After decades in ministry, Forshee continues to experience transitions, new roles

After decades of serving the Lord through pastoring churches, teaching at two seminaries, and creating a non-profit ministry that supports missions and supplies resources, Danny Forshee at 60 years old said he prays his greatest years of ministry are still ahead.

“I’m grateful for the experiences and the depth that God has given me,” Forshee said of the ministry opportunities he has had over the years, adding that he believes none of them would have been possible without the education he received at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

After committing his life to Christ as a sophomore in college, Forshee became involved in every ministry opportunity that came his way, eventually leading to his decision to attend Southwestern. Most recently, Forshee was elected the president of the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention in fall of 2023, but that is just another item on a long list of areas of ministry Forshee has served in since becoming a follower of Christ.

Born near Birmingham, Alabama, Forshee spent time living between his divorced parents and did not go to church consistently until he was a teenager. And it was not until his sophomore year at the University of Mobile, where he received a bachelor’s degree in religion, that he surrendered his life to Christ.

As a new believer, Forshee took every opportunity to serve in local ministries, including presiding over the campus Pastor’s Ministerial Alliance, joining the Baptist Student Union, preaching and leading worship at a home for women in recovery, and even serving as an interim pastor.

Rob White, the pastor of College Park Baptist Church in Mobile who had baptized Forshee and married him and Ashley after his college graduation, encouraged him to go to Southwestern as his calling to ministry became clear.

Forshee visited a couple sister seminaries first, but recognized a lack of conservatism in one at that time and knew that neither was right for him. But Southwestern seemed like the perfect fit, and he and his wife moved to Fort Worth in 1986, despite not knowing anyone or anything about their new home state.

“I just feel like I’m supposed to go to Southwestern,” Forshee said of that time and their decision. “And so, we moved what little belongings we had, 1986 in the summer, and I started at the MDiv level there that fall semester.”

That began what Forshee said has been the most influential years of his spiritual walk as he entered a time of deepening his faith in the Gospel, joy as he made friendships that would last beyond the campus, and rigorous study as he determined to give his best during that busy season of life.

“I hadn’t been saved but, oh, a couple of years, and so I was really growing in my faith,” Forshee said. “… The four years of my Master of Divinity were such critical, formative years of my life, I can’t imagine not experiencing that. I wouldn’t be where I am today. I would not have been able to do what God’s done in me, had I not had those four formative years.”

Forshee followed advice given to him by his Alabama pastor by taking every class taught by Roy Fish that he could. He also studied under James Leo Garrett and Malcolm McDow, who greatly impacted him through their teaching and examples. But while each professor left a lasting impression and were models of godly men, Forshee said the one who impacted him the greatest was Bruce Leafblad of the music department, who taught his spiritual formation class.

“That course changed my life,” Forshee said. “I am now the person I am because of that class. Because he challenged us. He said, ‘If you want to make an A in my class … then you’re gonna have to spend an hour a day in prayer.’”

Convinced at first that committing that much time to prayer every day was not possible, Forshee decided to make that effort as the professor had suggested to ensure he got an A in that class. And that daily hour of prayer became a habit that continues to this day and has impacted his entire life and ministry.

While pursuing his MDiv, which he completed in 1990, Forshee worked as a custodian in Cowden Hall for three years before becoming the minister of evangelism at Travis Avenue Baptist Church. At that point, he decided to continue into the PhD program. During those five years, the couple’s three children were born and Forshee began serving full-time as pastor at Mount Gilead Baptist Church, now called the Mount Church, in Keller.

After completing his PhD 1995, when he was 30 years old, Forshee ministered around the country through teaching evangelism at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, pastoring churches, beginning his family-run Danny Forshee Evangelistic Association ministry in 2004, and returning to Southwestern as a faculty member, and in recent years as an adjunct instructor. Currently, Forshee is the pastor of Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin and is president of the SBTC.

“It’s been a pretty wild ride,” Forshee said of the span of his ministry, which has included small churches to large churches and now includes a drastic shift facing the church he has been pastoring for almost 15 years.

When he first arrived at Great Hills in 2010, Forshee said the church was millions of dollars in debt and was housed in a 300,000 square foot facility that was more than its current needs. Forshee said they were able to pay off that debt and then began to consider options of how to be a better steward of the people and resources of their church, including their building.

In preaching through the book of Acts, Forshee said he and the congregation were greatly influenced on the scriptural view and description of the local church, which contributed to and confirmed the idea of selling the building and dividing the congregation into smaller churches.

“The hope of the world is the local church,” Forshee said. “But we got to have more local churches. We got to plant churches.”

With that goal in mind, the church is preparing to accept an offer from another church for its building and begin the transition into smaller church plants they will build in local communities in the years ahead.

“That’s why the Lord brought me here,” Forshee said of the drastic transition his congregation is facing after what has been a four-year process. “I didn’t know that, going on 15 years ago, that this would be my assignment. You know, sometimes God leads us to challenging things, and He equips us to do that.”

On top of his senior pastor position and running his non-profit ministry to which he contributes regular podcasts and devotionals, Forshee was also elected to be the president of the SBTC almost a year ago, having previously served as chairman of the executive board for a couple years. Forshee said he loves the SBTC and is blessed to serve the convention in this new capacity.

“It’s never a dull moment; I stay pretty busy,” Forshee said of the number of positions he holds and the ministries he is involved in and supports.

But for each area of ministry, Forshee said Southwestern played a key role in equipping him for every position he held or change he faced.

Reflecting on his time on Seminary Hill, Foshee said, “I really enjoyed my time, and the Lord did some amazing things in my life and ministry in preparation for what he had called me to do.”

Photos courtesy of Great Hills Baptist Church.