JONATHAN SIX VICE PRESIDENT FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
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FINANCIAL & ALUMNI DEVELOPMENT
DREW DAVIS - Director
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Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary seeks to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by equipping students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20).
Southeastern is an institution of higher learning and a Cooperative Program ministry of the Southern Baptist Convention. Support comes through the gifts of the Cooperative Program and the individual friends of the seminary who provide assistance through wills, estates, and trusts.
Great Commission Magazine of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (ISSN 2327-154X) is published by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, P.O. Box 1889, Wake Forest, NC 27588
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