“What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”
2 Timothy 2:2 ESV
This summer Danny Akin will retire from twenty-two years of faithful service as president of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I spent six years at this seminary to complete my PhD in Theological Ethics. My ministry and spiritual formation was greatly impacted by Dr. Akin’s faithful leadership. It’s important for you to understand the recent history of our denomination – the Southern Baptist Convention of churches.
In the 1960’s the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) was deeply compromised by liberal theology. Liberal theology is defined as an understanding of the Bible as non-authoritative, primarily a non-inspired work of men, and a rejection of the supernatural events recorded in the Bible (to include divine creation, the plagues of the exodus, the virgin birth of Jesus, the miracles of Jesus, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and the bodily second coming and coming judgement of Jesus). As an outworking of these things, the ethical commands of the Bible become non-binding generally good ideas instead of authoritative commands. In 1961 this broke out into the open when SBC Old Testament professor, Ralph Elliot, published a commentary on Genesis that presented the creation narrative as mythology and denied Moses’ authorship of the book. This publication turned a strong spotlight on the SBC seminaries and began a thorough examination of who was training pastors within the SBC.
It took almost 30 years, but action was taken at the main SBC meeting (convention) and as a result in 1993 Albert Mohler was installed as president of the flagship seminary – the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) in Louisville, KY. Once installed as president, Dr. Mohler found that the school was filled with thoroughly liberal tenured professors. The school was in a tailspin of decline, and the entire denomination was on the brink of divide. To help him in the task of reform, Dr. Mohler hired Dr. Akin and installed him as Vice-President for Academic Administration and Dean of the School of Theology. In this position he was Mohler’s right hand in cleaning house at SBTS. Together they upheld the foundational Abstract of Principles and fired most of the staff of SBTS and re-hired courageous conservative, mission-minded, and church-oriented Bible scholars. This reforming struggle involved death threats, mass protests, lawsuits, and an exodus of liberals from the denomination. Dr. Akin was still in his role as vice president when I was at SBTS completing my Master of Divinity degree. This reformation was not an easy process, but it saved the entire denomination from splitting and began to train a new generation of pastors.
By 2004 the situation at Southern was stable and Paige Patterson had decided to move from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (As a note, there are six total SBC seminaries). Dr. Akin was installed as President of SEBTS in 2004 to continue the reform effort that was underway. Dr. Akin was newly installed as president when I began my doctoral work at SEBTS. Over his 22 years of faithful service Dr. Akin has continually grown the breadth, depth, and faithfulness of the teaching faculty. He has created an undergraduate college (Judson College) that functions alongside the graduate seminary.
He, and Dr. Mohler, have been key supporters of the Pillar Network of churches within the SBC – of which Redeemer Bible Church is a member. The Pillar network of SBC churches represents the distinctives of ministry that Dr. Mohler and Dr. Akin have given their lives to instill in seminary students so that they may in turn be instilled in the churches. These distinctives are gospel proclamation, Biblical authority, in-person Bible exposition, leadership of a plurality of elders, confessionally Baptist, kingdom minded (seeking to work in cooperation with other like-minded churches to plant new churches), and all this from a historic reformed Baptist theological position. At this point there are over 650 cooperating churches in the Pillar Network.
We should rejoice in and recognize the faithfulness of Dr. Akin in an age when many ministers make the news for moral failure. He has been faithful to Jesus, his wife, his family, and the schools he has led for his entire life! Dr. Akin has faithfully fulfilled the charge of 2 Timothy 2:2. He has lived faithfully and taught faithfully. He has entrusted the gospel to the next generation, fought the good fight to preserve the church, and entrusted this calling to the next generation. For this he should be honored. For this we should give thanks!
We should also pray for SEBTS, the second largest of the SBC seminaries. Let us pray for an equally godly, wise, and courageous man to be called to the helm of this school. It will be a time of change in the nature of the school. We live in a time where most graduate education is no longer happening in person, but through some hybrid on-line model. This will require leadership. But the next leader of SEBTS will also have a serious struggle to face in training pastors. Across the US there is a notable shortage of trained pastors. We are experiencing this in our own area. Many faithful men are taking seminary classes and studying for ministry, but never actually entering into pastoral ministry. They see the weight and commitment of it and are drawing back. Let us pray for faithful men to take up the pastoral calling and serve well with wisdom, courage, love, and endurance.
I write these things to you in part so that you will know about the larger groups of churches we cooperate with. Cooperation, instead of competition, between like-minded churches is essential. However, even within cooperating churches, there is always struggle to maintain biblical faithfulness and doctrinal integrity. I pray that we will always hold these two threads together – striving to cooperate together and ever-seeking renewal and reform to press false teaching out of the church. In this may Jesus be glorified through the salvation of the lost and strong purity of His church.
May Jesus continue His work in our midst,
Pastor Vic