Dockery notes progress during SWBTS faculty/staff meeting
By Michelle Workman/SWBTS
FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) – With the new semester just days away, faculty and staff of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary gathered to hear an update from President David S. Dockery reflecting on the 2023-2024 academic year and noting the faithfulness of God with enrollment increases and ongoing steps toward financial stability of the institution, as well as looking forward to the future.
“We give thanks for new starts, new beginnings, a new semester, and new opportunities that come,” Dockery said during an Aug. 14 all-employee meeting.
The meeting began with the singing of the hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” which Dockery said was an opportunity to reflect on God’s goodness, celebrate His kindness, and thank Him for his blessings over the past year.
Dockery announced that Chandler Snyder’s role has been expanded to vice president for institutional relations, providing leadership to all “external” matters of the seminary. In addition to his current roles leading Student Services and Admissions, Snyder’s new role includes Institutional Advancement. He has served in various capacities at the seminary since 2022.
The president also noted the previously announced positions of Carl Bradford as the new dean of Texas Baptist College and Ashley Allen as assistant to the president, as well as Terry Coy as interim director of Hispanic Programs.
Dockery expressed gratitude to all the teams involved in recruiting and retention, noting 3,586 non-duplicating students enrolled during 2023-2024, the second year in a row that enrollment saw an increase after having 3,403 students in 2021-2022.
Dockery noted that total credit hours taught also increased for a second straight year, more than 2,600 hours higher than it had been in the 2021-2022 academic year.
“We’re up a significant amount over the past two years,” Dockery said, which this past year also included an additional 50 Master of Divinity students enrolled. He added “we’re headed in the right direction, and we continue to move in that direction and trust God for what is coming in the days to come.”
Dockery also praised budget managers for concluding the fiscal year below budget for most expenses. Unrestricted giving for the year was $2.8 million, another encouraging marker since it was budgeted to be $2.6 million. Temporarily restricted was a million dollars over the previous year at $4.2 million.
“There are many improvements for which we can celebrate and give thanks to God,” Dockery said, adding that though he now believes the seminary is at a point of institutional stability, the school is not yet at the point of institutional health.
“We celebrate every blessing from God, and we won’t get discouraged because we still have work to do, because we’ve seen what has happened in dramatic ways, really, over the past 23 months, and very hopeful for days to come,” he said.
SEBTS hosts annual AMS conference
By Mary Asta Mountain/SEBTS
WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP) – Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary welcomed pastors and associational leaders from across nine states for its sixth annual Associational Mission Strategist (AMS) Conference Aug. 13-14.
More than 60 leaders gathered to learn from key speakers and engage in breakout sessions centering around the theme of missional vitality.
“You’re in a situation where your job is trying to steward vitality in your churches,” said speaker Keelan Cook, Southeastern’s George Liele director for the Center for Great Commission Studies. “Well, how do we do it? How do we serve our churches in such a way that we enliven them?”
This year’s conference was hosted in partnership with the International Mission Board (IMB), the North American Mission Board (NAMB), and the Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders. In addition to Cook, keynote speakers included Jeff Ginn, IMB vice president of mobilization, and Rick Curtis, NAMB assistant to the president for convention and associational relations. Southeastern faculty Chuck Lawless, Steven Wade and Steven McKinion challenged and encouraged attendees with devotions between sessions.
Each speaker approached missional vitality from a different angle, addressing the practical and strategic elements of building vibrant, unified associations of local churches.
“Each year has been beneficial in helping guide me through steps to help guide churches,” said Toby Neal, association mission strategist at Pee Dee Baptist Association, who has attended the conference for three years. “Especially this one with the discussions on missional alignment and engagement and deployment.”
Opening the conference, Curtis guided attendees through the practical steps of missional alignment within their associations, which he called “a spiritual endeavor more than it is a logistical one.”
Cook addressed what it looks like to build an associational culture that desires and pursues unified engagement in missions.
In the second half of the conference, Ginn spoke on missional deployment and the ways in which associations could partner with the IMB.
Jeff Mingee attended this year’s conference for the first time as a regional strategist with the SBC of Virginia.
“It’s been a tremendously helpful experience thinking through missional engagement and how to help pastors lead their churches well in the Great Commission,” Mingee said. “It’s been beneficial to connect with other associational, missional leaders who are doing this and to learn from them and from the speakers.”
Other conference sponsors included the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, Provision Financial Resources of NC Baptists, Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina and Christian Adoption Services.
