(Due to chatting tendencies, I came in during this address! Sorry, Dr. Allen. Blame Leo Endel!)
2. The Seminaries must about training pastors and leaders for SBC ministry .
3. SBC Seminaries must develop a sustainable business model. “Don’t do stupid stuff.”
That is not enough.
Educational costs are getting out of hand, as are recruiting costs. Recent IMB downsizing is a warning to all.
Surely we did not spend decades fighting to avoid forfeiting our seminaries theologically to simply forfeit them financially.
4. We must determine to be agile and adaptable.
New technologies.
5. We must exist to serve Southern Baptist Churches.
Our seminaries do not exist just for scholarship, but as a means of preparing the leaders.
6. We must determine to prioritize the M. Div.
It has long been the gold standard and that is well-deserved. In some seminaries the M. Div has fallen on hard times. The M. A. has become popular because of the online accreditation. The M. Div offers what a pastor needs and settling for an MA simply for expedience is not good.
It’s not enough to simply know a little more than the biblically illiterate of our era.
7. We continually demonstrate a prima facie case for continued existence.
The lost need more than shallow answers from ill-equipped ministers.
8. We must determine to celebrate enrollment in terms of strength, not primarily size.
As SBs, we tend to like big. But the future may bring smaller, but we must take them deeper. We must judge by how many qualified pastors we are developing for Southern Baptist churches.
9. Missed its.
Care more about the gospel and the truth than the institution.
10. We must determine for the overall SBC project to be more important than any individual ministry.
You cannot have six healthy SBC seminaries without a healthy SBC.
This may be a “golden era” of theological education in the SBC, but present success does not guarantee the future.
