February 9, 2000
AN ARTIST'S RENDERING shows the projected design for Truett Theological Seminary's new home on the campus of Baylor University. The most prominent feature of the $17 million building will be its 100-foot chapel spire, to be visible from I-35
Truett Seminary prepares to build
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___WACO--Meeting under a huge white tent he compared to the Israelites' tabernacle in the wilderness, Truett Theological Seminary Dean Brad Creed led 350 people in groundbreaking ceremonies for a permanent "temple" for the young seminary Feb. 2.
___"I tell our students and even prospective students that at this stage of our existence Truett Seminary is tabernacle religion," Creed said. "We are moving toward a promised land with all of the faith and confidence that God is with us, and someday there will be a temple. When the ark of the covenant finally makes it to Jerusalem, it will be a glorious day of praise and celebration."
___The Baylor University seminary has been holding classes at First Baptist Church ofWaco since its opening in 1994. Construction should begin in the next few months on the seminary's first building of its own, a three-story 64,000-square-foot brick structure wrapped around a central courtyard.
LEADING IN GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONIES for Truett Theological Seminary's nwew home are Baylor University Chancellor Herbert Reynolds, Baylor President Robert Sloan, Houston benefactors John and Eula Mae Baugh and Truett Dean Bradley Creed. (Photo by Cliff Cheney/Baylor)
___The $17 million structure will be built on the northwest corner of the Baylor campus, within view of passing cars on I-35. Creed made note of this fact, explaining that the 100-foot chapel spire on the building will become a visible reminder of the mission of the seminary and the university.
___The permanent building is urgently needed to house Truett's growing student body, which now numbers about 200,Creed told the crowd of dignitaries, donors, faculty and students.
___"This is a day many of us have imagined, discussed, dreamed about and prayed for. But we've now come to the stage in the life of this young seminary where having facilities of our own on the Baylor campus is no longer just a dream or a nice idea. It is an absolute necessity."
___Yet it is not the building that makes the seminary, Creed said. Rather, it is the lives of those who will teach and learn there who will become "a host of gospel ministers ... who will touch the lives of millions" around the world, he said.
___Given that understanding, "no price is too high and no cost is too great for completion of this facility."
___"It is the students of Truett who will be God's promise to Texas Baptists," Creed said. "We will complete this project ... but we look to God to build the seminary."
___Baylor University President Robert Sloan, who was founding dean of Truett Seminary, expressed appreciation to several key donors who have made the new building possible.
___First among those he thanked were Herbert and Joy Reynolds. Reynolds was university president in 1993 and took the first steps to found the seminary and name it for George W. Truett, the great Baptist statesman and former pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas.
___"It was because of Dr. Reynolds' commitment to Baptist principles ... that we have the opportunity to celebrate this day," Sloan said.
___He also thanked John and Eula Mae Baugh, whom he called "founding benefactors" of the seminary; Paul and Katy Piper; and Robin Rogers and the Robert Rogers Foundation of Tyler. The Baughs, in addition to helping fund the seminary's start-up in 1993, gave a $5 million lead gift to the building fund.
___"By God's grace we have had this outstanding beginning," Sloan said. "And from this point forward we continue to march in faith."
___Participants in the groundbreaking ceremony included donors, members of the Baylor board of regents, representatives of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and a number of Texas Baptist pastors.
___BGCT representatives included President Clyde Glazener; Russell Dilday, immediate past president and a Truett faculty member; and Keith Bruce, director of the Christian Education Coordinating Board.
___Initially, only two of the three floors in the new building will be finished for use. The third will be reserved for future growth.
___The building will feature a 550-seat chapel, funded by a $2.5 million gift from the Rogers Foundation and named for Paul Powell, former BGCT president and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Annuity Board. A smaller teaching chapel will be named in honor of Sloan.
___The facility also will include classrooms, faculty offices and administrative offices.
___Truett is the second seminary birthed at Baylor. What is today Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary was founded at Baylor nearly 100 years ago, then separated and relocated to Fort Worth. Southwestern, like Baylor, originally was an institution of the BGCT.
___Ironically, Truett Seminary was begun largely because of some Texas Baptists' concerns about the direction of Southwestern Seminary at the hand of conservatives now in control of the Southern Baptist Convention, which has owned Southwestern since 1925.
___Today, Truett is one of two graduate-level theological schools affiliated with the BGCT. The other is Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene.
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