WAKE FOREST, N.C. – At Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary on Friday, May 8, friends, family, and guests gathered to celebrate the graduation of 238 students at Southeastern’s spring commencement exercises. These new Southeastern alumni represent 31 states and eight countries.
In his commencement address, President Danny Akin preached from Philippians 1:21, leaving graduates with a two-fold truth by which to live their lives.
- There is a life worth living.
- There is a death worth dying.
“Graduates, wherever God determines to send you, whatever it is that God calls you to do,” Akin said, “I pray with all of my heart, whether in life or in death, you will indeed say with Paul: ‘For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.’”
“Paul was not afraid of life,” he expressed. “Paul was not afraid of death, either. Why? Because he knew, either way, Christ was his life and Christ would always be his life. And whatever it involved, whether life or death, Paul wanted to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Akin encouraged attendees to consider what they prioritize in their lives and what they believe is truly worth living for.
“I would say to you this morning, living for anything other than Christ is to play the fool. You see, to have Christ plus nothing means you actually have everything. But to have everything minus Christ means you actually have nothing,” he said.
At the end of his address, Akin shared the story of several missionaries, including two Southeastern alumni, who tragically died while serving on the field. He shared the words of one of these missionaries, a woman named Karen Watson, who wrote a letter to her pastors to be opened in the event of her death.
Akin read, “‘The missionary heart cares more than some think is wise, risks more than some think is safe, dreams more than some think is practical, expects more than some think is possible. I was called not to comfort or success but to obedience. There is no joy outside of knowing Jesus and serving him.’”
During the ceremonies, President-Elect Scott Pace presented Southeastern’s Excellence in Teaching award to Associate Professor of Biblical Counseling Kristin Kellen. This annual award recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated outstanding teaching, commitment to scholarship, and investment in the lives of students.
Following the ceremonies, graduates and their families met and celebrated outside of Binkley. Chapel, thankful for God’s kindness and faithfulness in bringing them to this day.
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