November 11, 2002
SBTC forms education body
___HOUSTON--The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has formed an education commission in partnership with Criswell College and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
___The breakaway convention from the Baptist General Convention of Texas currently supports only one institution, Criswell College. The new convention has chosen instead to focus its resources on greater support of Southern Baptist Convention seminaries and agencies.
___A first initiative of the SBTC's education commission will be to offer GED training and a 32-hour certificate in Bible.
___Criswell College, Southwestern Seminary and the SBTC each will elect two members to the education commission.
___"The purpose of this is to create a partnership between the SBTC, Criswell, Southwestern, and then the passion is just to provide quality theological education that is accredited," Deron Biles, SBTC staff liaison, noted in a Baptist Press report.
___SBTC courses will be offered at Southwestern Seminary extension centers in San Antonio and Houston.
___Biles said the education commission will complement a key strategy of the SBTC called its "Hispanic Initiative." The goal of that drive, he said, is to support the education of Hispanics in Texas from the GED level through the Ph.D.
___SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards told the convention's Executive Board the education commission will ensure conservative education is available to Texas Baptists. The convention's role will be to enforce agreement with the convention's doctrinal positions.
___"The problem has been in Texas and across the Southern Baptist Convention that seminary extension programs have been so localized that many of those teaching are not in agreement with the current Baptist Faith & Message statement or the direction of the SBC," Richards said. "We are committed to providing a certification system; however, we are not funding things, but overseeing them. We are assisting in the extension sites by saying, 'If this person is going to teach, then he must be in agreement with the Baptist Faith & Message.'"
___The SBTC also approved hiring two staff members, Leroy Fountain of DeSoto, as urban church planting strategist, and Gibbie McMillan of Rogers, Ark., as missions services associate.
___Among McMillan's announced job responsibilities is to develop a disaster response system and a network of volunteer builders, as well as establish specialized men's evangelism projects and fellowships related to aviation, legal, medical, ministry and agri-business.
___The BGCT conducts similar work through Texas Baptist Men, an entity SBTC officials have tried to woo into a partnership with the new convention. To date, that effort has been unsuccessful.
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