John Mark Clifton joins MBTS faculty
By Brett Fredenberg/MBTS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP) – Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Jason Allen has announced that John Mark Clifton will join the seminary’s faculty as visiting professor of church ministry.
“To know Mark Clifton is to love Mark Clifton,” Allen said. “Additionally, Mark brings a level of experience and competence related to pastoral ministry and church revitalization that is hard to match. I am thrilled that our students will be learning from him for years to come.”
As a visiting professor at Midwestern Seminary, Clifton will regularly visit campus for teaching and lectures in master’s and doctoral programs.
In addition to his teaching role at the seminary, Clifton will continue to serve as the teaching pastor at Linwood Baptist Church and as the executive director of church replanting and rural strategy at the North American Mission Board.
Reflecting on his new role at the seminary, Clifton said, “The task of church revitalization and replanting is at its core is an act of worship. We seek to realize healthy, Gospel-focused churches for God’s glory.
“As a resident of the Kansas City metro area and as an alumnus and the son of an alumnus of Midwestern Seminary, I am delighted to assist the seminary community in the task of encouraging and equipping pastors and leaders to revitalize and replant declining and dying churches.”
Beginning in the fall semester of 2023, students will have opportunities to learn from Clifton’s vast experience. Beyond his current ministry at NAMB, Midwestern Seminary, and his local church, he has led in numerous national conferences on church planting and revitalization, as well as consulted and coached leaders, churches, and denominational entities throughout North America, and has taught in a variety of settings including colleges and seminaries.
His experience also includes serving as the lead mission strategist for the Kansas Nebraska Southern Baptist Convention, leading church planting efforts in the regions of North Metro Atlanta, GA, serving as a church planter in Montreal, Quebec, and as a Southern Baptist National Church Planting Missionary for eastern Canada, and leading Southern Baptist church planting projects west of the Mississippi. Clifton has been planting, replanting, and providing strategic mission leadership since 1978.
Prepare Here Conference at NOBTS’ Jim Henry Institute
By Marilyn Stewart/NOBTS
NEW ORLEANS (BP) – “Servant Leadership in Uncertain Times,” the theme of the first annual Prepare Here Conference hosted by the Jim Henry Leadership Institute of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, drew 250 pastors, church ministry leaders and spouses from across 10 states, Oct. 12-13.
Featured speakers were Steve Gaines, senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church near Memphis; Robby Gallaty, senior pastor Long Hollow Church in Hendersonville, Tenn.; and Jamie Dew, NOBTS president.
“It’s my prayer that this conference will give [participants] opportunities and instruction, give them models, and give them the privilege to study with leaders and have the opportunity to look at the past and the present, and model their lives after Jesus so they can be the leaders the church desperately needs today,” Jim Henry said in an interview.
Breakout sessions addressed issues impacting the pastor’s ministry as well as a the student, children’s, music and women’s ministries and church leadership and administration.
Kandi Gallaty, wife of Robby Gallaty and author of “Disciple Her” and the “Foundations New Testament” series of Bible reading plans; Tara Dew, president’s wife and director of Thrive, the NOBTS ministry wives certificate program; Elizabeth Luter, wife of Fred Luter, and director of the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church women’s ministry; and NOBTS professors and local pastors were breakout speakers.
The Jim Henry Institute was established last year in recognition of Henry’s long tenure in ministry and denominational service. Henry pastored churches in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee before serving 29 years as senior pastor at First Baptist Church, Orlando, Fla.
At the denominational level, Henry served as Southern Baptist Convention president, 1994-1995, and as a trustee for the International Mission Board, Lifeway Christian Resources, GuideStone Financial Resources, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and in other roles.
Henry, 86, noted the importance of leadership in today’s culture.
“It’s a great opportunity for the Gospel, but it is a difficult time,” Henry said. “I’ve been in this over 60 years and it’s probably the most challenging time to minister in my lifetime. But it’s also the best time for the light to shine. The darkness is getting darker but the light can shine brighter.”
The task
Steve Gaines drew from Acts 8:26-40 during the opening plenary session.
“Every Christian … is commanded by the Lord to verbally share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with lost people in order to win them to faith in Christ,” Gaines said.
Gaines reminded listeners that listening to the Holy Spirit, keeping repentance central to the Gospel presentation and sharing with urgency were essentials of evangelism.
“God will lead you to the lost,” Gaines said. “They’re hungry. They know this world is broken. They know they need something besides what they have.”
The focus
“Who are you pleasing in ministry?” Robby Gallaty asked listeners in the evening plenary. Gallaty, an NOBTS alum, told of the impact of meeting at the chapel with others to pray during his student years.
Gallaty pointed to Hebrews 11:5 to remind believers and church leaders that they must work to “please an audience of one.” A leader cannot please others or promote self and please God, and a ministry that depends on the leader’s charisma may fail, Gallaty warned.
Timothy George delivers annual Page Lectures at SEBTS
By Chad Burchett/SEBTS
WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP) – On Tuesday, Oct. 17, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary welcomed Timothy George — longtime professor, scholar, and academic administrator — for several campus talks, including the annual Page Lectures.
Distinguished Professor of Divinity at Samford University, George was also the founding dean of Beeson Divinity School. As a returning lecturer, George first delivered the Page Lectures in 2007 on the revolutions of the Reformation and then again in 2017 on the history of the Reformation and its continuing influence on the Western Christian tradition.
Addressing students, staff and faculty in Tuesday’s chapel, George lectured on the importance of the Great Tradition and the heritage of Christ-centered learning that has been handed down to Christian students as a living trust.
“What I want to convey to you today is the importance of this heritage that we have received,” George said. “Every time you listen to professors teach, remember that they are speaking to you from a wellspring of accumulated knowledge and wisdom over the centuries.”
“You are being given this … as a trust,” he continued. “You are being given this as a gift to pass on to others who will come after you, to others who will carry this message forward. Such that if Jesus tarries for years to come, when all of us assembled here today at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary shall lie in the dust, God will be pleased and there will still be a school for the training of ministers of the Gospel — faithful to the Word of God and faithful to the Great Tradition of Christian learning.”
Calling students to approach learning as a profound stewardship, George reminded attendees that their spiritual formation and education is part of a longstanding tradition of Christian learning. George defined this Great Tradition as the collective body of biblical wisdom that centers on Trinitarian and Christological convictions, is expressed by the Church’s creeds and confessions, and is faithfully transmitted throughout church history.
Drawing on the content of the Great Tradition, George argued that Christian higher education must never bifurcate between a love of learning and a desire for God. For George, Jesus’s words in Mark 12:30 should remind Christians that the call to love God entails the proper exercise of their minds.
As a Harvard University graduate, George illustratively narrated the Christ-centered origins and Christian history of Harvard, observing how the institution originally charged students to ground their studies in Christ. Citing Harvard’s College Laws of 1640, George emphasized that the Harvard student’s first obligation was to seek the Lord — “to lay Christ in the bottom” of their studies: “to cultivate a personal, Christ-centered devotion while at the same time to investigate every discipline and field of human learning.”
MBTS established partnership with Send Network
By Brett Fredenberg/MBTS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP) – Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) Send Network launched their newly established partnership by hosting nine residential master’s students during a Send Network gathering of church planters.
During a week in Fort Worth, students heard from Send Network leaders in main sessions, participated in special events with Send Network Vice President of Mobilization Matt Carter reserved for Midwestern Seminary students, and connected with church planters throughout the region.
Each session centered around one of Send Network’s five values: 1) seek first the Kingdom, 2) deepen devotion, 3) stick together, 4) think multiplication, and 5) engage the city.
“Our students were able to witness Send Network’s passion for and dedication to not only church planting, but Kingdom expansion,” said Jordan Wilbanks, director of church partnerships at Midwestern Seminary. “There were layers of paradigm shifts happening for our students regarding how church planting is most effective in communities that need biblical churches.”
Cameron Hinson, a residential master’s student at the seminary, said of the event, “I’m thankful for the Send Network for reorienting my heart around the heart behind church planting. If we plant a church but aren’t focused on making disciples for Christ, then we’re doing something wrong. Church planting that impacts the Kingdom brings real change, joy, and hope to people, something we can’t get without our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Campbell Terry, another master’s student interested in church planting, said, “Thank you Send Network for allowing us to have this opportunity. It was so refreshing and encouraging to see what God has done through this experience. This has been a life-changing couple of days.”
Reflecting on the week, Wilbanks said, “Seeing this week transform and sharpen our student’s thinking and engage their missional heartbeats—this was as impactful for me as anything I’ve participated in since I began my role in 2016. And like them, I returned with thoughts of Kingdom advance echoing through me.”
