Richard Land, Southwestern Seminary leaders meet to discuss Land Center plans

Long-time Southern Baptist leader Richard D. Land returned to the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth on Dec. 7 for meetings with President Adam W. Greenway and other seminary leaders to discuss plans for the Land Center for Cultural Engagement.

“It was great to be able to welcome back to Seminary Hill Dr. Richard Land for productive conversations about the future of the Center that honors his legacy of leadership among Southern Baptists in Christian ethics and public policy advocacy,” said Greenway. “We deeply value Dr. Land’s ongoing commitment to Southwestern Seminary and the institution’s role in helping our students and other Christians understand the times and know how best to engage the culture with the timeless truths of the Bible. I am excited about plans for the Land Center that we will soon be able to announce.”

In addition to Greenway and Land, Interim Provost David S. Dockery and recently named Land Center director, Daniel Darling, participated in the meetings.

“I am delighted at the major investment Southwestern Seminary is making to the Kingdom of God through the Land Center for Cultural Engagement,” said Land. “I’m excited about our plans for the Land Center because I believe its initiatives, research, and academic programs will help believers engage our society more effectively with biblical truth.”

Land added, “In God’s providence, we have been called to serve our Lord and Savior in an America that more and more mirrors the amorality of first century Corinth. America has never been more in need of the remarkable people called Southern Baptists to take up the Lord’s challenge to be the salt and light Jesus has commanded them to be. I look forward to seeing how God uses Southwestern and the Land Center to restore our nation through Gospel salt and to transform our people through Gospel light.”

The seminary leaders reviewed a prospective new mission statement for the Land Center, which is an academic center of the seminary organized to study and provide research on ethics, public policy, and other cultural and philosophical issues. The Land Center will produce both scholarly and popular resources on ethical and public policy issues, host events, provide academic programs for Texas Baptist College (TBC) students, engage in research, and convene gatherings for candid conversations about important issues.

In October, Darling was named director of the Land Center and appointed to the TBC faculty, the undergraduate school of the seminary. 

“It was an honor to meet with Dr. Land, Dr. Greenway, and Dr. Dockery to plan the work of the Land Center for Public Engagement,” said Darling. “Dr. Land has served Southern Baptists in a long and distinguished career during pivotal times in our nation’s history and in the life of our denomination. His insights about religious liberty and other important issues are invaluable to me, as are his ideas for the Land Center. I’m excited about the opportunities to help our students and other Christians to make a difference for Christ in our society.”

The Land Center was established in 2007 to honor Land for his contributions to the field of Christian ethics among Southern Baptists, especially as president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. He retired in 2013 after 25 years at the helm of the entity charged with moral concerns and public policy.

Seminary leaders anticipate making announcements about new initiatives and events of the Land Center in early 2022.