April 14, 2003
EDITORIAL:
Rumor no more: Southwestern presidency now vacant
___Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary steered further to the right last week.
___President Ken Hemphill "retired," opening the way for a more ideologically aggressive fundamentalist president. Expect his successor to change the complexion of the faculty within three to five years. Expect the seminary to engage the Texas Baptist political/theological struggle more vigorously, advocating on behalf of the new convention created to compete with the Baptist General Convention of Texas for the hearts of our churches.
___For several years, speculation swirled around Hemphill. Every time he took on another prominent interim pastorate--whether it was First Baptist Church in Houston, First Baptist Church in Lubbock or, most recently, First Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss.--rumors flew around the seminary's Fort Worth campus, across Texas and throughout the Southern Baptist Conven
| Southwestern Seminary trustees want a very different school from the one that trained Texas Baptist ministers for generations. Outgoing President Ken Hemphill didn't complete what trustees started when they fired Russell Dilday in 1993. So now they will try again. |
tion. "Haven't you heard? Ken Hemphill's going to become pastor of First Baptist in Such-and-such." Invariably, round two of each rumor would bring Paige Patterson, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina, to Texas to take over the reins at Southwestern.
___Although the rumors became routine and even monotonous, they always sounded plausible.
___Hemphill had been the successful pastor of First Baptist Church in Norfolk, Va., and observers could picture him leading another large congregation. He seemed to fit in with the elite class of mega-church pastors within the SBC--tall and athletic, strong voice, dynamic presence, looks good on TV.
___Moreover, the open secret among SBC insiders was that several powerful Southwestern trustees and other convention leaders were not pleased with the pace of progress at the seminary and therefore were unhappy with Hemphill.
___For fundamentalists who wanted to turn the SBC upside down, Southwestern's shift has seemed agonizingly slow. It started with a bang, all right. Nine years ago this spring, seminary trustees fired President Russell Dilday, a theological conservative in the truest sense, but also a denominational traditionalist who would not advance fundamentalists' agendas. That was the Shot Heard 'Round Texas, the first time many Lone Star Baptists realized the SBC controversy might impact them. Then the trustees hired Hemphill. He apparently agreed with their theology and political movement. But he's affable, characteristically courteous and likes to be liked. With a few notable exceptions, he seemed content to allow Southwestern to change through the natural rhythms of faculty attrition.
___That ponderous pace didn't thrill Hemphill's trustees. To begin with, Southwestern is Baptists' largest seminary and claims its largest seminary faculty. At a huge school where more faculty retire than resign, attrition advances glacially. In his trustees' view, Hemphill also failed in comparison with his two most fair-haired colleagues. At Southeastern, Patterson inherited a faculty decimated by departures following the coerced resignation of a beloved president. He quickly repopulated professorships, primarily with former colleagues from Criswell College in Dallas, where he had been president. At Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky, President Al Mohler's combative administrative technique led a host of faculty to flee, and trustees approved early-retirement packages for many others. So, Mohler seized these opportunities to scoop up a new crop of profs. Meanwhile, for the most part, Hemphill waited for beloved longtime profs to retire and leave vacancies for newcomers. Even then, he surprised the trustees by occasionally picking prospects not closely identified with the fundamentalist party. Vexed by the slow pace of change, one fundamentalist trustee leader claimed the seminary faculty still includes "moderates" who have "hunkered down and gone underground."
___Now, Hemphill himself is on the way out. Trustees called his departure "retirement," but he's only 54 years old. He's moving to Nashville to accept a custom-made job as national strategist for Expanding Kingdom Growth, a program created by the SBC last year without strategies, objectives or goals. He will work for the SBC's Executive Committee and LifeWay Christian Resources, but the funding should come from Southwestern, since the job clearly was created to vacate the seminary's presidency.
___That brings us back to Patterson. His name continually comes up in conjunction with Southwestern. Although he's not a Southwestern alumnus, Patterson is plausible for the presidency for several reasons: He grew up in Texas. Until he left for Southeastern, he spent almost his entire ministry in the Lone Star State. He's never quit wearing cowboy boots, even on North Carolina's tobacco roads. With another Texan, Paul Pressler, he engineered the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC. The opportunity to ride herd over Baptists' biggest seminary in his home state sounds like a fitting reward for his services. And the trustees who wanted Hemphill off Seminary Hill could get excited about a couple of Patterson's qualities. He's turned Southeastern around, hiring the kind of faculty they admire and recruiting so many students it's become the SBC's fastest-growing seminary. He also loves to engage the political fray and would provide force for downplaying the BGCT and promoting its competing convention.
___Will Southwestern turn to Patterson? Maybe; maybe not. But whoever succeeds Hemphill--especially if it's Patterson--will clarify the issue of Southwestern for Texas Baptists. The trustees want a very different seminary from the school that trained our ministers for generations. Hemphill didn't complete what trustees started when they fired Dilday. So now they will try again.
--Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
___
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