Alumni, friends learn of ‘bright, sunny’ days at Southwestern

D. Jeffrey Bingham declared that, since this summer and throughout the fall semester, he has been a spectator. Addressing those gathered for the Alumni and Friends Breakfast at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, Nov. 13, Bingham, interim president of Southwestern Seminary, explained that he has been watching God work, “and He has been doing some marvelous things.” 

Bingham noted that, despite this being a time of transition at the seminary, fall enrollment was up 14 percent from the previous fall semester, the faculty and staff have remained steadfast in their duties, and the seminary’s weekly chapel services have taken on “new spiritual life.” 

“We are looking at bright, sunny days from our perspective on Seminary Hill in Fort Worth,” Bingham said. “The Lord is doing wonderful, mighty things. And we are just so very fortunate every day to be spectators of His grace and of His power and of His mercy. 

“You want to see God at work? Come visit us on Seminary Hill. You will be awestruck by what He is doing.”

Bingham also affirmed Southwestern’s ongoing commitment to the Word of God. “We do a lot of things at Southwestern,” he said, “but the one thing that unifies all the different schools is that we believe in the authority, the inerrancy and the sufficiency of the Word of God for every ministry. 

“So we are moving forward on the basis of the Word of God’s authority and its sufficiency for all of our lives. We are being steadfast. We are moving ahead with grace and with truth.”

Bingham concluded with an invitation to rejoice with him over God’s miraculous work at Southwestern, as well as to continue praying for the seminary. “And continue to celebrate and to worship God Almighty, who, in His grace and mercy, power and strength, has smiled upon us, and who is lifting us up so that we can fulfill our mission—to train God-called men and women to fulfill the Great Commission to the glory of God,” he said. 

In addition to Bingham’s address, the breakfast also featured a panel discussion on the topic of “Effective Ministry in a Changing Culture.” Panelists included Danny Forshee, lead pastor of Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin, Texas; Chris Osborne, senior pastor of Central Baptist Church in College Station, Texas; Terri Stovall, dean of women’s programs at Southwestern; and Karen Kennemur, associate professor of children’s ministry at Southwestern. The panel was moderated by Tony Mathews, senior pastor of North Garland Baptist Fellowship. 

“Historically, we’ve tried to change our culture,” said Osborne, who is also a Ph.D. student at Southwestern. “[But] that is not the agenda in the Gospel.” The agenda in the Gospel, he explained, is to go into a culture not to try to change it, but to pull people out of it, into Jesus. 

“We’ve sold our soul on the altar of political expediency and given up the character of the Gospel, because we’re trying to change our culture instead of winning people inside it, and we have to back away from that,” he said.

Similarly, Stovall said, “Christ was kind of anti-culture. He was reintroducing God into a culture that had distorted what God wanted that culture to be. So He wasn’t really trying to do what culture wanted Him to do or to be culturally acceptable, He was just doing what the Father had asked Him to do. So that’s what I tell my students—don’t figure out how close to the line you can get to be OK and to be attracting people; figure out how close to Christ you can be, and then do what God has called you to do. And that’s how you impact culture.”

Regarding practical work, Kennemur emphasized the importance of relationships. “For children’s ministers who come and study at Southwestern, one of the things that we talk about almost every time we gather is building relationships,” she said. “Yes, building relationships in the community, but also building relationships with the people who are in our church. Because we have single mothers who are sitting in the hospital with their children at night. Life is messy.”

Forshee, meanwhile, encouraged a passion for evangelism. “Fear of rejection, fear of failure, is rooted in pride. … Just tell people about Jesus, and then watch what He does.”

Following the panel, the 2018-19 alumni officers were elected. Respectively, Daniel Salls and Byron McWilliams were elected president and vice president by acclamation, and Lash Banks was elected secretary.