Southeastern and Church Starting

This past week I spent a day at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, NC, to meet future church starters and speak in several classes. This was my first visit to Southeastern and it was long overdue!

Bruce Ashford is the director of the Lewis A. Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies, and he hosted me for this visit. He shared that seminary President Danny Akin has structured and led the seminary so that every course, not just the evangelism and missions courses, are Great Commission courses. If the future church starters I met are any reflection of this vision, I would say he is achieving his goal.

These students represented several disciplines, and they are preparing to start churches in strategic areas of our country, including Washington, DC. I was also encouraged to meet students from the Baltimore area that are interested in returning to lead existing churches or to start new churches.

During my visit I met professors David Nelson, Al James, and Josef Solc. At one point David and I, along with several students, discussed how no one could have imagined that Danny would today be the president of this seminary. I mentioned if anyone had ever attended one of Danny's marriage workshops, it is even more amazing he is still employed at the seminary. You would have to attend one to understand.

Troy Bush