May 2, 2006

NEW ORLEANS -- While New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary offices were split between Atlanta and New Orleans, Seminary President Chuck Kelley’s tenth anniversary as NOBTS president came and past on March 1. The foundation and trustee boards acknowledged the anniversary during their meetings. But the other campus events to mark the date, planned long before the hurricane, had to be postponed.

Instead of receiving gifts on his anniversary, Kelley gave each fulltime staff member a gift to mark the anniversary during an April 27 meeting – the first full meeting of the staff since December 2005.

“This is just a small memento of this ride we’ve had together,” he said of the commemorative stone coasters. The coasters read: “New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary 1996-2006. Thanks for making a difference! Chuck and Rhonda Kelley.”

Kelley praised to work of the staff over the past ten years. He acknowledged the hard work of the staff following the hurricane and said that the staff played an important role in the seminary’s dramatic growth and expansion during the past decade.

“Whatever has unfolded in these past ten years could never have happen if it had not been for you and your hard work,” he said.

During his time as president, the seminary grew from an enrollment of 1,879 to just under 4,000 prior to Hurricane Katrina. Under his direction, the NOBTS faculty completely redesigned the seminary curriculum. The seminary expanded its mission involvement in the city of New Orleans, in Asia, Russia and Cuba.

Kelley launched an ambitious capital campaign called “New Horizons” in 2000. The successful campaign helped the seminary transform the campus with new student housing and state-of-the art technology.

Perhaps, Kelley’s finest hours as a leader has been during the seminary recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Only days after the storm inundated the campus with flood waters, Kelley began working to provide relief for seminary families – student, faculty and staff.

Kelley and his administrative team developed an innovative plan to continue the fall 2005 semester. In December, the seminary held a graduation service in Birmingham, Ala. and by January, commuter classes had returned to the main campus.

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