NOBTS Global Mission Center launches lecture series with IMB’s Zane Pratt
By Timothy Cockes/NOBTS
NEW ORLEANS – The NOBTS Global Mission Center (GMC) has launched a new lecture series focused on the topic of missiology.
The first ever “Freeman-Bigler Missions Lecture,” named after the first known NOBTS students to serve as foreign missionaries, was held Oct. 29 and featured the IMB’s Zane Pratt speaking about ecclesiology and its connection to the missionary task.
Pratt serves as the theologian-in-residence and senior ambassador for seminary partnerships for the International Mission Board.
The GMC is planning to host presentations from notable missions experts as part of this regular lecture series either annually or bi-annually from now on.
Greg Mathias, director of the Global Mission Center and associate professor of global missions, is excited about offering the lecture series to local ministry leaders.
“We wanted to have a venue where not only our students can benefit from us, but we can be a resource to local churches and pastors as well as even our faculty,” Mathias said.
“The topic of missions is connected to rich theology. When it comes to missions, we need to exercise our minds in addition to our hearts and feet. I think this lecture helps pull these things together.”
Mathias wanted the lecture series to serve as a way for the GMC to showcase its offerings and resources as an academic Center.
In addition to Pratt’s lecture, the GMC provided other missions materials for those that attended the event.
“One of the areas I think we can step up more is providing resources that can be helpful and interesting to our faculty, local churches and pastors,” he said. “Hopefully all of these resources are helpful to them as they continue to take next steps at their church in terms of missions.”
The name of the new lecture series connects back to the rich missions history of the seminary.
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary was originally founded in 1917 as the Baptist Bible Institute (BBI) by direct action of the Southern Baptist Convention to reach the city and prepare missionary candidates for service in the Americas.
Paul Freeman and Pearl Amelia Bigler were among the first students from the BBI to serve as missionaries overseas.
Freeman began attending the BBI in 1920 after serving in various ministry roles as a pastor and teacher. Freeman and his wife Clara were appointed by the Foreign Mission Board (now the IMB) in 1921. They served churches in southern Brazil until Paul’s death in 1953 after 32 years of service.
Bigler was the first known graduate of the BBI to serve as an international missionary. She graduated from the BBI in 1921 with a Bachelor of Christian Training.
Bigler applied for service with the FMB but was denied due to lack of funding. She was later financially supported through her childhood church, Tabernacle Baptist Church in Macon, Ga., and left for missionary service in Brazil in 1926.
She returned to Georgia in 1965 after 40 years of service on the field and died four years later.
Mathias said naming the lecture series after the two missionaries is a sign of respect but is also meant to inspire future missionaries by looking back to the past.
“We named the lecture series after these two people to celebrate our seminary’s rich missions history,” he said.
“They had a lifetime of going to be on the mission field. We want to continue the conversation about missions and hopefully inspire a new generation to go and serve as missionaries.
Pratt’s full lecture can be viewed here.
Taste of the Nations displays Southwestern’s global engagement
By Michelle Workman/SWBTS
FORT WORTH, Texas – For a second year, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary celebrated its international community with a Christmas edition of Taste of the Nations on Nov. 18, giving international students and campus organizations an opportunity to share food and customs from their countries.
Noting the significant number of international students, Stephanie Litton, director of International Student Services, said, “This is just a time for them to show off their cultures and to take pride in who they are, and for them to say, ‘Here’s where I am from around the world.’ And it allows our American students in the seminary to love on them in return and say, ‘We see you, you’re important,’ and just kind of return that support.”
Students from places such as Russia, China, Indonesia, Algeria, Spain, Madagascar, Korea, Paraguay, Costa Rica, and Mexico shared holiday food and customs from their country with the Southwestern community. Southwestern organizations represented included the African Student Fellowship, Koinonia Hispanic Student Fellowship, Korean Student Fellowship, and the Chinese Fellowship.
“We are very thankful for each one of you, for your families, your churches that are represented here, everybody that has come to participate in this Taste of the Nations,” Michael Copeland, dean of students and assistant professor of missions who served as a missionary overseas for about 15 years, said to the international community while opening the event. “… You guys and your families, your communities, are one of the hugest blessings for me, coming from overseas to land here in Fort Worth. It makes me feel at home.”
“This is something where Southwestern is engaging globally,” Hugo Encorrada said of the event, referencing one of the seminary’s core values: globally engaged. “You can see it here.”
Encorrada, the president of the Koinonia Hispanic Student Fellowship and a PhD student in church music and worship from Mexico City, said having all the nations, tastes, and customs in one place was a wonderful experience.
Encorrada said for the Hispanic community, it was an opportunity to bring food that is a “part of our identity to share with other people, people that we love. It’s a great time of fellowship where I believe we have Christ in common.”
Tiana Ranaivoarisoa, an alumna from Madagascar, said she was grateful to participate in the event one last time as her family prepares to move back to Madagascar in six months to serve at a seminary she and her husband started.
“It just represents the church,” Ranaivoarisoa said of the event. “It’s all the countries, every tongue, every tribe, gathered together. And that’s a picture of heaven, so I love that. The creativity of men and women—food and baking and clothes—all of that is just a taste of heaven.”
Massissilia Mehrazi, whose husband is a student, was the only person at the event representing Algeria, a large African country that she said itself has 58 states with each having its own customs. But even without a community from her own home country, Mehrazi said it was still a blessing seeing all the other countries united at Southwestern.
“I love seeing the different countries and different cultures,” Mehrazi said. “I love being around different cultures.”
Stephen Reeves, assistant director of International Student Services, read the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke and games were provided for the adults and children, including a “snowball” fight and a trivia game about different holiday traditions found around the world.
Litton said the event provided a chance for American students and families to show love to the international community.
“Most of them don’t get to go home regularly, and they don’t get to see their family at the holidays,” Litton said. “… It’s just a chance for them to say, ‘This kind of feels like Christmas in my country, or with my family,’ and you’re with internationals from around the world who are feeling the same thing. It’s just a way for everybody to get to love on one another.”
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