October 27, 1999

Southwestern revises curriculum
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___FORT WORTH--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees affirmed the school's "Theological Education for the 21st Century" master plan during their fall meeting in Fort Worth Oct. 18-20.
___A core curriculum focusing on basic ministry skills provides the backbone of the plan, President Ken Hemphill told trustees.
___ "We asked, 'What does every church have a right to expect from Southwestern?'" Hemphill said. The answer is a broad-based set of skills that will be presented to all students in all three of the seminary's schools--church music, educational ministries and theology.
___ The 21st century plan will be implemented in the fall of 2000, reported Daryl Eldridge, dean of the School of Educational Ministries and chairman of the committee that developed the master plan.
___ The core curriculum will be taught in five courses, Eldridge said. The courses will be:
___ "Spiritual Formation," a two-semester course for first-year students in which eight students will meet with one faculty member weekly to focus on personal faith development.
___ "How to Study the Bible," which is designed to move the students beyond devotional reading to sound, systematic biblical interpretation.
___ "How to Share the Faith," an emphasis on evangelism and missions.
___ "Worship," a class that will bring theology, education and music students together to look at how Christians worship and praise God.
___ "Leadership in Ministry," a study of conflict resolution, relationship building and teamwork.
___ In addition, the 21st century plan involves "a complete overhaul of the curriculum," Eldridge noted, explaining the seminary will switch from 2- and 4-hour courses to 3-hour courses as the norm.
___ A key benefit of that change will be flexibility for students, he said, explaining the changes will facilitate a new course schedule. Students will be able to earn degrees by attending on Monday and Friday only; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday only; and evenings only. The seminary also hopes to introduce a Saturday schedule, he added.
___ Southwestern also is adding Internet courses and hopes to move to teaching 33 percent of its courses on the World Wide Web.
___ The 21st century plan also will involve new programs, Eldridge said. He cited plans for teaching ministry-based evangelism in the inner city, a women's ministry program, a master's degree in Christian counseling and more student options.
___ Faculty and administrators currently are working on implementing the changes so they can be functional in less than a year. The new catalog should be available in the spring.
___ In other business, trustees:
___ Elected two new faculty members, approved faculty rank for two administrators and promoted two faculty.
___ Mark Edward Taylor of Fort Worth was elected assistant professor of New Testament. He currently is a guest instructor of New Testament and is completing a doctor of philosophy degree at the seminary. He has been a pastor, youth minister and interim pastor of churches in Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama.
___ Taylor is a graduate of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary and Mississippi State University. He and his wife, Ann, have two daughters.
___ Malcolm B. Yarnell III was elected assistant professor of theology. He is completing a doctor's degree from Oxford University in England and is a tutor at Regent's Park College at Oxford. He has been pastor of churches in North Carolina and Louisiana, a church planter in Texas and a banker.
___ Yarnell is a graduate of Duke University, Southwestern Seminary and Louisiana State University. He and his wife, Karen Annette, have two sons.
___ Michael Pullin, archivist and special collections librarian, and Bill Vinson, director of undergraduate and lay theological studies, were granted faculty status.
___ Gerald Aultman was promoted from associate professor of music theory to professor of music theory. C.L. Bass was promoted from professor of music theory and composition to distinguished professor of music theory and composition.
___ Approved the seminary's L.R. Scarborough Award for institutional advancement to Jimmy and Carol Ann Draper of Nashville, Tenn., and Warren and Wanda Hultgren of Tulsa, Okla.
___ Draper is president of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention and formerly was longtime pastor of First Baptist Church in Euless. Hultgren is the retired pastor of First Baptist Church in Tulsa.
___ The award recognizes pastors, missionaries and denominational leaders who direct significant sums of financial support to the seminary. The Drapers and Hultgrens were honored at a luncheon on the seminary campus during the trustees' meeting.
___ Heard a report that the seminary received about $6.1 million in cash gifts during the latest fiscal year, which ended in July. That marked the second consecutive year that cash gifts to the seminary eclipsed $6 million, reported Jack Terry, the seminary's vice president for institutional advancement.
___ Learned the seminary enrolled 3,213 students this fall, with 2,720 on the Fort Worth campus and 493 at several off-campus locations, such as centers in Houston, Little Rock, Oklahoma City and San Antonio.
___ The enrollment total is "slightly down" by less than 100 students compared to last year, noted Lawrence Klempnauer, vice president for student services. That partly is attributable to an early start for public schools in Fort Worth this fall, which caused some students with families to delay their move to seminary. Student applications are significantly ahead of applications received by this date last year, he said.
___ Southwestern students' average age is 32, he said. They come from 41 states and 42 foreign countries and include 202 international students, up from 181 last year.

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