NEW ORLEANS (BP) — Growing enrollment numbers, academic milestones and a thriving spiritual community highlighted 2024 for New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) and Leavell College.
“This has been the best year of my time at New Orleans so far,” said Jamie Dew, president of NOBTS and Leavell College.
“We’re grateful for the momentum that we have in our enrollment and the morale on campus. We’re extremely grateful to see so many students coming to our school with a heart for Christ and for a lost world.”
A variety of milestones, moments and events made the year so memorable.
5 years of President Jamie Dew
NOBTS celebrated Jamie Dew’s fifth year as president of NOBTS and Leavell College in 2024.
Dew was elected to serve as president of NOBTS and Leavell College on June 5, 2019.
He told messengers to the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting that serving as president has been the “greatest honor” of his life.
Crescent City Worship forms, releases albums
Crescent City Worship, a newly-named collection of students, staff, alumni and friends of NOBTS, released two live albums during 2024.
The first album, “Live at the Abide Conference 2024,” featured Dove award-winning vocalist Meredith Andrews, while the second album was recorded during the group’s time leading worship at Oklahoma Baptists’ Falls Creek Youth Camp.
Crescent City’s albums can be heard here.
Successful academic programs and centers
In 2024, New Orleans Seminary’s academic programs, research centers and institutes continued to thrive.
One of the highlights among the seminary’s academic programs is significant growth in Leavell College enrollment. Additionally, several of the seminary’s research centers and institutes achieved notable milestones.
NOBTS’s Caskey Center for Church Excellence, which provides scholarship opportunities for more than 200 ministers of normative size Southern Baptist churches, celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2024.
During the past 10 years, Caskey students have initiated 75,682 gospel conversations and 9,050 professions of faith have come as a result of these conversations.
The seminary’s Museum of the Bible and Archaeology, which combines the work of the Michael and Sara Moskau Institute of Archaeology and the H. Milton Haggard Center for New Testament Textual Studies, celebrated its 10th anniversary this December.
The seminary’s Global Mission Center, which partners with the International Mission Board (IMB), experienced another successful year of ministry.
Many students, faculty and staff participated in mission trips all around the world. These trips partnered with IMB, North American Mission Board (NAMB) and Send Relief personnel.
There were 55 total participants among six different trips.
Trip locations include:
- South Africa
- Southeast Asia
- North Africa
- Central Asia
- Clarkston, Georgia
More than 300 gospel conversations took place on these trips.
Additionally, four students participated in Nehemiah Teams through the IMB, five missionary units were deployed or appointed for mid or long-term service with the IMB and seven are in the IMB process for mid- or long-term service.
Remembering Rhonda Kelley
Although there were many moments of joy and achievement in 2024, there were also times of struggle and mourning.
One of those moments was the passing of Rhonda Kelley, wife of NOBTS president emeritus Chuck Kelley and pioneer in women’s ministry.
Kelley passed away on Feb. 17, 2024, after a long battle with cancer. She was 72.
She was known for her vibrant spirit and dedication in serving women in the local church, in the seminary classroom, and at the state and denominational level.
Faculty additions and positive updates
Throughout the year, several faculty members were appointed to serve with NOBTS:
- Richard Gambill, assistant professor of expository preaching
- Rebekah Callahan, assistant professor of counseling and ministry
- Terry Iles, assistant professor of Old Testament and Hebrew
- Eli Byrd, assistant professor of Christian ministry
- Michael Wang, assistant professor of discipleship
- Alex Wendel, assistant professor of counseling
- Johann Acuña, assistant professor of music and ministry.
Additionally, Cory Barnes, associate professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, was named dean of graduate studies for New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Other positive updates include the launch of Leavell College’s one-year ServeNOLA program, and a revision to the Doctor of Education program which will allow students to earn a Master of Theology (ThM) degree while pursuing the Doctor of Education (EdD) degree.
Conferences and events
Defend Apologetics Conference
The 15th annual Defend apologetics conference at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College, Jan. 2-5, welcomed 465 registrants from colleges and churches from 20 states to hear biblical responses to pressing questions from culture.
Robert Stewart, retired NOBTS professor of philosophy and theology, was honored for his work founding and directing the Defend conference. Stewart retired at the end of the spring semester.
Tawa Anderson, associate professor of philosophy and apologetics, will direct the conference moving forward.
Abide
A packed house of more than 1200 women gathered for Abide 2024 at NOBTS, Feb. 23-24, to worship and embrace a calling to be “Women of Prayer.”
Women from more than 190 churches and nine different states were in attendance.
Abre
The “Abre Mis Ojos” conference (Spanish for “open my eyes”) gathered more than 700 guests from the Hispanic community at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Sept. 20-21.
The third annual conference, developed by NOBTS as an intentional way to engage Hispanics, hosted guests from six states and more than 50 different churches. The event saw a record number of youth attendees, and 14 different nationalities were represented among all guests.
Prepare Here Summit
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary partnered with five Baptist state conventions to facilitate the Prepare Here Pastor’s Summit (Oct. 10-11), an event designed to encourage and equip more than 60 pastors from those different conventions.
Academic milestones and ministry success
Lastly, 2024 was a year marked with many academic achievements and milestones for students of New Orleans Baptist Seminary and Leavell College.
Between the seminary’s spring and fall graduations, NOBTS conferred 280 degrees, while Leavell College graduates received 161 undergraduate degrees and certificates.
In addition to graduating students, the seminary continues to celebrate its ministry to the city of New Orleans through events like Serve Day.
Serve Day, a day of volunteer and ministry service, is designed to be a continuation of missions work from the earliest years of the institution. The impact of that missions work is evident many years later.
At the seminary’s founding in 1917, there were fewer than 10 Southern Baptist Churches in New Orleans and less than 1,500 Southern Baptists. Today, of the 130 churches in the New Orleans Baptist Association, there are 120 churches that are pastored or served in a staff capacity by NOBTS alumni, or current faculty, staff or students.
As the new year approaches, New Orleans looks forward to continuing to fulfill its mission to prepare servants for ministry.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Timothy Cockes is a writer in Nashville.)
