May 15, 2000
Seminary marks 25 years in Houston
___HOUSTON--The concept may not seem unique today, but when Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary joined with nine Texas Baptist associations to form a Houston center in 1975, history was made.
___The success of that venture, the first attempt of a Southern Baptist Convention seminary to create an off-campus center, was celebrated at a 25th anniversary event May 1.
___During the celebration, seminary officials announced plans to make the Houston center a freestanding, degree-granting institution. A $10 million fund-raising goal was announced to help hire a permanent faculty, build a library and a classroom facility with a preaching lab and offices.
___The seminary's Houston center has been operated on the campus of Houston Baptist University.
___Seminary President Ken Hemphill announced the appointment of Houston-area pastor Bob Overton as new director of the campus. He succeeds Hilda Moffett, who has coordinated the center's work since its founding in 1975. Moffett will continue to serve as a consultant to the seminary.
___"Hilda has been there from the very beginning of the program and has been the main reason the program has succeeded," said Jim Spivey, associate dean for the Houston campus.
___He credited Moffett's understanding of theological education, her care for students, her involvement with Houston Baptist University and her knowledge of the Baptist pastoral community in Houston as factors in the center's success
___Overton, pastor of Rice Temple Baptist Church for 30 years, said he is excited about the future of the Houston campus, adding that the seminary will continue to be strongly conservative, academic and evangelistic in spirit.
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