EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated.
WAKE FOREST, N.C. — On Oct. 13 Southeastern Seminary and Judson College welcomed the Board of Trustees and Southeastern Society (SES) for their annual fall meeting.
Over the course of their two-day visit, trustees and SES members received institutional updates and participated in Southeastern’s 75th anniversary celebrations, thanking God for his mercy and kindness towards Southeastern in its journey of reclaiming biblical fidelity, renewing its commitment to the local church, and reigniting its missional fervor.
During this time President Danny Akin announced, first on Monday to the trustees, faculty, and SES members and then publicly to the Southeastern community on Tuesday, his intentions to retire as president of Southeastern at the end of the academic year (effective July 31, 2026). God’s kindness and faithfulness are evident in Akin’s nearly 22 years of ministry at Southeastern and the impact that he has had on this institution, cementing its identity today as the Great Commission seminary.
Commemorating the Past, Celebrating the Future
“What a joy to have all of you on our campus, and what a joy to be able to celebrate this year, the 75th anniversary of this wonderful school,” said Jonathan Six, vice president for institutional advancement, at the Monday morning SES gathering. “We give the Lord praise for what he has done, right here on this campus, through so many.”
Southeastern’s impact, Six said, is evident in the lives and ministry of generations of its graduates, many of whom are bringing the gospel to the ends of the earth, to those living in darkness and without hope.
Reflecting on the past 75 years, Six noted the importance of commemorating Southeastern’s past and how that past has shaped the institution into its identity today. He also expressed Southeastern’s excitement for the future and desire to celebrate what God is doing now, looking forward with hope and anticipation to what God will do.
“I just praise God,” said Akin in his address to SES members, “that in his kindness, he really has turned this place into a Great Commission seminary, and we don’t just say that. Our students live it out. And I’m so pleased at where we are, but I think that the future is going to be even brighter and we’re going to send even more and more and more to take the gospel to the hard places in North America but also to the hard places around the world.”
In his address, Akin informed SES members of new faculty hires, increasing student enrollment — surpassing 5,400 students — and continued work on the eagerly anticipated expansions of the Ledford Student Center.
Following Akin’s address, SES members received information on Southeastern’s endowment numbers and its charitable giving, which have continued to increase over the past three years.
Their time also included worship, prayer, student testimonies, and a highlight from Allan Moseley, senior professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, on the importance of biblical fidelity and its role in the institution’s history. Moseley not only noted Southeastern’s robust confessional commitments concerning the Bible and its teachings, including the faculty’s affirmation of four key statements, but also remarked on the ways biblical inerrancy motivates, orients, and safeguards every class on campus.
“Building a Great Commission Seminary”
Later that day at the Southeastern family banquet, trustees, SES members, faculty, and staff gathered to celebrate Southeastern’s 75th anniversary.
The banquet opened with a video exploring Southeastern’s history, from its founding to the present day. Following the video, Six transitioned into a moment of honor for the late Keith Harper, senior professor of Baptist studies (retired).
Harper, in the years leading up to his passing in April of 2025, dedicated himself to the work of writing a 75-year history of Southeastern. He, along with his co-authors, Josh Pruitt and Faith Steele, labored on this book until his death, after which Pruitt and Steele completed the project.
Copies of the book, titled “Building a Great Commission Seminary: Different by Design,” were presented to Harper’s wife, Johnnie, and to Pruitt and Steele. A framed copy of the book’s cover was also presented to Johnnie in Harper’s honor.
“While Dr. Harper can’t be with us here today to celebrate this,” Six expressed, “we can give thanks to the Lord for his work and his contribution to tell the Southeastern story faithfully, to celebrate and help us celebrate who we are today by fully understanding our past.”
Following the presentation, Provost Scott Pace provided attendees with a brief overview of Southeastern’s history understood through its heritage, the heroes of its story, the honor of participating in that story, and the hope that the Southeastern family holds for the future.
“I’m astonished at the privilege that we constantly have to participate in God’s mission and what he continues to do at Southeastern,” Pace shared. “Tonight, we get to celebrate that faithfulness as we consider the global and eternal impact of what God’s doing on our campus.”
“Thank you for your investment and for your prayers for Southeastern,” Pace told SES members. “It’s not just measured in the number of graduates that we produce, but it’s in the people that they’ll invest in, the church members that they’ll disciple, the people they’ll reach with the gospel, the people that they’ll counsel through their ministries, the countless numbers — tens of thousands — that are impacted by Southeastern alumni around our world, and it’s all the result of the investment that you’ve made in Southeastern.”
Akin’s Announcement
Following Pace’s words, Akin took the stage to share with the Southeastern family both his own story of Southeastern’s history and his family’s role in that story.
“I believe in October 2025, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary has the right mission, it has the right vision, it has the right convictions. It has the right passions. We know who we are, we know what we do, and we know where we’re going. So where are we going?” Akin said. “I believe we are headed where we have been for the last 37 years. We are passionately going to continue pursuing the final marching orders of King Jesus: the Great Commission.”
Akin went on to share with the Southeastern family what he had already shared with the Board of Trustees and the Southeastern faculty earlier that day. Following much prayer and consideration, he and his wife, Charlotte, have decided it is time to step down from their role of leadership at Southeastern. Akin announced to the gathered attendees that he intends to retire as president at the end of the current academic year on July 31, 2026.
“When I was inaugurated on October the 29th 2004,” Akin recalled, “I said to those gathered on that day, and I quote, ‘I pledge to you to build an institution that will continue to stand on the infallible and inerrant word of God. Southeastern Seminary will continue to stand for personal evangelism, world missions, and the exclusivity of the gospel. We believe in heaven and hell, and we believe that Jesus is the only difference by God’s grace.’”
Southeastern, today, at its 75th anniversary, is a testament to this commitment, demonstrated in the passion, vision, mission, and conviction of its community — its faculty, donors, students, and alumni who are seeking to spread the gospel across the world.
“I want to say to all of you, the last two decades have been the most precious in our lives. It was a kind act of God to bring us here in the year 2004,” Akin shared. “We have run the race; we have finished the course for this part of our life. But moving forward, we continue to believe in this school, and we will support this school with every fiber of our being because we do believe it is the most wonderful school on the planet. Why would you want to be anywhere else doing anything else?”
“So, I want to say, ‘Thank you,’” he shared in closing, “to all of you for your love and support for us and your love and support for the school. And again, thank you for giving us the honor of a lifetime. It has been the greatest joy that we could have ever, ever imagined.”
Trustee Deliberations and Approvals
Tuesday morning, SES members gathered to hear from Southeastern faculty, Dwayne Milioni and Scott Hildreth, who spoke on the institution’s commitment to the local church and the Great Commission.
Simultaneously, Southeastern’s Board of Trustees gathered for its 2nd plenary session to vote on curriculum revisions, student aid funds, and more.
During the session, trustees approved undergraduate curriculum revisions to several of its marketplace degrees and approved graduate curriculum revisions to its Christian ministry and ministry to women programs as well as its master’s in education degree and its master’s in Christian marital, family, and individual counseling degree.
In addition, trustees approved two new student aid funds, adding to the extensive financial assistance that Southeastern students receive through donor generosity. The Fletcher-Adams Student Aid Fund will provide general financial assistance to full-time and part-time Judson College and Southeastern Seminary students. The Travers Excellence in Writing Award Fund will award Judson College students who have written winning papers for the Michael E. Travers Excellence in Writing Contest.
Trustees also approved two new board members: Lauren Brown and Steven Owensby, both for committee service on the Institutional Advancement Committee of the Board.
Looking to the Future
Following the Tuesday morning sessions, the Southeastern community, SES members, and trustees gathered for a time of worship during Tuesday morning’s chapel, during which James Merritt, pastor of Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, Georgia, preached on 2 Samuel 9.
After the chapel message, Dr. and Mrs. Akin addressed attendees from the stage, publicly announcing his coming retirement to the Southeastern family.
Reading from a letter that he shared with the Board of Trustees the day prior, Akin told the community, “We love this school. Our heart is here, and our bodies will be buried here. We are filled with incredible gratitude and thanksgiving for God’s grace in bringing us here almost 22 years ago, but it’s now time to hand off the baton of leadership to those whom God will raise up to lead this great Great Commission school into the future.”
Following his announcement, Carlos Goodrich, chairman of the board of trustees, spoke to attendees on behalf of the board.
He shared that Akin has agreed to serve in the role of Southeastern Ambassador following his retirement, in which he will represent the institution in a variety of ways.
“As we look to the future,” Goodrich said, “we are beginning a presidential search process that will be guided in prayer and an unwavering commitment to the word of God and the Great Commission. A committee of trustees will be leading the process, and we’ll be listening carefully to the voices of the Southeastern community as we move forward.”
“The Lord has laid an incredibly strong foundation here at Southeastern,” Goodrich expressed, “and we can have confidence that he will continue to guide us to even greater gospel impact. The mission remains. The gospel still compels us, and I believe, because of the Lord and each of you, that the future of Southeastern is very bright.”
Read the full article at the SEBTS website.
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