Greenway engages prospective students in Virtual Preview session

More than just a brick-and-mortar campus in Fort Worth, Texas, The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is a “click-and-mortar” campus, said President Adam W. Greenway during a Virtual Preview session with prospective students, March 27. “Because of the miracle of technology,” he explained, “we are able to have this Virtual Preview today in a way we could not have done a generation ago.”

Part of a series of Virtual Previews, this particular session was the first of three opportunities for prospective students to interact with Greenway. These Virtual Preview sessions, presented as live video conferences, have replaced the seminary’s previously scheduled spring Preview Days, which were canceled because of COVID-19.

Greenway, who will also host sessions on April 1 and April 8, utilized the opportunity to share the significance of Southwestern Seminary as an institution for theological education, especially in “this moment of unprecedented disruption.”

Calling Southwestern Seminary a “comprehensive provider of biblically faithful, theologically rigorous, but practically focused instruction,” Greenway said that during this season in which people have a heightened appreciation for those trained in the medical profession, the world similarly needs “those who are equipped and trained to handle the things of God, to be mighty in the Scriptures, to know theology and doctrine, to know how to lead people to Christ in a life-changing way. And that’s what Southwestern Seminary and Scarborough College exists to do.”

“When you do get sick,” Greenway said, “you don’t want to just go find somebody who has an interest in medicine to give you a prescription, much less a vaccination. You want to find somebody who has been trained and equipped, who knows what they’re doing and is able to meet you in your moment of need and to provide for you the solution.”

“Well,” he continued, “in terms of our work here at Southwestern Seminary, since 1908, we have been about the task of equipping God-called men and women for more faithful service that glorifies God and fulfills the Great Commission.”

Greenway especially highlighted the seminary’s Master of Divinity program, which he called the most comprehensive graduate degree.

“The years you will spend in graduate theological education will be years of investment that will serve you for decades of ministry, if Jesus tarries,” Greenway said. “And I’ve learned I have very little ability to discern today how God may choose to deploy me in His service five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now. I want to give God the benefit of the doubt to where I am more prepared for how He may choose to use me rather than less prepared.

“And the Master of Divinity degree is the most comprehensive preparation you can receive at the graduate level. So, I always say, if you have a choice to make, choose to do the Master of Divinity degree. You will not regret that in the long run.”

Greenway also answered questions from participants. One prospective student asked whether he should pursue residential or online education.

“I am in no way dismissive of the power of online theological education, particularly for those who cannot come to seminary any other way,” Greenway said. “And yet I would say to you, there still is something powerful about being together. … There are experiences that you will have that you cannot have any other way.”

Recalling his own experience as an M.Div. student at Southwestern Seminary from 1999-2002, Greenway said “some of the richest content” he ever received from a faculty member “was not in the planned lecture, but was based upon some of the rabbits, or tangents, that that professor would chase, and even conversations that would continue after the class, walking out from the classroom down the hallway toward that professor’s office.”

“If you can do nothing else, online is better than nothing,” Greenway said. “And everybody’s situation is unique. But do not settle for online. Make it your priority to get to the campus if you can. I promise you, you will not regret that.”

Another question concerned whether Southwestern Seminary provides educational opportunities for women.

“The answer is yes!” Greenway said. “There are incredible opportunities for women at Southwestern Seminary.”

Noting that his wife, Carla, is a master’s in Christian education graduate from the seminary, Greenway said he is “a very strong advocate for women here at Southwestern Seminary.”

“We have a very strong commitment to equipping God-called women in every right and appropriate way, and are working to build a healthy climate here,” he continued. “… I love seeing female students in our Master of Divinity program and our Master of Arts programs or Master of Music programs. … We are committed to equipping God-called men and women for every form of Christian service God calls men and women to, and that has been one of the joys and delights of my time here so far.”

Other topics of discussion included Scarborough College, the School of Church Music and Worship, the Fish School of Evangelism and Missions, and the seminary’s doctoral programs, including both research and professional. In discussing each of these subjects, Greenway noted that all of them will have their own dedicated Virtual Previews in the days and weeks to come. (To view the full Virtual Preview schedule, and to register, visit swbts.edu/virtualpreview.)

“Thank you for joining us,” Greenway said at the preview’s conclusion. “I pray God will bless you, and I look forward prayerfully to welcoming each of you as future students at Southwestern Seminary and Scarborough College.”