Gary D. Myers

Gary Myers recounts how Louisiana's maximum security prison at Angola has been transformed by inmates who have received bachelor's degrees through New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

NEW ORLEANS -- New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's 11-member presidential search committee held its first meeting Nov. 1. The group unanimously elected Frank Cox to chair the committee. The committee spent the day on the NOBTS campus in focused prayer and began developing a profile of the type candidate they are seeking to lead the seminary. The team met in a spirit of unity and prayer and excitement about the future of the seminary, Cox noted. The committee, he said, has established a process for Southern Baptists to ...

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- To achieve true racial reconciliation in the church, Gospel proclamation must remain the central theme, John M. Perkins said in a daylong visit to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. As Christians band together around the Gospel's reconciliation between God and man, Perkins said racial reconciliation should come naturally, and he is hopeful that the current generation will make great strides in bringing it about. Perkins, a Christian minister and leader in the racial reconciliation movement among evangelicals, directs the John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation and Development in Jackson, Miss. In 1976, Perkins authored "Let Justice Roll Down," a classic volume which charts his conversion to Christianity and how the power of the Gospel positions the church for racial reconciliation.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary trustee chairman Frank Cox announced the names for the 11-member presidential search committee today (Oct. 11) and called on Southern Baptists to pray through the search process. "We ask that Southern Baptists pray for us as we seek God's man to lead New Orleans Seminary into the next century of ministry here in New Orleans and surrounding regions," Cox said. The NOBTS bylaws call for the trustee chairman to appoint a committee with 11 voting ...

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary trustees named Chuck Kelley as chancellor of the school through July 31, 2019, and approved the accelerated M.Div. program during their fall meeting Oct. 3. Kelley announced his plans to retire from the school on July 31, 2019, during the Oct. 2 Founders' Day chapel service. As a result, much of the board's work at the fall meeting centered on helping Kelley finish his presidential tenure and beginning the search for the next president. Naming Kelley chancellor was a required step in the initiation of the presidential search process. The bylaws state that the office of president must be vacant before the trustees can initiate the search. The role of chancellor clearly indicates the seminary will continue normal operations under Kelley's leadership while the trustees seek the next leader.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Charles S. "Chuck" Kelley Jr., announced his plan to retire at the end of the current academic year during Founders' Day chapel Oct. 2. Kelley will continue to lead the seminary through July 31, 2019. "This is the biggest decision of my life in a lot of ways," Kelley said in an interview. "I have been a part of almost half of the 100-year existence of NOBTS, it is very much the fabric of my whole life, and it has been a joyful, wondrous journey. "This is a happy decision for us," Kelley noted. "We have served the seminary in a variety of ways and are thrilled to do so now in a completely different way."

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Immigration reform is needed, panelists said at an Institute of Faith and the Public Square forum Sept. 25. While differing in focus, they underscored challenges facing the church and the U.S. economy. The institute (IFPS), a research center at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, hosted the dialogue in conjunction with the University of New Orleans, Southern University of New Orleans and the University of Holy Cross. While none of the panelists argued for an "open borders" approach, the session focused on Christian attitudes toward immigration as well as issues of compassion, jobs and security.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- God's plan for reaching the world involves raising up and sending out "ordinary people" in the power of the Holy Spirit, Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear said at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Sept. 13. "The measure of success for any church ought not be its seating capacity" but "its sending capacity," Greear said during a chapel sermon drawn from Acts 7. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and church leaders emphasize the sending out of "ordinary people" as an essential aspect of the call to follow Jesus. As a result, the church has sent out 1,016 people to 248 Summit-sponsored church plants and to other ministries.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Noah Madden chose New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, in part, due to the lostness in the city. After spending his formative years in Canada, Madden wanted to be involved in Gospel witness outside the Bible Belt. Madden planned to immerse himself in the city, study at NOBTS and apply the practical aspects of ministry in a local church setting. Through a unique residency initiative at Lakeshore Church, Madden not only ...

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Don't tell seminary professor Preston Nix that door-to-door evangelism in New Orleans does not work. Time and again, he has found that loving Gospel conversations, even during door-to-door evangelism, can and do lead to decisions for Christ. "It does not work ... if you do not work it," said Nix, professor of evangelism and evangelistic preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. "But if you work it with a smile on your face, the love of Christ in your heart, and the Good News of the Gospel on your lips shared with kindness and conviction, you will be amazed at how many people will listen to you and respond to the message of the Gospel."