fbpx
×

Log into your account

We have changed software providers for our subscription database. Old login credentials will no longer work. Please click the "Register" link below to create a new account. If you do not know your new account number you can contact [email protected]
Christ’s love put on display at SEBTS convocation
SEBTS Communications
September 01, 2015
3 MIN READ TIME

Christ’s love put on display at SEBTS convocation

Christ’s love put on display at SEBTS convocation
SEBTS Communications
September 01, 2015

Binkley Chapel was filled with new and returning students, faculty and staff for the fall 2015 convocation celebrating the sacrificial love of Christ.

On the morning of Aug. 18 Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s (SEBTS) first chapel service of the semester featured President Daniel Akin preaching from John 13.

Akin spoke about Christ’s “new commandment” for Christians to serve others as Jesus served them. Akin also highlighted Christ’s humility as the Savior washed the disciples’ feet on the eve of His crucifixion.

The sermon was titled, “How will the world know that we belong to Jesus?” He posed the question “What does it mean to love others as Jesus has loved us?”

9-1-15_SEBTS_WEB.jpg

Akin believes that Christians’ “love for others will show Jesus’ love to the nations.” He stated that by the way Christians live, love, serve and die they show that they belong to Jesus.

As an example of someone who lived this kind of life, Akin shared the story of Christian missionary and martyr Eleanor Chestnut. She was an orphan in the late 19th century whose faith in Christ led her to medical missions in China. Her sacrificial work in China led to the growth of a local church to 300 members.

In 1905 at the age of 37 she was martyred in China for her faith. Years later, the community spoke about how Chestnut’s loving care of others made them think of Jesus.

Akin and his wife Charlotte, along with a few of the SEBTS faculty, put the message into practice by washing the feet of five students.

The Hendley chair, new faculty and teaching awards

In addition, Ken Keathley was installed in the Jesse Hendley Chair of Biblical Theology. Ed Hindson, dean of the divinity school at Liberty University and author of more than 40 books introduced the new chair.

9-1-15_SEBTS_WEB2.jpg

Hendley is best remembered as one of Southern Baptists’ most remarkable evangelists. He hosted “The Radio Evangelistic Hour” beginning in 1931 and continued until his death at the age of 87 on Nov. 30, 1994.

Keathley, professor of theology and the director of the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture, graduated from SEBTS with a master of divinity and a doctorate in theology.

“I am grateful to the Hendley Foundation for the funding it provided, to Ed Hindson for his work in guiding the endowment to Southeastern, and to the administration for bestowing the chair,” Keathley said. “Occupying the Hendley chair is a privilege I do not take lightly.”

Akin recognized two new members elected to the faculty at SEBTS including Stephen Eccher, assistant professor of church history and reformation studies, and Jim Shaddix, professor of preaching and W.A. Criswell Chair of Preaching.

Also during chapel, Provost Bruce Ashford presented Chuck Quarles, professor of New Testament and biblical theology, and Matthew Mullins, assistant professor of English and history of ideas, with the “Faculty Excellence and Teaching Award.”

To watch this message online, visit multimedia.sebts.edu/?p=6271.

(EDITOR’S NOTE – This story was compiled from SEBTS press releases by Emily Blake, editorial aide for the Biblical Recorder.)