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Reflection
on the Seminary Study Committee The
Baptist General Convention of Texas recently held its annual meeting
in Corpus Christi. As most of you know, the BGCT voted to redirect
some funds away from the six Southern Baptist seminaries and to
send those funds to Texas institutions; Truett Seminary in Waco,
Logsdon Seminary in Abilene, and the Hispanic Bible Institute
in San Antonio. This
move was made on the recommendation of the Seminary Study Committee,
a special committee created the year before at the annual meeting
in El Paso. I had the honor of serving on the Seminary Study Committee
and I would like to share with you a few things concerning that
experience. Some of these things you've probably heard, some you
have not. First,
there is no doubt that the SBC seminaries have changed. It greatly
saddened me to find that the Southwestern Baptist Theological
Seminary that I attended no longer exists. This
was never more evident than when we met with President Hemphill
and some of the faculty and trustees. We were told during that
meeting that if a person felt good about the BGCT, that would
almost certainly disqualify them from being hired to teach at
Southwestern. If
you know your history, that's a long way from the position of
the B.H. Carrolls and the George W. Truetts of the past. We were
also told that Southwestern has no more ties to Texas than to
any other state in the SBC. That statement speaks for itself! Second,
the committee has been accused of not caring about fulfilling
the Lord's work outside the borders of Texas. In fact, one seminary
president who has spoken the loudest about Texas abandoning the
rest of the world was offered continued support because the committee
found no fault with the workings of his seminary. He was asked
directly by the committee if we could continue to support his
seminary while cutting funds to the other seminaries. Please
hear this, at his request, his seminary was treated in concert
with all the others for he said to treat him differently would
"draw a bulls-eye" on his back with the SBC leadership.
I find it unbelievably disingenuous for him to turn down our support
and then accuse us of abandoning them. Third,
we were sending $14.90 outside the state for theological education
for every $1.00 we spent in the state. Our committee felt it was
better stewardship of your money to support our own Texas seminaries
that hold to traditional Baptist doctrines and are young and have
very little endowment funds; instead of continuing to support
well- established institutions with large endowments that are
moving away from traditional Baptist thought and practice. Fourth,
it has been an absolute shame the way the Hispanic Bible Institute
has been neglected down through the years. By
2030, demographers tell us that Hispanics will be the largest
ethnic group in Texas. Today, over 97% of the Hispanic pastors
in Texas, who have any formal theological education, got it at
the Hispanic Bible Institute. We felt that to invest in this strategic
institution was vital to the Lord's work in Texas. Finally,
understand that all the recommendations that came were made after
exhaustive research, careful examination of the facts, and much
prayer. Our
committee found no joy in discovering the depth of the changes
that have taken place in the SBC seminaries. However, we found
great joy in recommending that Truett, Logsdon, and the Hispanic
Bible Institute be more properly funded. By adopting these measures
in Corpus Christi, Texas Baptists have assured that the future
of theological education is bright in Texas! January 2001 |