Southwestern recognizes Distinguished Alumni, Dockery’s leadership during SBC luncheon

The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary family gathered for the annual Alumni & Friends Luncheon held during the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Orlando on June 10, hearing from President David S. Dockery and recognizing 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients.

“We are glad that so many are represented in this room—decades of faithful service to countries where individuals have served faithfully, to pastors and ministers, and others who have done the work of the ministry for so long,” said Chandler Snyder, vice president for institutional relations. “We are thankful for your presence here.”

“This is a room that is a happy room as we celebrate the past, the present, and hopeful future for Southwestern Seminary,” Dockery said, noting the presence of a former president Kenneth Hemphill, former distinguished alumni, and other Southwesterners at the luncheon.

Attendees received a printed update on the state of the seminary, which Dockery said has seen measurable improvements in finances, assets, enrollment, and campus morale.

“God has transformed Southwestern Seminary in the past 45 months by any metric,” Dockery said, expressing gratitude to the faculty members and Board of Trustee members who have helped steer Southwestern in a positive direction over recent years.

Dockery also shared an update on his recent meeting with representatives from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), saying they are scheduled to meet on Thursday and may have official answer on Friday concerning the removal of sanctions.

Dockery recognized the 2026 recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award, Milton Hollifield and retired Brig. Gen. Ronald Harvell, U.S. Air Force.

Hollifield, who graduated from Southwestern in 1980 with a Master of Divinity, served his state convention in North Carolina for more than 27 years after serving as pastor of churches in Texas and North Carolina and as executive director of missions for a North Carolina association.

“People have often described him as a godly leader, a unifier, a faithful partner in the Gospel, one who is widely respected for his prayerful leadership and unwavering encouraging of pastors and churches,” Dockery said, adding Southwestern’s recognition of him is a “well-deserved honor for a man whose life and ministry have impacted countless lives for the Kingdom of God.”

Hollifield said he is grateful for God’s calling on his life and for the role Southwestern had in preparing him for his years of ministry, saying he first chose Southwestern because he was told it was a mission-minded and conservative seminary with a strong focus on evangelism.

“I’m glad to have opportunity to stand before you today to talk about how much I appreciate Southwestern Seminary, and what it has been to me throughout my 50 years in ministry,” Hollifield said, recalling taking classes from professors such as Cal Guy and Roy Fish. “… God used it just to shape my life and prepare me for how He was going to use me in the future, and I thank God for that. I love the seminary.”

Hollifield expressed gratitude to the current leadership of Southwestern, saying he praises God for them.

Harvell completed his Master of Divinity degree at Southwestern in 1986 with the goal of entering the mission field with his family. But he said that goal changed while he was at Southwestern as God instead directed him to chaplaincy in the U.S. Air Force, where he served for 29 years after being commissioned by the North American Mission Board. He would minister to airmen in 65 countries on seven continents.

He continues to minister to others in his current role as director of the Dewey Center for Chaplaincy at Charleston Southern University.

“He understood that his office … was the vehicle that God used in his life to advance the Great Commission,” Dockery read from a comment about Harvell from Dondi Costin, president of Liberty University, former president of Charleston Southern, and a former major general in the U.S. Air Force. “Like the Apostle Paul, he became all things to all airmen, so that he might reach some and disciple them for the sake of the Kingdom. That’s who he is. That’s what he has done. That’s what he continues to do.”

Dockery added that it was fitting that during the 250^th anniversary of the founding of the United States that one of the distinguished alumni be an individual who has faithfully served the country as a chaplain.

Harvell said he was delighted by the recognition and the opportunity to be present at the luncheon, expressing gratitude for the ability to remain connected with Southwestern.

He said he gives credit to Southwestern for the confidence he had in the Lord when he graduated, saying he knew what to do because of the faithful teaching and curriculum used to equip him for ministry.

“God gets all the glory for all the things that He has done,” Harvell said, ending with a prayer for Southwestern and the alumni present.

Andy Pettigrew, author of Steadfast: The Leadership Journey and Model of David S. Dockery, held a conversation with Dockery about his decades of leadership in Christian education, which included leading institutions through difficult times such as tragedy within the campus family, moral failings of leadership, and physical destruction such as when a tornado hit Union University during his presidency.

“I would say that the 45 months at Southwestern have been harder than any of those things,” Dockery admitted. “It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever been a part of, and it’s been the most challenging and difficult in all the things that we’ve had to address.”

Dockery said one thing that made it so difficult was that they did not have the resources to handle the issues of their own strength. So, he asked the Southwestern campus to unite in prayer, to acknowledge their failure and their dependence on God. That weekly prayer has continued ever since.

“God has used that as the enabling power to bring the campus together, to unite the hearts of faculty and staff across schools, across disciplines, across areas, so that now we’re a united campus and happy faculty who are serving together for the glory of God,” Dockery said. “And we recognize that any good thing that has happened at Southwestern … is because God is being kind to us, providentially kind during this season. We are immensely grateful to be where we are, and so hopeful for good things in the days to come.”

“Praise be to God for those markers of what God is doing on the Southwestern campus,” Pettigrew said, adding he was honored to write the book on Dockery, a project which started four years ago and releases this month.

“As you read about the life and leadership of David Dockery, the sum of it all is someone that is deeply devoted to the Lord, that believes the Bible is true and has said that from the very beginning,” Pettigrew said. “As we continue to pray fervently for the work that God is doing in Southwestern Seminary, I know that you will join me in continuing to pray and thank God for the leadership of David Dockery.”

Luncheon participants received a copy of the Seminary Hill Press Dockery’s book, Hearts, Heads, and Hands: A Vision for Theological Education at Southwestern Seminary, edited by Ashley Allen, assistant professor of women’s ministry, and containing major addresses and articles by Dockery. “It is a joy to be part of what God is doing in Fort Worth and around the globe,” Provost Madison Grace said at the close of the luncheon, asking attendees to commit to praying regularly for Southwestern, specifically that the institution would keep its focus on the mission of being a Great Commandment and Great Commission seminary, for current students, for future students, and for the resources needed to carry out the mission.