Grace seeks to equip students for ‘challenges’ of 21st-century ministry

Knowing the eternal consequences that are at stake, W. Madison Grace II, associate professor of theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, is “resolved” that through his teaching he is “equipping well” so his students “are rightly proclaiming the Word of God and engaging it in a theological way.”

“At the end of the day, that’s what sustains a church – the way in which it’s connected to the Word and the Spirit,” said Grace, who also directs the Oxford Study Program and Research Doctoral Program at Southwestern. Teaching in the discipline of systematic theology at the Fort Worth school since 2014, Grace said it is “important” that theological knowledge and biblical knowledge are “coupled” together.

In the classroom, Grace said he seeks to turn academics “into real-life practice,” which he noted Southwestern does “really well.” He said he uses this paradigm not only in his teaching style but also as he makes assignments, seeking to ensure that what students are learning in the classroom and submitting in coursework are “applicable to what they’re doing and the ministry context they go to, whether that’s senior pastor, next-gen leader, missionary” or any other ministry role. 

“I remember when I see students, and I see the weight of the responsibility to train them and equip them for the challenges of ministering in the 21st century, that enlivens me,” said Grace as he said the gravity of responsibility keeps him “sharp” and “focused on what our real job is here” and keeps him mindful that “God has me here to do these types of things.”

This type of equipping has helped Grace’s students, such as Kyle Scott, a Butler, Alabama, native and a current Doctor of Philosophy student in church history. Scott, who graduated with a Master of Divinity from Southwestern in 2017, currently serves as the operations manager of the Mission:Dignity department at Guidestone Financial Resources.

Scott, who has had Grace as a professor in both master’s and doctoral courses, said through Grace’s classes he has “learned to ask good questions” which have proven “invaluable” in his ministry settings.

“Often, a clarifying question or a question that challenges the assumptions being brought to the table are a discipleship opportunity, and Dr. Grace’s example in the classroom showed me that almost daily,” Scott explained. “I’ve been able to use Dr. Grace’s example to create discipleship opportunities that I probably would have missed even a couple of years ago.”

Recognizing “we’re going to equip all types to do what God’s called them to do,” and that “there’s not a ministry that our students are involved with that does not involve biblical and theological knowledge,” Grace said he adapts assignments that enable students to serve in the ministry context God has called them. This shows his students the practicality of his classroom teaching, he explained. One way this is done in his systematic theology class, for example, is that instead of a traditional research paper, Grace said he has his students write a “theological lesson” that is catered to their ministry setting, whether it is a sermon for those who are called to be a pastor or a children’s lesson for aspiring children’s ministers.

“I just want to make sure that I’m teaching them how to be a thinker, a theological thinker, well beyond their years at Southwestern,” Grace said. He does not desire that his students serve with “some quips they got from seminary, but they’re taught how to live engaged in the Word of God for the rest of their ministry and to be thinking theologically so that whatever culture throws at them, they can be able to address it.”

As a professor, Grace seeks to make himself available to his students and to be “student-centered,” which includes conversations over coffee and lunch and having students over to the home he shares with his wife, Shareen, a two-time Southwestern Seminary graduate, and their three sons. The intentionality is not lost on his students, such as Meagan Early, a Master of Divinity student from Dallas, Texas, who also serves as the administrative assistant to Gregory A. Wills, dean of the School of Theology.

Early said though she has “learned a great deal of theology” from Grace, she has also “witnessed a servant leader,” which has “shaped” her, as well.

“We are all called to various things, but I pray we all are to walk in a way worthy of our callings,” Early explained. “Dr. Grace demonstrates that walk in his calling as he thoroughly equips the saints both in knowledge and in character.”

Early added that alongside his wife, the Graces “pray for his students and go to exceeding levels to encourage and grow us.”

The focus he places on the students is a strong value Grace holds as he serves at Southwestern because of the eternal impact it produces.

“I think it’s important for any faculty for what we’re doing here at Southwestern,” Grace concluded. “Not because we want to have more students, not because we want to increase revenue, but because what we do with them affects the Kingdom and that’s a great responsibility for me.”

Since March 2021, Grace has served as the teaching pastor at First Baptist Church in Mansfield, Texas, where his “role is to amplify the teaching ministry” of the church. “This happens through helping in the preaching ministry as well as beginning our residency program we will be launching next year amongst other duties,” he said. 

Grace, who was born in Mississippi, but raised in the small town of Clewiston, Florida, earned both his Master of Divinity (2006) and Doctor of Philosophy (2012) from Southwestern Seminary. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Christian studies degree from Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi. He has served on church staffs in Florida, Mississippi, and Texas. While he was a doctoral student, Grace served as an adjunct professor in the School of Theology.

During his tenure at Southwestern, Grace once served as the editor of the Southwestern Journal of Theology and is the co-editor of Making Disciples of All Nations: A History of Southern Baptist Missions.