A hope-filled fall semester
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the Fall 2023 issue of Southwestern News.
What an encouraging start to the fall semester on the Southwestern campus! A hopeful and prayerful spirit continues to be evident among students, staff, faculty, and administrators. Chapel services have been characterized by majestic praise and challenging messages from the Word of God. The fall semester has surpassed 15,800 credit hours taught, an increase of nearly 500 over the fall of 2022. Days devoted to prayer for Southwestern took place on October 14 and 17.
Implementing the institutional plan
Aspects of the Advance Southwestern: 2030 institutional plan have begun to be implemented as those who teach, learn, and serve at Southwestern Seminary and Texas Baptist College seek to live out their commitments to being a grace-filled, Christ-centered, Scripturally-grounded, confessionally-guided, student-focused, and globally-engaged academic community. The globally-engaged commitments have been seen with special gatherings for international students, who now make up nearly 20% of the Southwestern student body. Moreover, almost half of the semester’s chapel programs have focused on international missions, the work of the global church, and the importance of global evangelism.
Joyful, prayerful, and thankful
The Southwestern community has adopted 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 as the theme verse for this academic year, trusting the Lord to help us all become a joyful, prayerful, and thankful people. In the spring semester, the chapel services will be devoted to preaching through the books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians as we look at the larger context for these important verses. Last spring, several faculty members led through the preaching of Philippians, modeling expositional preaching. We look forward to hearing from those who will be leading us in the days ahead as we seek to apply these inspired words from the Apostle Paul to our lives and ministries in the twenty-first century.
Seminary leadership team
We are pleased to announce members of the Seminary Leadership Team for the 2023-24 academic year: Madison Grace, provost, vice president for academic administration, and dean of the School of Theology; Travis Trawick, vice president for institutional effectiveness and strategy (and coordinator of the Advance Southwestern: 2030 plan); Chandler Snyder, vice president for enrollment and student services and dean of students; Adam Dodd, vice president for campus technology; Jack Terry, interim vice president for institutional advancement; and Dale Ford, interim vice president for financial services. They are joined by a devoted team of deans and other campus leaders, as well as dedicated faculty and staff members, who are leading Southwestern at this crucial time in the life of the institution. Southwestern continues to face multidirectional challenges, including financial, legal and governmental, accreditation, and space and property utilization, among other matters. We remain hopeful regarding the future of Southwestern when we think about the gifted leadership of people like Madison Grace, Travis Trawick, Chandler Snyder, Adam Dodd, and others.
Ministerial advisors
On October 19, the first meeting of the Southwestern Board of Reference, a group of ministerial advisors, chaired by Jack Graham, took place on the Southwestern campus. More than 50 pastors, denominational leaders, and alums have agreed to join with this group to provide prayerful encouragement, support, counsel, and guidance for Southwestern, seeking to strengthen the Southwestern mission and extend the institution’s influence.
Board of Trustees
The Southwestern Board of Trustees, meeting on October 16-18, adopted a revised budget for the 2023-24 academic year and put in place several decisions to help guide the seminary toward a more hopeful future. We are grateful for those who serve Southwestern by giving their time and wisdom to this vital work.
Preview Day
The entire Southwestern campus was greatly encouraged by those who attended Preview Day on October 20. We were thrilled with both the number and quality of prospective students, particularly among undergraduates. We are thankful for the efforts of the enrollment services team and hopeful that these who joined us on October 20 will be led to join with us in 2024 to prepare for God’s calling on their lives at Southwestern Seminary and Texas Baptist College.
We invite you to join with us
Unrestricted giving was particularly strong in the 2022-23 year. We are grateful to generous friends who invested in the kingdom work at Southwestern. Once again in 2023-24, we are trusting the Lord to prompt these institutional partners to help us with their gifts. We pledge to be good institutional stewards of the resources that the Lord provides for Southwestern.
We ask not only for your gifts and support, but also for your prayers and encouragement. While the fall semester has been quite hopeful, Southwestern continues to face many challenges. We trust you will want to join with us as you are able to participate in the work of renewal taking place on the Southwestern campus. We are grateful to God for each one of you and trust His blessings for you in the days ahead.
Faithfully,
David S. Dockery, President
O.S. Hawkins, Chancellor
