Nov 16, 2007 | by Paul F. South
When Dr. Steve Lemke was named Provost of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 1997, the institution was at a crossroads.
The seminary’s enrollment of 1,800 students was on a downward trend, in part because of a delay in filling the presidency after the retirement of Dr. Landrum Leavell. The school’s Doctor of Ministry program was among the smallest in the Southern Baptist Convention. However, Lemke saw much hope in the school.
“In many ways, we were Southern Baptists’ best kept secret,” Lemke said. “It was a school that people talked less about. I mean that in all aspects. It wasn’t the first choice of a lot of people for seminary training.”
A decade later, under the leadership of President Chuck Kelley, Lemke and the faculty, that has changed. Enrollment reached a pre-Katrina high of 3,800 students. The Doctor of Ministry program, once among the Southern Baptist Convention’s smallest, is now its largest.
The dramatic increase in enrollment, Lemke said, “is unheard of in seminary life. That’s a small college. We became the largest Southern Baptist seminary before Katrina hit. The storm knocked us back a little bit, but we’re still one of the five largest seminaries in the world.”
When Lemke arrived at NOBTS from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1997, a year after Dr. Chuck Kelley became the institution’s eighth president, he outlined his key concerns:
“I’m very concerned that the institution be student-friendly and that we have both academic excellence and close ties with the local church as we prepare students for ministry,” Lemke said. “If we skimp on either one of those commitments, we have not provided a good theological education.”
That combination of scholarship and servant leadership among the NOBTS faculty has reaped rich reward. Recently, the seminary faculty was ranked 12th best among American schools of theology in research and scholarly productivity. Still, the NOBTS faculty averages 10 years of practical ministry experience as pastors, ministers of music, ministers of education and missionaries.
Among other milestones in Lemke’s decade at the seminary:
• The Doctor of Ministry program has become more flexible and student-friendly. While still demanding a high level of scholarship, the program has been tailored to accommodate the demands of ministry.
• The Baptist College Partnership initiative, created early on in Lemke’s tenure, allows students to test out of graduate level courses if they have had similar undergraduate courses at Southern Baptist institutions. Some 1,500 students have come through the program.
• The basic Master of Divinity program curriculum was revamped, with a renewed commitment to the classics, with the addition of course requirements in Greek, Hebrew and Philosophy. Also, specialized master’s programs have been created, notably the M.A. in Marriage and Family Counseling.
• The seminary has also bolstered its delivery systems for courses through interactive technology. The number of extension centers has increased, as well as the new hub campuses in Orlando and suburban Atlanta, with a goal of making world-class theological education more accessible.
• Along with a commitment to research, funding has also been increased for faculty professional development.
A native of Ruston, La., Lemke served as Chairman of the Philosophy of Religion department and Associate Professor of the Philosophy of Religion department at Southwestern Seminary. He holds three degrees from the Fort Worth school (M.R.E., M.Div., Ph.D.). He has also done graduate work at the University of Texas at Dallas, Texas A&M University and Texas Christian University. He earned his undergraduate degree at Louisiana Tech, where he graduated cum laude with a major in history and a minor in journalism.
Lemke, 56, has also served in ministry at Southern Baptist churches in various pastoral roles for more than a quarter-century.
As Provost, Lemke oversees a variety of responsibilities, but in his heart, he said, he remains a pastor. He sees his role as helping “shape pastors for the 21st century.”
“I see myself as a pastor, the person who cares about people,” he said. “I realize people don’t see that and I don’t often have the opportunity to express that. But that’s who I am.”
Lemke and his wife, Carol, live on campus with their son, Austin.