[1]FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)–Thomas “Tommy” D. Lea, dean of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s school of theology, died July 2 at the age of 60 after a four-and-a-half-year battle with cancer. His funeral was held July 6 at Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
Lea was named dean of the theology school at Southwestern, the world’s largest seminary, in 1995. He had served as a professor of New Testament at Southwestern since 1979.
Southwestern President Kenneth S. Hemphill said the seminary has lost not only a dean, but also a colleague and friend.
“[Lea] led with vision and compassion,” Hemphill said. “He had the unique ability to stand with clear conviction and yet build consensus among the faculty.”
Lea, in public statements since 1996, made it clear his illness had not shaken his confidence in God and in prayer.
“I have renewed the conviction that God is sovereignly in charge, even in my sickness,” Lea said. “He has not left me. He is concerned about my spiritual good.”
Lea also said people’s prayers had given him strength, health, stamina and endurance.
“But I don’t have any conviction that they’re going to bring me healing. … God may not take the thorn away, but he will give us grace [to face whatever comes]. Prayer becomes the means to receiving that grace,” he said.
In a 1998 article, Lea wrote that sicknesses like cancer are opportunities to know God more deeply and to experience his grace. Although Lea wrote he would “be pleased” if God chose to heal him in this life, he added that he knew “complete healing comes in the life beyond.”
Lea said his favorite Scripture passage was Lamentations 3:22-23: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
“I rest in that verse,” he said. “‘Great is your faithfulness’ is such an encouragement.”
Hemphill lauded Lea as “a scholar, a preacher, a churchman and a gentleman.”
“Tommy Lea demonstrated both how a Christian lives and dies victoriously,” Hemphill said.
Soon after being named theology dean, Lea said his vision for the school of theology was to use technology to help make a Southwestern education available and accessible to anyone who wants it, anywhere. “We want to be here for the world, and we want the Fort Worth campus to be the linchpin of the effort,” he said in a 1996 interview. He summed up his view of the theological essence of Southwestern’s mission in three words: practical, biblical Christianity. “Our presentation must be practical to this world. Our inspiration must be the Bible, and we must be unashamedly followers of Christ,” he said.
Prior to serving at Southwestern, Lea had been pastor of Hunter Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Ala., and Liberty Baptist Church, Appomatox, Va. He also served as assistant pastor of Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas.
“I fell in love with the pastorate from the moment I started serving in a church,” Lea said in a 1992 interview. “I think the most exciting thing about it to me was being able to see people converted and then grow under the ministry we had. I enjoyed the one-on-one contact with people and being able to help train them in how to share their faith.”
Lea was born in Houston, Miss., Sept. 20, 1938, and earned a degree in electrical engineering from Mississippi State University in 1960. During his senior year at MSU, he was called to preach. That year he also married Beverly, his high school sweetheart.
At Southwestern, Lea earned a master of divinity in 1964 and a doctor of theology in 1967. “My years in seminary taught me how to study the Bible, gave me the desire to study the Bible and to help other people learn about it as well,” Lea said in the 1992 interview.
Lea has written commentaries on 1 Corinthians, 1 and 2 Peter, Jude, and 1 and 2 Timothy, along with numerous articles for theological journals. He and other faculty members have used his book, “The New Testament: Its Background and Message,” in introductory New Testament courses at Southwestern.
He said in the 1992 interview that he hoped his commentaries would help readers catch some of the excitement that the Apostle Paul had about ministry. “There is a sense in which every believer is called to ministry,” Lea said. “We all need to recapture Paul’s sense of amazement that God would call him, a sinner, into Christian work.”
Donations can be made to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lea’s memory.
In addition to his wife, Lea is survived by three children, Lisa Rutledge of Arlington, Texas; Marcie Funk, a missionary in Africa; and Clifton Thomas of Edmond, Okla.; and five grandchildren.