A Great Commission Seminary

At Southeastern our mission is simple:
“Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary seeks to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by equipping students to serve the Church and fulfill the Great Commission.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

The motto we use all the time is that every classroom is a Great Commission classroom. That is seen in a variety of ways: Dr. David Allen Black, a noted Greek scholar, going on trip after trip to Ethiopia (and contracting malaria!); Dr. Nathan Finn, church history prof who has a witnessing assignment in his fall class syllabus; my coauthor Mark Liederbach who does the same and has had more than a few students lead people to Christ as part of their ethics class; the way so many faculty are involved in Great Commission work in various local churches, the list goes on.

I love to hear how a young philosophy prof here led a Mormon to Christ, a New Testament or a Counseling professor who just shared Christ with someone (these are the most recent conversations I have had). I love that so many of our faculty and students travel the globe every year for the gospel. I love that our president does the same, and even has two of his sons and their families on the mission field now.

We are by no means the only Great Commission seminary. I am grateful for our sister schools who also love the gospel. But God has placed me here, and I am so glad to be here! I saw my colleague in evangelism (and former student!) Dr. George Robinson in the weight room this morning. Each of us already had three students in our classes email us with stories of salvation through their witness.

Now, this past week our precious students raised over 60,000 for Lottie Moon and international missions. Not only money, but rings were given as well. Read more about that at  http://sebts.edu/.

Finally, I love that wherever I go across the country, Missouri this weekend, SC the week before, Florida just ahead, everywhere I hear people say thanks for being about things that matter. Everywhere I go, 100% of leaders I meet say we must change, and soon. It is humbling to be a small part of what God is doing, to be part of a Great Commission Resurgence, to serve with those who will stand up and face the future with feet firmly on the unchanging ground of Scripture while at the same time aware of the need to change to take the Word to this world in our day.