Hawkins, Graham reflect on time at Southwestern, decades of ministry

In a Q&A led by Adam W. Greenway, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Texas Baptist College, Southern Baptist leaders O.S. Hawkins and Jack Graham reflected on their time as students at the Fort Worth seminary, their decades of ministry service, and the importance of continuing to invest financially in the school’s future. The conversation was part of the President’s Club luncheon held during March 10 Founder’s Day events commemorating the seminary’s founding on March 14, 1908.

Hawkins, who gave the chapel address earlier in the day, is president emeritus of GuideStone Financial Resources and earned two degrees from Southwestern. Graham is pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano and also earned two degrees from the seminary. 

Hawkins and Graham grew up together in the 1960s at Sagamore Hill Baptist Church in Fort Worth and were both mentored by W. Fred Swank, who pastored the church for 43 years. While the two men have been friends since they were teenagers, Graham said their lives have “paralleled” one another in several ways, including contemporaneous pastorates of churches in Oklahoma, Florida, and Texas.

Hawkins, who pastored the First Baptist Church of Dallas, 1994-1997, before assuming the helm of GuideStone in 1997, began his first pastorate at First Baptist Church of Hobart, Oklahoma, in 1972 as a 24-year-old who was two-and-a-half years into his Master of Divinity studies. The leaders of the small church in western Oklahoma saw themselves “called of God to have a ministry to young pastors” as the church reminded young pastors that ministry was “really about people,” he said.

Graham, who followed Hawkins as pastor of the Oklahoma church, 1975-1978, said the experience allowed him to use the academic lessons he was learning at the seminary with the “on-the-job” training he was learning at the church.

Reflecting on their time as students at Southwestern Seminary, Hawkins explained the “incredible” faculty, including the late Roy J. Fish and William B. Tolar, greatly impacted his life. 

Hawkins and Graham, along with their contemporaries who were students in the 1970s, were a part of the revival that swept across the Fort Worth campus, Hawkins said. Calling the revival on the Fort Worth campus a “movement of the Holy Spirit,” he said one chapel service lasted three consecutive days as students were “confessing” and “getting right with God.” The revival was part of the larger revival across the United States in the 1970s that included the Jesus Movement, which began on the West Coast, and the church growth movement.

Graham said the movement is still bearing fruit today. 

“I would say that there are still hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of preachers and missionaries, and servants of God that were called out of the Jesus Movement that are still serving the Lord,” Graham said of the 1970s revival movement that ultimately spread to the rest of North America, Central America, and Europe.

Graham said the time was “a great time for us to come up in the ministry because the opportunities were just unlimited,” noting that the combination of “the power of the Holy Spirit and the revival that was taking place” opened doors for evangelism opportunities.

Observing the generations that follow behind him, Graham said he is “praying for the next generation of preachers and church leaders and missionaries” noting that 150 students at Prestonwood recently responded to a call to ministry. Graham also mentioned the Prestonwood internship program, a partnership with Southwestern Seminary that allows students to earn course credit while gaining hands-on ministry experience.

In response to Greenway’s question regarding why Southwestern is worthy of support, Graham noted the urgent need for strong churches during these days of international uncertainty.

“There’s never been a better time or place than right here, right now to prepare, because the future of the world, in a human sense, is in the hands of the churches … done the right way,” Graham said. “What greater thing could we be doing right now than training and preparing the next generation to take the churches to the glory of God?”

Hawkins explained he evaluates the motive, method, and manner of an organization before he gives financial support, noting Southwestern Seminary is “the only institution in Southern Baptist life that has kept its vision” without wavering from the vision established by the original founder.

“The one thing about giving to Southwestern is we have a pretty good track record of 114 years of staying on course, keeping the faith, following the founder’s vision and dream, with no indication that is ever going to change,” Hawkins said.

Greenway concluded the conversation, “We are unswervingly committed to maintaining, upholding, and perpetuating long into the future, the rich heritage and vision that was entrusted to this seminary by our founder, B.H. Carroll.”