Marilyn Stewart

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Drawing on a question once posed to former Southern Baptist Convention president Adrian Rogers, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley encouraged graduate candidates Dec. 16 to continue on with confidence in following God's call on their lives. "Someone once asked [Rogers] if he heard an audible voice when God spoke to him," Kelley explained. "Rogers answered, 'No, it's much louder than that.'" Kelley reminded listeners of the certainty they had of God's call to ministry when ...

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- New Testament scholars N.T. Wright and Simon Gathercole addressed the meaning of the atonement at the 14th annual Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum, Nov. 10-11, at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The question considered was whether substitution -- the view that Christ died in the place of sinners -- is enough to communicate the full meaning of atonement. In a departure from previous Greer-Heard forums, this year's event featured conservative Christian speakers who agree on the doctrines that all Christians, ...

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary kicked off its 100th anniversary celebration with special events Oct. 3 and the announcement of upcoming centennial initiatives focused on evangelism and missions. Activities began with the annual Founders Day chapel service, as NOBTS President Chuck Kelley pointed past the seminary's 1917 founding to the true "seed" from which the seminary sprang -- the Acts 1:8 commission by Jesus to take the Gospel to all nations.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Celebrating 20 years of a women's ministry program and its impact around the world, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary honored Rhonda Harrington Kelley, wife of NOBTS President Chuck Kelley, for her integral role in the NOBTS program. The presentation in chapel Sept. 26 was followed by a luncheon in Kelley's honor where the Rhonda Harrington Kelley scholarship benefiting women in academics was announced, with details forthcoming.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- With a commitment to helping a new generation of preachers and pastors in the pulpit, the Adrian Rogers Center for Expository Preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary was dedicated in a Sept. 12 chapel service. In partnership with the late Adrian Rogers' proclamation ministry Love Worth Finding, the NOBTS center will provide resources and present conferences and lectureships to encourage and equip students and pastors.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- The addition of a new faculty member and several curriculum changes were approved by the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary board of trustees' executive committee June 6. Jeff Audirsch, elected as associate professor of biblical studies in the seminary's Leavell College, comes to NOBTS from his position as associate professor of Christian studies at Shorter University in Rome, Ga., and from prior service on the faculty of Brewton-Parker College in Mount Vernon, Ga., where he was named the 2010-2011 Outstanding Teacher.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Standing in front of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's Leavell Chapel on graduation day, Tara Garcia looked back with fondness on her undergraduate experience. But unlike the graduates lined up beside her, Garcia earned her degree inside prison walls. Garcia completed every class except one prior to her release in January from the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women in St. Gabriel.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- God's holiness, sovereignty and glory were underscored to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary graduates for their new chapters in ministry by President Chuck Kelley during commencement May 13. "You are to so live your lives that those who see you will give glory to God because of the way you are living," Kelley exhorted the seminary's 144 graduates.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Evangelical scholar Ben Witherington III and Jewish scholar Amy-Jill Levine found many points of agreement regarding the "historical" Jesus during a dialogue at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. But on the issue of Jesus as Messiah, their views diverged. Witherington, noted New Testament scholar and Asbury Theological Seminary professor, and Amy-Jill Levine, Vanderbilt Divinity School New Testament professor and a member of an Orthodox synagogue, spoke at the seminary's Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum March 25 on the topic of "Christians, Jews and Jesus."

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Abdu Murray was a devout Muslim who rarely encountered Christians who could defend their faith. His journey from Islam to faith in Christ began after meeting the few "annoying" Christians who could. Murray, North American director for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, told of his nine-year journey at Defend 2017, an annual apologetics conference sponsored by New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's Institute for Christian Apologetics. The Jan. 2-6 conference, with 250 participants, brought together noted apologists to address issues and worldviews prevalent in today's culture.