Faculty panel discusses Southwestern’s ‘globally engaged’ core value
By Karen Garcia, SWBTS
FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) — Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) continued its emphasis on missions during its Sept. 10 chapel service, which featured a panel of SWBTS and Texas Baptist College (TBC) faculty discussing the seminary’s globally engaged core value.
The panel featured Dean Sieberhagen, interim dean of the Roy J. Fish School of Evangelism, director of the World Missions Center, and the Charles F. Stanley Chair for the Advancement of Global Christianity; Daniel Sanchez, distinguished professor emeritus of missions; Michael Copeland, associate director of the World Missions Center and associate professor of missions; John Mark Terry, affiliate professor of evangelism and missions; and Kevin Rodgers, associate professor of missions. Chandler Snyder, vice president for institutional relations and instructor of missions, served as moderator.
W. Madison Grace, provost and vice president for academic administration and dean of the School of Theology, talked about Southwestern as “a globally engaged community,” adding that the mission field could be down the street or on the other side of the world. The globally engaged core value is among six core values of the institution, which also include grace filled, Christ centered, scripturally grounded, confessionally guided and student focused.
Grace read Matthew 28, noting that it commands Christ’s followers to fulfill the Great Commission.
“This is why we do what we do,” he said. “This is why we come to be equipped, to become effective ministers of the gospel.”
Snyder said the panel discussion resulted from feedback from students at the spring town hall meeting. He said students wanted to hear about faculty members’ experiences and how they shaped the way they teach and lead in the classroom.
He noted the missions focus of the panel discussion was building on “the incredible, bold” Global Missions Week that the seminary observed the previous week, and added the panel participants had “over 100 years of [missions] field experience.”
Copeland spoke of the importance of prayer in being globally engaged. Christians are admonished to pray, he said, adding, “there’s no way to know where He’s sending us if we’re not listening.”
Rodgers, a new member of the seminary faculty, said he has been “encouraged to see the way that this community is actually engaged globally, even here within Fort Worth, and so many people are working with refugees, working with people who are from all over the world, here in Fort Worth, and then going all around the world. So I think it’s the total package is what you should be after in your daily life: your study of God’s Word, your devotional life and even how you’re growing as a believer.”
Snyder said the formalization of the globally engaged core value started about two years ago. Sieberhagen explained that “we looked at some of our legacy, and from the very start of Southwestern we’ve been known as the Great Commission seminary. Dr. [Robert] Naylor is famous for saying that you can go to any time zone of the world and find a Southwesterner serving on the mission field,” he said, referencing the seminary’s fifth president.
The seminary also has students from all over the world in its classrooms, Sieberhagen said, adding that, “Every single classroom is a globally engaged classroom.” He also noted that any program SWBTS offers is needed on the mission field.
“One of the greatest needs we have on the field right now is for theological educators,” he said, adding that Old Testament professors on the mission field also are scarce.
“Any program you’re in, we need you on the field,” Sieberhagen said.
A video of the panel discussion is available here.
MBTS hosts preaching workshop on gospel focus of Charles Spurgeon
By Michaela Classen, MBTS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP) — Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS) welcomed more than 200 guests Sept. 10 for an on-campus preaching workshop led by Steven Lawson, in partnership with The Institute for Expository Preaching.
Lawson serves as founder and president of OnePassion Ministries and The Academy for Expository Preaching and as lead preacher for Trinity Bible Church in Dallas. During the workshop, Lawson taught four sessions on the Holy Spirit’s role in preaching, emphasizing the example of the Spirit’s activity in the preaching of Charles Spurgeon.
“It is always a delight to have great preachers on campus. When that preacher is also your friend, it is altogether special,” said President Jason Allen. “Dr. Lawson has been a constant source of encouragement and friendship over the years. We are not only grateful at the institutional level to have him here, but we are grateful at the personal level as well.”
For the first session, held in concert with Tuesday’s chapel service, Lawson preached a sermon from John 16:7-11 titled “The Preacher’s Advocate.” The sermon addressed how Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit to His disciples should encourage preachers today.
“The Spirit of God will do what methodology and technique cannot do,” Lawson said. “The Spirit of God alone can open blind eyes and deaf ears and hardened hearts. The Spirit of God alone can regenerate and impart repentance and saving faith. The Holy Spirit is the preacher’s advocate.”
Lawson noted that Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit gave the disciples a threefold advantage over His remaining with them in the flesh, as the Spirit ensures that Christ is present with all His servants, indwells them with His power and convicts the world through their witness.
Describing the Holy Spirit’s work to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, Lawson reminded preachers that He accomplishes this work through their preaching.
“No one will ever enter the kingdom of heaven without being convicted of sin and righteousness and judgment,” Lawson said, adding, “We must preach on sin, we must preach on righteousness, and we must preach on judgment. If the Spirit of God is to be at work with us, and if we are to work in tandem with the Spirit of God, we’re going to have to preach on what the Spirit of God has been sent into this world to do.”
Concluding the sermon, Lawson encouraged preachers to respond with confidence, courage and comfort in the person and promise of the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit of God goes before us, and He is already at work preparing hearts.”
Following chapel, Lawson delivered the remaining three sessions in the Spurgeon Library, where guests had begun the day with a guided tour.
To watch Dr. Lawson’s chapel sermon, click here.
