NEW ORLEANS -- New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley urged students to commit themselves to God’s mission for their lives during the seminary’s convocation held Sept. 7.
Kelley’s message introduced a seminary-wide focus on mission for the 2010-11 academic year. Mission focus is one of five core values upon which the school founds its educational practices. The other four include: doctrinal integrity, spiritual vitality, characteristic excellence, and servant leadership. Kelley says that of all the school’s core values, mission focus is the only one that is sometimes questioned.
Those who question it see the seminary primarily as an educational institution. However, Kelley says that while “the part of the mission that we spend most time on is the preparation of leaders … all of us, faculty and students, are engaged in the task of making the gospel known throughout the whole world, calling all to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.” This is the mission, he says, that is at the heart of all that NOBTS does.
Kelley’s text was John 15:10 in which Jesus teaches his disciples that obedience to the word of God is the key to abiding in His presence and love. Kelley pointed out that people tend to think of missions in terms of doing, what one can do with one’s gifts. He attests, however, that there is more to doing missions than people tend to think.
Having recently marked the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on the seminary, Kelly drew from his experience following the storm to drive home the importance of staying committed to the mission. He remarked that everyone will face at some point a crisis that challenges your understanding of your mission. “You will have an experience of the bottom dropping out – of life changing quite unexpected and not knowing where to turn. And that’s when you’re going to find what do you believe about the sovereignty of God.”
Kelley says God impressed upon him in the early days after Katrina that He was still in charge. He learned that “circumstances are no indication of the authority and power of God.” Instead, he says, God reminded him that his mission was to serve NOBTS. Kelley says that in any life-altering circumstance, the first thing to do is to focus on the mission.
Understanding the mission of NOBTS, Kelley said, helped him to find a starting place to rebuild. “The first thing wasn’t about getting the campus fixed,” he said. “The first thing was about: Do you understand you are still on a mission? And I knew before the end of that day that we were going to have graduation in December.”
Kelley pointed to Jesus’ example in going to the cross as a model of mission focus. “He was doing what God wanted to do; therefore, He knew He was in the grip of the Father who loved Him.” For Christians today, he says, “it is as we are doing what God wants us to do that we experience his loving presence.”
Kelley said the mission is not only an agenda of things to do, but a pathway into the heart of God. “You must be committed to the mission of God because it is in that commitment to the mission – it is in the doing of the mission – that God works His deepest work in our hearts and in our souls.”
Finally he reminded students that John 15:10 points to obedience. “You be faithful to the mission, the Kingdom of God will advance, and you will experience the love and grace of God,” he said.
Kelley closed by emphasizing the joy in mission focus, even in the midst of crisis. “[It is] a joy not of forgetfulness, a joy not of making tough things disappear, but a joy that God and God alone was able to bring by his loving presence. And he will always be there for those who are committed to his mission.”
Faculty recognition
Also at the convocation service, Kelley honored five faculty members for their service to NOBTS. Bill Warren was recognized for 20 years of service. Warren is professor of New Testament and Greek at NOBTS and director of the H. Milton Haggard Center for New Testament Textual Studies.In acknowledging Warren’s contribution to the school, Kelley said, “During the Jesus movement, one of the greatest awakenings of the modern history of our nation, Jesus got a hold of Bill Warren, changed his heart, changed his life and put him on a path that has been rather amazing.”
That path has included serving as a missionary to Colombia prior to serving as New Testament and Greek professor at NOBTS. At the seminary he has founded and continues to develop a New Testament textual studies center. Kelley said Warren first asked him for just a computer, a desk and a chair as a minimum to get the center started and has since built a center which contains the second largest collection of New Testament manuscripts in the United States. His work in textual studies is known nationally and internationally.
“We are known all over the world by New Testament scholars because of the work that our students and faculty have done in collating the ancient manuscripts of the Greek New Testament and have just recognized a terrific milestone in releasing a software module that contains the largest ever digital and searchable collection of New Testament Greek manuscript data in the entire world available for scholars to use,” Kelley said.
Aside from his scholarly accomplishments, Kelley also praised Warren for his passion for preaching, his service to rural Baptist churches, and his dedication to helping students translate their efforts with the Greek texts into powerful sermons.
Four additional faculty members were recognized for 10 years of service: Curtis Scott Drumm, associate dean of Leavell College, director of institutional effectiveness, and associate professor of theological and historical studies at Leavell College; Norris Grubbs, associate professor of New Testament and Greek at Leavell College; Lloyd Harsch, associate professor of church history at NOBTS; and Laurie Watts, associate professor of educational technology, Leavell College.
Doctrinal Confession
Kelley opened the convocation service by introducing three new faculty members who “signed the book,” officially declaring their commitment to NOBTS doctrinal beliefs. Signing the book were: Deok Jae Lee, assistant professor of Christian ministry and director of the NOBTS Korean program; Dan Warner, associate professor of Old Testament and archaeology; and Rhyne Putman, instructor of theology.NOBTS has always been a confessional seminary, requiring faculty and staff to publicly commit to the doctrines upheld by Southern Baptists. The original faculty, in 1918, wrote the initial “Articles of Religious Belief” which all of the members covenanted to uphold as there was at that time no formal Southern Baptist confession of faith. Since 1925, professors have signed both the “Articles of Religious Belief” and the current Southern Baptist confession of faith.
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