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WRAP-UP: Midwestern trustees
approve Spurgeon, Missouri academic chairs


KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)–The Charles H. Spurgeon Chair of Biblical Preaching and the Missouri Baptist Chair of Partnership Missions, two historic faculty endowment positions, were approved by Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s trustees during their Oct. 16 meeting in Kansas City, Mo.

“The establishment of the chairs was basically the highlight of the meeting,” trustee chairman Gene Downing said. “We’ve never had chairs before, but we’ve known for some time that we need them.

“To come to the point in time when we can make it happen — it doesn’t get any better than that. It’s a milestone,” Downing continued. “Previously, we haven’t had the money to do it, but God’s really been blessing abundantly through the Missouri Baptist Convention and the Spurgeon Library.”

Midwestern’s acquisition of the Charles Haddon Spurgeon Library, a collection of 6,000-plus volumes from the 19th century spanning the subject areas of religion and theology to literature, travel, biography, science, hymnody, history and humor, was part of MBTS President R. Philip Roberts’ report to trustees.

“The establishment of the Charles Haddon Spurgeon Chair of Biblical Preaching provides a wonderful opportunity for us,” Roberts said. “Through the creation of this chair, we trust that Spurgeon will become an active example of Christ-centered proclamation and warmhearted evangelism.”

Trustees approved the recommendation to establish the Charles H. Spurgeon Chair of Biblical Preaching to ensure the utilization and promotion of the newly acquired collection and as a means of honoring Spurgeon.

In addition, an annual Spurgeon Conference on Biblical Preaching will be scheduled on pertinent themes, with outstanding Baptist theologians and pastors participating in each conference.

Portions of the Spurgeon collection will be on display in MBTS’ existing library, while the remaining parts initially will be housed in a climate-controlled library annex for classification, cataloguing and restoration.

The $400,000 collection was paid for from the seminary’s reserves. While an additional $200,000 will be needed to fully restore the collection, Midwestern has received a matching gift of $50,000 to begin the process.

Also during the meeting:

— The trustees’ long-range planning committee announced the anticipated sale of 30 acres of land in the southwest corner of the seminary’s property on Nov. 8. A motion was passed to allow Roberts to execute the necessary documents for the sale on behalf of and in accordance with stipulations agreed upon by the board.

In a complementary action, trustees voted unanimously to approve the establishment of the Missouri Baptist Chair of Partnership Missions utilizing $200,000 from the pending land sale to match a gift of the Missouri Baptist Convention to the MBTS missions/evangelism endowment fund.

“This will be one of the most important contributions Missouri Baptists could make to MBTS,” Missouri Baptist Convention President Ralph Sawyer said. “We’re excited about the tremendous impact potential.”

— Trustees were told that the final enrollment for the past academic year stood at 1,096, a 21.9 percent increase over 899 the preceding year.

“We’re very pleased that we’ve had several years of record headcount and have broken through that thousand-student ceiling this past year,” Roberts said.

Roberts noted encouraging growth through the addition of the Midwestern Baptist College two years ago.

Students enrolled at the main campus in Kansas City accounted for 77 percent (841) of the total headcount. These included students in the doctoral, first professional, master’s, undergraduate and WISDOM programs. The remaining 23 percent (255) of the students were enrolled in extension courses in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa and South Dakota.

Enrollment at Midwestern has grown steadily over the past three years. The 2005-06 headcount is up 56 percent (395) over the 2002-03 headcount of 701. Annual credit hours taken have increased by 57 percent over the past five years, from 6,525 in 2000-01 to 10,236 in 2005-06.

As a result of the growth, trustees authorized Roberts to build 18 new student housing units following the pending land sale. Apartment complex design is in process, with groundbreaking expected this winter or early next spring.

To meet the needs of increasing student enrollment, the trustees executive committee authorized the seminary’s institutional advancement office to submit an $8.7 million capital campaign proposal to the SBC Executive Committee in order to build a new chapel and increase library space. Funds generated by the new campaign will be coupled with approximately $4 million in proceeds from the land sale to make these expansions.

“This is a special blessing because we’ve realized a number of years ago that housing was a concern,” Downing said. “Now that we can make this happen, it is especially gratifying. It shows that we’ve come a long way to be able to put back into our infrastructure the ability to house the increase in student enrollment.”

— The trustees’ academic affairs committee reported the additions of the three new faculty members: Frederick Cardoza II, Eric Foley and N. Blake Hearson.

Cardoza joins the MBTS faculty as associate director for the professional doctoral program, director of distance learning and associate dean of Midwestern Baptist College. He holds a doctor of education in leadership from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and has completed coursework for a Ph.D. in Christian education at Southern. He also holds a master’s degree in Christian education from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and a bachelor’s degree in youth ministries from Liberty University in Virginia.

Foley joins the faculty as assistant professor of church music. He holds a D.M.A. in choral conducting performance from the University of Kansas and a master’s of music degree and bachelor degree in vocal music education from the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Hearson, appointed assistant professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, holds doctorate and a master of philosophy degrees in Hebraic and cognate studies from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. He also holds a master of divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Wheaton College in Illinois.

The trustees’ next scheduled meeting is March 19-20 in Kansas City.
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  • Amelia Hendra