Powell named dean at Truett Seminary
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___WACO--Baylor University President Robert Sloan has named Paul Powell dean of Truett Theological Seminary.
___The appointment was made one month after the top candidate produced by a university search committee declined to accept the post.

PAUL POWELL

___Powell, 67, is a veteran Texas Baptist pastor who retired in 1998 as president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Annuity Board. He subsequently has been president of the Robert Rogers Foundation in Tyler.
___Baylor deans serve at the pleasure of the president. Search committees usually offer the president a set of finalists for such positions, and the president has full discretion in making the final selection.
___After six months of work, the search committee for a Truett dean in December brought three finalists to campus. After interviews with faculty, students and administrators, the deanship was offered to Howard Batson, pastor of First Baptist Church of Amarillo.
___Although Batson had been rumored for months to be the likely dean candidate, he declined the post. He explained that he could not feel a sense of peace about taking the job.
___The dean's post became open last spring after Sloan announced that Brad Creed would be reassigned to classroom responsibilities. Sloan commended Creed for his three years as dean, but he said the time has come for a different dean to lead the young school to its next level.
___One of the major challenges facing the new dean is stepping up the pace of growth at the seminary, which already is one of the fastest-growing seminaries in the United States. A corollary challenge is securing funding so that all those students can attend Truett at a price comparable to or cheaper than the six SBC seminaries, whose tuition is heavily subsidized by the SBC budget.
___Baylor officials recently have said they hope Truett will double its enrollment in a few years to about 500. By some accounts, the long-range plan calls for doubling enrollment yet again a few years after that.
___Enrollment already has grown from 51 in 1994 to 247 last fall.
___Truett could receive significantly greater funding from the Baptist General Convention of Texas this year, if churches follow the recommended Cooperative Program adopted by messengers in October. That budget takes money away from the six SBC seminaries and redirects it to Truett, Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University and Hispanic Baptist Theological School in San Antonio.
___Baylor officials said Powell, who is a Baylor regent and a former president of the BGCT, is the ideal person to lead the seminary to the next level.
___"There is probably no one in the state of Texas who is more revered and respected as a Texas Baptist than Paul Powell. His credibility with Baptists will be of enormous benefit to Truett Seminary," said Donald Schmeltekopf, Baylor provost and vice president for academic affairs. "Paul Powell has a great heart for the ministry and cares about Baptist churches in Texas and throughout the world."
___Sloan, who was founding dean of Truett, said he is "thrilled" to have Powell come on board as the seminary's third dean.
___"He is a man of leadership and vision, a man of stature among Texas Baptists and an outstanding preacher," Sloan said. "He has spent a lifetime doing the very things that Truett Seminary wants to prepare ministers to do--to preach the word of God, to evangelize and to lead Baptists forward into the 21st century."
___Powell has been a strong supporter of Truett, as evidenced by a $2.5 million gift from the Rogers Foundation to build a 550-seat chapel in the Truett facility currently under construction on the Waco campus. That chapel will be named for Powell. The overall facility is a $17 million project for which John and Eula Mae Baugh of Houston have been lead donors.
___"I really believe the future of our historic Baptist witness is tied closely to Baylor University and to Truett Seminary," Powell said. "I'm very grateful for the foundation laid by Robert Sloan and Brad Creed, and I look forward to getting to know the faculty members individually and meeting with students.
___"My door will always be open," he added. "As I heard (former Baylor president) Abner McCall say on one occasion, 'It will not be an open door to a closed mind.' I want to listen, I want to learn and I want to help set a vision and represent Truett Seminary with our denomination, with our churches and with our pastors.
___"I want our seminary to be true to George W. Truett's name and mission. He was a man with a great passion for the lost and for the whole work of God. While there may never be another Baptist pastor like him, we can try to instill the passion of a Truett into our students."
___Powell will join the Truett staff Feb. 26. He and his wife, Cathy, will maintain their residence in Tyler but also will maintain an apartment near the Baylor campus.
___Powell's long-tenured pastorate was at Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, where he served 17 years. He also served Bell Falls Baptist Church and the First Baptist churches of Troy, Taylor and San Marcos.
___A native of Brookeland and Port Arthur, Powell earned the bachelor of arts degree from Baylor in 1956, then the master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1960. He holds honorary doctorates from East Texas Baptist University, Baylor, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Campbell University and Dallas Baptist University.
___Powell served as president of the BGCT from 1985 to 1987 and as first vice president of the convention from 1979 to 1980. He is a former member of the State Missions Commission and former chairman of regents at Baylor. He also has served on the boards of East Texas Baptist University, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Texas Baptist Children's Home at Round Rock.




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