Feb. 29, 2008 | By Paul F. South
NEW ORLEANS – A ceremony celebrating the publication of a new biography of former New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Roland Q. Leavell was part of Thursday’s chapel service in the building that bears his name.
He Still Stands Tall: The Life of Roland Q. Leavell was recently released by Pelican Publishing’s Dove Inspirational Press.
Leavell’s daughter, the author of the new book, Dottie L. Hudson, presented copies of the book to current seminary President Chuck Kelley, to the John T. Christian Library and for the Leavell Legacy Room in the Hardin Student Center. The Legacy copy will rest in a mahogany stand crafted by Hudson’s husband and former NOBTS staff member Carl Hudson.
Kelley said that two Leavell will always be considered among the best president’s in NOBTS history. One will be Roland Q. Leavell, he said. The other will be his nephew, Landrum Leavell II.
Roland Q. Leavell served as president of NOBTS from 1946-1958. However, his impact extends far beyond the gates of NOBTS and is deeply woven into the fabric of Southern Baptist history and evangelism.
“Dr. Roland Q. Leavell has always been a hero of mine,” Kelley said. “He was not only a great president. He was the one who moved the campus from its uptown location to this present location, and made it possible for growth into one of the largest seminaries in the world. But if you were to completely forget everything he did at New Orleans Baptist Seminary, he would be one of the three or four most important people in the history of Southern Baptist evangelism, just because of what he did with the overall strategy of Southern Baptists in doing evangelism. He also went down as one of our great Southern Baptist pastors.”
In her remarks to the chapel audience, Hudson expressed the joy that came from writing a biography of her father. Members of the Leavell family, some traveling from as far away as North Carolina, joined faculty, staff and students at the chapel service.
“This has been a tremendous journey, and I have loved every minute of it,” Hudson said. “This is a significant occasion, not because I am here, but because Dr. Roland Q. Leavell made a significant contribution to what has gone on in the Southern Baptist Convention and to our lives in ways that we do not even know.”
Hudson recounted the discovery of 20 years worth of Leavell’s diaries that had been tucked away in a closet and not discovered until after his death. Leavell died in 1963.
“It takes courage to write your real emotions on pieces of paper, yet he had the courage to do that,” Hudson said. “And we are so much richer for it.”
Hudson also spoke of her father’s love for the seminary that with God’s leading, he helped transform.
Hudson added, “I seldom walk on this campus that I don’t feel the heartbeat. But it’s not the heartbeat of a man who died years ago. It’s the heartbeat of God working through men who lived 40years ago, men who lived 20 years ago and some very wonderful examples of men who are carrying on the tradition, that God’s miracles are still happening.”
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The book is available through Wanda Gregg, director of donor relations in the seminary’s Office of Institutional Advancement. She can be reached at (504) 282-4455, ext. 8424..