During chapel on December 5, the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) community celebrated the installment of the Jim Shaddix Chair of Expository Preaching in honor of the faithful service and impact of Southeastern Senior Professor of Preaching Jim Shaddix.
At the beginning of chapel, Provost Scott Pace presented the Owens Evangelism Award to a full-time student who exemplifies the strongest personal evangelistic witness among Southeastern’s on-campus student body. This year’s award honored seminary student Nate Ginsterblum.
Following the award presentation, Carlos Goodrich, chair of Southeastern’s board of trustees, read aloud a resolution approved by the board on October 15. The resolution recognized Shaddix’s faithful service and ministry, his passion for discipleship and teaching and his commitment to his marriage, to scholarship and to the steadfast preaching of God’s word; and in his honor, the resolution established an endowed faculty chair in his name.
Following the reading of the resolution, the chapel filled with applause as the Southeastern community stood to honor Shaddix and his family who were in attendance.
“Generous gifts that make an endowed chair possible allow Southeastern to furnish an enduring source of funding for Southeastern Seminary professors, the backbone of a world class program of Great Commission preparation,” said SEBTS President Danny Akin while addressing chapel attendees.
“Today, with tremendous delight and joy, we install the Jim Shaddix Chair of Expository Preaching,” Akin said. “This endowed chair will allow Southeastern to maintain a faculty member in expository preaching until Jesus comes again.”
In addition to serving as Southeastern’s senior professor of preaching, Shaddix also holds the W.A. Criswell Chair of Expository Preaching and serves as the Senior Fellow for the Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership at Southeastern. Recognized as an exemplary mentor to pastors and one of the foremost teachers of expository preaching, Shaddix has faithfully pastored over 40 years and has trained students in the classroom for more than 30 years, having taught at Southeastern since 2012. The installation of the Jim Shaddix Chair of Expository Preaching honors the impact of Shaddix’s lifelong commitment to the church, expository preaching and preaching education.
Provost Scott Pace was announced in chapel as the professor chosen to hold the Jim Shaddix Chair of Expository Preaching. Pace, a colleague and friend of Shaddix, has taught at Southeastern since 2018 and currently serves as professor of preaching and pastoral studies in addition to his roles as provost and dean of graduate studies.
“It is with great honor,” Akin announced, “that today we put Dr. Pace into this chair that honors both Dr. Pace for his faithfulness in teaching and preaching the word of God, but especially our colleague Dr. Jim Shaddix.”
Presenting Pace with the Shaddix chair’s honorary medallion, Akin said, “You now hold what may be, in my mind, the most precious chair of all of them here at this school: the Jim Shaddix Chair of Expository Preaching.”
Following Akin’s presentation to Pace and Shaddix, attendees heard from chapel speaker and mentee of Shaddix, David Platt, who serves as the lead pastor at McLean Bible Church.
Platt expressed the impact that Shaddix’s ministry has had on countless students who are now preaching and proclaiming the word of God around the world because of what they learned from Shaddix. He also noted the many more to come who will learn from Pace and subsequent faculty able to serve and teach through the newly installed chair.
“I hope and pray that you receive all of this today as the fruit of God’s grace flowing in and through your life,” Platt said.
“I know no other person on the planet who more faithfully steps behind the pulpit or the podium with the word of God to expose the meaning of the Spirit of God in such a way that you exalt the beauty, majesty and glory of the Son of God. And you do so, not in your own power, but in the power of God.”
To learn more about Southeastern’s preaching and pastoral ministry programs and how professors like Shaddix and Pace are equipping students to expositionally lead their churches, visit sebts.edu/preaching.
