[1]NEW ORLEANS (BP)–New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s trustee executive committee elected four faculty members June 8 during their regular summer session.
Specialists in biblical counseling and adult education, as well as a U.S. Naval Reserve chaplain and a theological librarian, will begin Aug. 1. Several more prospective professors are scheduled to be considered by seminary trustees during the October meeting of the full trustee board.
James A. Headrick of Baton Rouge, La., will be associate professor of psychology and counseling. Headrick has been involved in local church ministry as a staff member for nearly 40 years in Southern Baptist churches in Louisiana, Texas and Alabama. He has been assistant professor of psychology and counseling at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, since 1997. Prior to joining the SWBTS faculty, Headrick most recently was senior associate pastor and associate pastor in family and biblical counseling at Cottage Hill Baptist Church, Mobile, Ala., 1985-97, and was an adjunct professor at the University of Mobile.
Headrick completed the bachelor of arts degree at Louisiana College in 1974 and both the master of religious education and doctor of education degrees at New Orleans Seminary in 1982 and 1987, respectively. He and his wife, Linda, have three grown children and two grandchildren.
Endel Lee was reappointed as an instructor in New Orleans Seminary’s College of Undergraduate Studies. He was elected to a one-year term last summer. A U.S. Naval Reserve chaplain, endorsed by the SBC’s North American Mission Board, Lee previously was a chaplain and director of pastoral care and counseling at Baylor Medical Center, Garland, Texas. He has been the pastor of First Baptist Church in Roanoke, Texas, since 1994.
Originally from Mobile, Ala., Lee completed the bachelor of arts degree in religion at the University of Mobile and both the master of divinity and master of arts in religious education degrees at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. He currently is writing his dissertation to complete the doctor of philosophy degree at SWBTS. He and his wife, Cathy, have two school-aged children.
J. Michael Garrett of Jackson, Tenn., will be instructor of theology. In December 1998, he was named director of the seminary’s John T. Christian Library, one of the largest collections of theological books in the Southeast and the largest theological library in the nine-state region. Garrett, who has been assistant director since September 1998, previously was divinity librarian at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, Birmingham, Ala., 1995-98, and was manager of Cokesbury’s Beeson Divinity Bookshop, 1996-98.
A graduate of Union University, Jackson, Tenn., with a bachelor of arts degree in religion, Garrett completed the master of divinity degree at Beeson and the master of library and information studies degree at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. Garrett and his wife, Amy, have one child.
The name of a new professor of adult education is temporarily being withheld pending notification of the current employer. An announcement will be made by July 1.
The trustee executive committee also endorsed naming Jimmy W. Dukes as dean of the NOBTS North Georgia Campus, Thomas Strong as dean of the NOBTS College of Undergraduate Studies and Perry Hancock associate dean of the graduate faculty.
Dukes, a 19-year staff and faculty member of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, will remain dean of the seminary’s extensive extension center system, full operations for which will be moved to the NOBTS North Georgia Campus, located in Decatur, also Aug. 1. The NOBTS North Georgia Campus is the largest seminary extension center campus in the Southern Baptist Convention, with more than 500 graduate and undergraduate theological students and is larger than many accredited seminaries worldwide.
Dukes, currently dean of the undergraduate faculty, will be replaced by Thomas Strong June 1. Strong has been chairman of the College’s department of theological studies, coordinator of the seminary’s undergraduate extension system, and associate professor of New Testament and Greek since 1993.
Hancock has been associate professor of Christian education in the college since 1992. He also was named associate professor of discipleship, occupying the Broadmoor Chair of Discipleship.
Dukes replaces Don Aderhold, director of the North Georgia Campus since 1984 and professor of New Testament since 1979. Aderhold helped transition the extension center from a one-day-a-week school located since 1979 at Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., to a full daily schedule in 1995 when the seminary was given a complete campus through the donation of facilities and property by Columbia Drive Baptist Church in Decatur. Aderhold will continue to teach and assist with administrative duties.
Stan Wilkins, who has been acting director of the NOBTS North Georgia Campus for several years, will become associate dean of the NOBTS North Georgia Campus.
“Dr. Jimmy Dukes is one of the most experienced and visionary members of our leadership team,” said Chuck Kelley, NOBTS president. “His appointment as dean of our North Georgia Campus is an indication of our passionate commitment to give Georgia Baptists direct access to outstanding theological education and to make Atlanta the hub of the largest network of distance learning centers in Southern Baptist life. We continue to be committed to making quality theological education as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.”
Dukes originally joined the NOBTS staff as housing director in 1980 while he was a doctoral student. In 1984 he was elected by seminary trustees to the faculty, originally serving as assistant professor of New Testament and Greek in the NOBTS School of Christian Training. In 1990 Dukes was named director of the SCT upon the retirement of Jerry Breazeale. In 1991 he became the seminary’s registrar and director of admissions. In 1992 he was named assistant provost, dean of the undergraduate faculty and dean of the extension center system.
In 1992 Dukes guided NOBTS’ School of Christian Training, founded in 1980, to become the first SBC seminary to offer a complete and accredited theological baccalaureate degree program, which was renamed College of Undergraduate Studies in 1997. Previously students who completed the associate of divinity degree at NOBTS had to leave the seminary to complete a bachelor’s degree, then return to the NOBTS to work on the master of divinity degree program.
Current enrollment at NOBTS exceeds 2,350 students, with approximately 1,200 taking courses at one of the 15 extension center sites. NOBTS currently has CIV links to its extension center campuses in Decatur, Ga., and four sites in Florida: Graceville, Orlando, Jacksonville and Miami. Other extension center campuses are located in Angola, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, and Lake Charles, La.; Birmingham and Huntsville, Ala.; Tampa, Fla.; Clinton and Jackson, Miss.; and Cleveland, Tenn.
Originally from Jackson, Miss., Dukes, 57, received a bachelor of arts degree from Delta State University in 1969. He earned master of divinity and doctor of theology degrees from New Orleans Seminary in 1979 and 1983, respectively. He served his first church as pastor when he was 19. His wife, Retia, has been a staff member at the seminary since 1981. Currently she is administrative assistant to the vice president for development. She previously was administrative assistant to the president during the administration of Landrum Leavell, who retired in 1995. They have two sons: Erik, a physician in Rome, Ga.; and Jason, a teacher at First Baptist Church of Orlando’s Faith Academy, and a master of divinity student at the NOBTS Orlando Center.