FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)–Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary celebrated its 100th birthday in grand Texas style March 14, complete with bright spring weather and cloudless skies.
The day’s activities began with a centennial chapel service on the seminary’s front lawn in Fort Worth, Texas, followed by alumni gatherings, a campus-wide picnic and fireworks.
Several notable alumni were present to honor the legacy of Southwestern’s first century of service to Southern Baptists and to challenge the seminary to remain a premier training ground for pastors, Christian leaders and missionaries.
During the Founder’s Day centennial chapel service, SWBTS President Paige Patterson welcomed students and guests, recognized alumni and read letters of congratulations from alumni David S. Dockery, president of Union University in Tennessee, and Jeff Iorg, president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California.
Two other influential SWBTS alumni gave testimonies. Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina, thanked Southwestern for consistently setting the pace of evangelism for Southern Baptists. Akin voiced his hope for Southern Baptists by saying, “In the day and age in which we live, wedding a healthy, robust theology to a Great Commission passion — that is my prayer for Southern Baptists, that is my prayer for all of our seminaries and, in particular, the one that has set the pace for so long, that is my prayer and my heartbeat for Southwestern Seminary.”
O.S. Hawkins, president of GuideStone Financial Resources in Dallas, characterized Southwestern by its influence of training more pastors, religious educators, music ministers and missionaries than any other seminary. He also praised the seminary for its integrity in staying true to founder B.H. Carroll’s vision.
After Hawkins mentioned Carroll, master of divinity student Andy Smith portrayed Southwestern’s founder in delivering a speech reflecting what Carroll might say today about the seminary’s past 100 years and its future. “I urge you as a brother, the founder, a fellow servant, to stand fast upon the inerrant Word of God, keeping the seminary lashed to our Savior’s cross that all men might know Him,” Smith said. “May God bless Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, the president, the faculty and the students to always remain true to the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Patterson displayed the seminary’s “Library of Centennial Classics,” a set of 10 books written by some of the brightest minds in Southwestern’s history, such as Carroll, L.R. Scarborough, W.T. Connor and A.H. Newman. The set, available for order on the seminary’s website, is bound in a blue hardback binding with a centennial stamp on the front of each book.
Kenneth Hemphill, Southwestern’s seventh president and national strategist for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Empowering Kingdom Growth initiative, acknowledged it was “good to be back home.” Reading through John 17, Hemphill encouraged the centennial crowd to be “kept and sanctified by the Word while in the world.”
Hemphill noted that Southwestern alumni serve the Master “wherever [He] may lead,” whether as pastors of small churches or mega-churches or spending their last days in the grasp of a captor in another region of the world. He encouraged students to let “God advance His Kingdom, by His power, for His glory.”
After lunch, alumni gathered in Truett Auditorium for a time of singing and testimonies from alumni.
James Leo Garrett, distinguished professor emeritus in Southwestern’s school of theology, represented graduates from the seminary’s founding through 1965. Garrett, a noted Baptist historian, discussed the progression of the seminary’s first 100 years. David Allen, current dean of the school of theology, representing alumni from 1966-86, recounted his life journey which brought him to Southwestern as a student, then as a trustee and finally as a professor and dean. Bart Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas, represented those graduating from 1987 to the present.
Barber told the audience, “We live on the eve, I am convinced, of a great Baptist renaissance that is going to breathe vitality and confidence into our churches, as we proclaim the New Testament Gospel and plant New Testament churches throughout the world.” Barber added, “Because of that, because of you, and because of so many other reasons, I am so proud to be a Southwesterner.”
Following the alumni gathering, separate alumni receptions were held for each of the schools, where birthday cake was served and alumni were able to visit with past and present faculty members.
Alumni, students and faculty members then gathered on the lawn in front of the B.H. Carroll Memorial Building, where they stood side by side to form the number “100” for an aerial photograph commemorating the seminary’s centennial celebration. An estimated 2,100 centennial celebrants then sat down to a barbecue dinner on the lawn, while children enjoyed playing in bounce houses.
An evening of musical variety ensued, provided by the school of church music, including the seminary’s New Sound ensemble; pianist Don Wyrtzen, a professor of music at Southwestern; seminary students Parker Webb, Justin Stone, Abby Caldwell, Preston Atwood and Andrew Pearle performing Southern Gospel songs and hymns; and Joe Hardin, associate professor of church music, leading in contemporary worship with the help of Southwestern student vocalists and the New Sound ensemble.
The day’s festivities concluded with fireworks that exploded above the seminary’s iconic memorial building, casting colorful lights into the clear night sky, followed by a final charge to Christians to shine the light of the Gospel into a darkened world.
Since its founding, Southwestern has sent out more than 40,000 graduates to serve in local churches and mission fields around the world. In 1908, B.H. Carroll established the seminary on the campus of Baylor University. It was moved to its current location on Seminary Hill in Fort Worth in 1910 and was placed under the direction of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1925. Paige Patterson was elected as the eighth president of the seminary in 2003.
In conjunction with its 100th anniversary, Southwestern has released a centennial edition of its Southwestern News Magazine, capturing the history of the seminary and its eight presidents and casting a vision for the next 100 years for equipping the next generation of preachers, musicians, educators and missionaries to boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. A free subscription to Southwestern News can be requested at www.swbts.edu/swnews, clicking “subscribe” and entering a name and address. The online version of the magazine will be available soon at the website.
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Michelle McNatt, Benjamin Hawkins & Keith Collier are writers for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
