SCMW announces new Don Blackley music student scholarship

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary introduced a new scholarship created in honor of alumnus Don Blackley (’66) to benefit School of Church Music and Worship (SCMW) students on Jan. 30.

Joe Crider, dean of the SCMW, said the music school has seen growth in their programs in recent years. A predominately residential program, Crider said the SCMW students are heavily involved in ensembles, choirs, and seven bands that lead in chapel, recitals, concerts, during meetings, and other events off campus such as Southern Baptist Convention annual meetings and area churches’ Disciple Now events.

“These students work really hard, and the church is in a really difficult place because there are not enough worship leaders to fill all the worship positions that are open in churches across the SBC,” Crider said. “We have literally scores of churches that have contacted us just this academic year, asking us for worship leaders, and we can’t train them fast enough.”

Crider said financial aid helps those students who want to come to Southwestern to be equipped for worship ministry, so SCMW and Southwestern leadership began to pray about creating scholarships named after alumni who had served faithfully in music ministry. Don Blackley was the “obvious” choice for the first named scholarship, Crider said.

Blackley was born in Oklahoma City and recognized in high school that the Lord had gifted him for ministry through music a biography shared by the Blackley family says. He graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University before coming to Southwestern Seminary to continue his studies.

He served at churches in Texas and Oklahoma including first Baptist churches in Cleburne, Richardson, and Norman. One element of his music ministry was bringing singing groups to prisons to share the Gospel with inmates through music.

Blackley also worked with other music ministers through his directing the Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma and then the Singing Men of Texas, North Central, for more than 30 years. After his retirement from that role, his son Trent became the director.

When Crider approached Trent with the idea of a scholarship named after his father, Trent told Crider that the family would be thrilled, although they did not tell Blackley right away.

“The opportunity to continue this legacy of ministry through this ongoing scholarship for outstanding worship students is a wonderful gift to the Blackley family and we are humbled and thankful for Southwestern’s continued commitment to train up and send out,” the family said in a biographical statement.

Crider said when the news of the Blackley scholarship was shared with a member of the Singing Men of Texas, that man shared a lead gift of $50,000 to initiate the scholarship, which can be contributed to at any time.

Eligible scholarship recipients are full-time, residential SCMW master’s and doctoral students who are members of Southern Baptist churches and are found to be of sound moral character. The funds can be used for tuition and/or housing.

Recipients are selected in consultation with Crider and the Student Financial Services Office.

“It’s a scholarship that people continue to contribute to, and the money will be used immediately,” Crider said. “Whatever’s contributed will go directly into helping scholarship men and women who have been called to ministry in music and worship.”

Crider announced the scholarship during the Shane & Shane concert on Jan. 30 and will also share the announcement during a free Singing Men of Texas concert at Southwestern on Feb. 5, at 7 p.m. in the MacGorman Chapel.