Dockery harkens to the past, highlights present markers of ‘God’s blessings’ on Southwestern in SBC report

NEW ORLEANS – With a pledge to continue the best of its Baptist and evangelical heritage, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President David S. Dockery harkened to the Fort Worth institution’s “foundational convictions regarding Scripture and the Gospel” in his June 14 report to the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans.

Dockery said the institution has carried forward the convictions of its founder, B.H. Carroll, for 115 years “with an unapologetic commitment to the truthfulness, authority, and sufficiency of Scripture with conviction regarding the faith once for all delivered to the saints and our shared Baptist distinctives” adding this “wonderful Southwestern heritage has emphasized careful biblical interpretation, thoughtful historical understanding, faithful theological formation, and practical ministry preparation.”

As his first report to the SBC as Southwestern’s president, Dockery was introduced to messengers by Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who preceded him in the reports given by all six SBC seminary presidents. Mohler called Dockery an “evangelical scholar” and a “man of great character.” Mohler’s introduction was met with resounding applause from messengers.

Dockery said with O.S. Hawkins, chancellor and senior professor of pastoral ministry and evangelism, and Matt Queen, interim provost, professor of evangelism, and L.R. Scarborough Chair of Evangelism (“Chair of Fire”), serving in their roles, messengers “could be assured” that Southwestern Seminary “will continue to prioritize the importance of Gospel proclamation, engaging evangelism, and international call to take the Good News of Jesus Christ to the nations.”

While noting “there is much to celebrate about Southwestern’s rich heritage,” Dockery said he was “delighted” to share about “God’s blessings on us” over the last eight and a half months.

Asking messengers to join the Southwestern community in prayer, Dockery shared that the institution has “celebrated a renewed commitment to prayer across the campus’’ as evidenced through regular campus-wide prayer gatherings that “remind us as an institution of our dependence, our total dependence, on God for carrying out our shared mission.”

Dockery also highlighted the “Advance Southwestern: 2030” plan that was recently approved by the board of trustees, which he explained “clarifies the institution’s identity as a Great Commandment and Great Commission institution dedicated to a distinctive mission, six core values, by providing guidelines, priorities, and goals for every area of the institution in the days to come.”

Dockery also noted the 3,600 students in the last year who have been recipients of “outstanding teaching of the faculty of Southwestern Seminary” while also being “encouraged” by the 700 graduates during the 2022-2023 academic year who have been “well prepared for the next stage of their life and ministry calling.” Additionally, he noted an “increased total enrollment headcount,” adding, “we are hopeful for the days to come.”

Citing the “qualitative and quantitative” growth in the Mandarin Chinese, Hispanic, and Korean programs at the Fort Worth institution, with a program in Portuguese to begin this coming year, Dockery said, “With students enrolling from 60 different countries, Southwestern Seminary is truly an institution with a global reach far beyond anything that B.H. Carroll could have ever imagined.”

Dockery added that “much work” had taken place in “restructuring” the 2022-2023 annual budget “reducing both operational and personnel aspects of the budget in measurable ways.” He added the institution’s leadership will “continue to focus on budget and organizational restructuring as we enter the year to come as we recommit ourselves to institutional stewardship with a high priority given to this each and every day.”

Expressing thanks for the seminary’s “strong” spring chapel program, Dockery mentioned the sermons resulted in the seminary’s latest publication from Seminary Hill Press, Philippians: Joyful Unity in the Gospel, which was also the institution’s giveaway to messengers at the seminary’s booth in the exhibit hall.

Dockery said the institution is continuing “to pray” for the work in the area of church relations and announced that Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, and a two-time Southwestern Seminary graduate, will serve as the chairman of a new ministerial board of reference and will “lead us in renewed commitments” to the SBC churches.

Fielding a question from Eric Duenke, a Doctor of Ministry student and graduate of Southwestern Seminary who also serves as the lead pastor of Central Baptist Church in Marion, Ohio, regarding the difference in tuition for residential and online students, Dockery said the institution is “equally committed” to both forms of education. Dockery said while the institution understands the “dynamic reality” of the current age and “the importance of technology to support theological education,” he encouraged thinking “about the importance of relationships that serve at the heart of theological education.”

Citing Jesus’s example in Mark 3:14, Dockery said the Lord “didn’t just call the disciples to Himself and send them out to preach,” but rather He called “them first of all to Himself, to spend time with them.” Dockery noted that students spending time with faculty is “a high priority” for the institution and that “we value on-campus education.” However, he noted “at least half” of the seminary’s student body are online students and “we want to serve them well, serve them faithfully” with an education that is “affordable and accessible” and is as “equal” as possible to “what is received by the outstanding faculty on the campus in Fort Worth for Southwestern Seminary.”