March 17, 1999
Seaborn to lead Southwestern board
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___FORT WORTH--Retired pastor Miles Seaborn, an organizer of the new Southern Bap-tists of Texas Convention, was elected chairman of the trustee board at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary last week.
___Seaborn will work alongside two other Texas pastors elected to serve as trustee officers. Michael Dean, pastor of Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, was elected vice chairman.Matthew McKellar, pastor of Sylvania Baptist Church in Tyler, was elected secretary.
MILES SEABORN
___Seaborn, a former missionary and former pastor of Birchman Baptist Church in Fort Worth, had been serving as acting chairman of Southwestern's trustees since last October, when Chairman Ollin Collins resigned from the board amid allegations of sexual impropriety at the church where he was pastor. Seaborn had been elected vice chairman last year.
___During their March 8-10 meeting on the Fort Worth campus, seminary trustees also elec-ted four new faculty members and heard a progress report on a $100 million capital campaign.
___In an hour-long session closed to observers, trustees reportedly heard an update on future funding possibilities presented by Harold Riley, an Austin layman who is chairing the fund-raising drive.
___A major portion of the campaign is funding construction of the Ralph M. Smith Leadership Development Complex, which already is rising from a vacant lot on the southeast corner of the campus. President Ken Hemphill told trustees that phases one and two of the project will be completed now, and that the shell of phase three will be constructed but not finished yet.
___Hemphill also spoke with trustees about challenges the seminary faces in providing adequate student housing and in Cooperative Program funding not keeping pace with the corresponding increases in costs to educate students. He urged trustees to thank the Baptists in their states for supporting the convention's Cooperative Program unified budget but explained that even recent increases in seminary funding from the national Cooperative Program have not kept pace with the escalating cost of providing education.
___At the same time, Southwest-ern students continue to be char-ged less than students at comparable non-Southern Baptist Convention seminaries, Hemp-hill said. He cited Association of Theological Schools data to compare Southwestern's annual student tuition rate of $2,124 to $7,800 annually at peer seminaries outside the SBC.
___At the conclusion of their meeting, trustees adopted a statement of appreciation for the Cooperative Program at the suggestion of Ralph Pulley of Dallas.
___Trustees also unanimously approved a statement of appreciation for Hemphill and his leadership, as well as the efforts of other staff and faculty.
___The four new faculty members are Michael Barnett, associate professor of missions; George Klein, associate professor of Old Testament; Margaret Lawson, assistant professor of foundations of education; and Stanley Warren, associate professor of voice.
___Barnett comes from the SBC's International Mission Board, where he most recently has been administrative associate for Northern Africa and the Middle East. He holds the master of divinity and doctor of philosophy degrees from South-western, as well as the bachelor of arts degree from the Univer-sity of Houston.
___Klein comes from Criswell College in Dallas, where he has been professor of Old Testament since 1984. He also has served as the college's academic dean and dean of graduate studies. He earned the bachelor of arts degree from Baylor University, master of theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, master of divinity degree from Southwestern and the master of arts and doctor of philosophy degrees from Dropsie College.
___Lawson has taught adjunctively at Southwestern since 1990, as well as teaching at Dallas Baptist University. She earned the bachelor of theology degree from the University of South Africa and the master of arts in religious education and doctor of philosophy degrees from Southwestern.
___Warren comes from Oklahoma Baptist University, where he has been assistant professor of voice and music history since 1997. He earned the bachelor of music and master of music degrees from Eastman School of Music at the Univer-sity of Rochester and the doctor of musical arts degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
___Trustees also participated in the annual B.H. Carroll Awards luncheon, where three Texas couples were honored for contributions to the seminary. Recipients of the Carroll Awards were Rose Ann Glascock of Dallas and her late husband, B.J.; David and Carolyn Wicker of Dallas; and Fieldon and Colleen Williams of Fort Worth.Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!