Marilyn Stewart

NEW ORLEANS -- For Joe and Graham Waller -- brothers as well as New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary students -- moving to online classes during the stay-at-home mandate is bringing adjustments and lessons. Graham, blind since childhood, continues with his Leavell College classes online, listening to lectures in two classes and logging in for voice lessons via social media.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- For years, New Orleans music teacher Stephanie Screen has used her violin to comfort those in hospital beds and nursing homes and in moments of grief. But when COVID-19 forced a city-wide quarantine in New Orleans, Screen wondered what she could do to help. "I'll just go sit on the lawn with my violin and see what happens," Screen decided.

NEW ORLEANS -- Servanthood must be the mark of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College family, NOBTS President Jamie Dew said during the school's annual Founders' Day chapel, Oct 1. Dew noted that from the start of his presidency his vision has been that the seminary family will be a people who "take up the towel and the basin" to serve the broken and the marginalized and take the Gospel to places untouched by its message. Dew was elected president June 4.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Jamie Dew, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College, posed a question at convocation, Sept. 3, to begin a new semester and a new chapter in its history. "Where exactly are we going?" Dew, who began June 5 as the seminary's ninth president, asked the audience. "And what exactly are we going to do?"

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Jamie Dew, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College, challenged listeners in his first chapel service as president to take on Christ's humility for service. Drawing from Philippians 2:1-11, Dew said believers must follow Christ's example.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- The creation of a new vice president position for enrollment was approved by the executive committee of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's trustees in a June 4 meeting. The vice president for enrollment, a position created to provide oversight for all departments essential for a healthy enrollment, will act as chief strategist and catalyst for enrollment-related matters for NOBTS and its Leavell College. A candidate for the position will be named at a later date.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Jamie Dew presented a vision for his first year as New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary president in a press conference following his unanimous election by the NOBTS board of trustees on Wednesday (June 5). Dew noted NOBTS' untapped potential and pointed to the seminary's unique opportunity for "theological education and ministerial preparation."

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Chuck Kelley, in his final commencement address as president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, challenged the graduates to remember that God is able to accomplish the task each is called to do. Kelley retires July 31 concluding his 23-year tenure as NOBTS president. Noting that God's plans for each graduate in the future will hold surprises, Kelley said, "Never be afraid of it. Never be intimidated by it. Never think that you're not up to it.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -– Apologetics experts from across the nation took the stage at Defend '19, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's weeklong apologetics conference, Jan. 7-11. "Christians have always needed to be able to state what they believe clearly and to defend their faith when asked to give a reason for the hope that they have in Christ," said Robert Stewart, Defend director. "But today in our postmodern, post-Christian, post-truth culture it is especially important that we be winsome ambassadors for Christ who share the truth in love in the power of God's Spirit."

NEW ORLEANS -- The "one word" that brought students to seminary must now guide them as graduates, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Chancellor Chuck Kelley told them, Dec. 15, at NOBTS' Leavell Chapel. "'Yes' is the word that brought you to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. 'Yes' is the word I want you to take with you as you depart," Kelley said. "But, I warn you. Not every 'yes' is easy." Kelley reminded graduates they answered "yes" when God called them to seminary knowing the road would be long and difficult. Kelley recalled trying personal times he and wife Rhonda Kelley faced when he came to seminary 43 years ago -- first as a student, then faculty member, and then president.