Third Trimester 2017
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Volume LXXXI, No. 3 • 3rd Trimester 2017 2017 Hester Lecture From Student to Teacher: How A Baptist Education Prepared Two Women for Academic Leadership IABCU Elects New Board Members and Officers New Presidents at Baylor and Baptist University of the Americas Two IABCU Veterans Transition Out of President’s Role Contents IABCU ELECTS NEW 2New Board Members and Officers 3Better Together BOARD MEMBERS 4From Student to Teacher 6Two New Member Schools AND OFFICERS 7Fuel Credits 8Hester Lecture t its June, 2017, meeting the Additionally, the membership 16 Legal Notes Amembership of the elected three new board members International Association of and renewed the term of one 18 Convert or Not Convert Baptist Colleges and Universities member. Dr. Rick Brewer, presi- 20 Baylor’s New President elected a new slate of officers. Dr. dent of Louisiana College, was Barbara McMillin, president of elected to the board, as was Dr. 21 BUS’s New President Blue Mountain College and cur- Anthony Allen, president of 22 Hunter and Lacey rent IABCU vice-chair was elected Hannibal-LaGrange University. As president, succeeding the term of stated above, Dr. Mike Hardin, 23 Williams Baptist, Valentine Chair, provost of Samford University, Loans Dr. Dub Oliver. Dr. Ron Ellis, president of California Baptist was elected to the board and will Vol. LXXXI, No. 3 University, was elected vice-chair. fill the recording secretary role. 3rd Trimester 2017 Dr. Don Dowless, president of The membership renewed the Publisher: Barbara McMillin, Shorter University, was re-elected term of Dr. Scott Bullard, vice President and Board Chair, IABCU to serve a second term as treasur- president and academic dean at Managing Editor Ashley Hill, er. Dr. Mike Hardin, provost of Judson College. Each of these Executive Secretary, IABCU The Baptist Educator (ISSN 0038-3848) is a Samford University, was elected men will serve a four-year term, news magazine published three times a year to fill the role of recording secre- with their terms expiring in June for administrators, faculty, staff, trustees and of 2021. friends of member schools by the tary. International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities (IABCU) Samford University P. O. B ox 2 9 3 9 3 5 Birmingham, AL 35229 Send news items to: Executive Secretary The Baptist Educator (L to R) Dr. Barbara McMillin, Dr. Ron Ellis, Dr. Don Dowless, and Dr. Mike Hardin E-mail: [email protected] IABCU Samford University P. O. Box 293935 Birmingham, AL 35229 Phone: (205)-726-2036 An annual subscription to The Baptist Educator is $10.00 for one printed and two digital issues. “Legal Notes” is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information on legal issues fac- ing Baptist-related higher education. It is provid- ed with the understanding that the publisher and editors are not engaged in rendering legal coun- sel. “Legal Notes” is not intended as a substitute for the services of a legal professional. If your Dr. Rick Brewer Dr. Anthony Allen institution needs legal counsel, a competent attorney should be consulted. 2 The Baptist Educator Comment From The President: BETTER TOGETHER Dr. Barbara McMillin IABCU President and Board Chair and President, Blue Mountain College Greetings! Be it known to all who enter here that I hope that each IABCU campus has experienced a fall semester Christ graced with unity and affirmed by growth. As the newly elected IABCU president, I am humbled by the opportunity to represent is the reason for this College. our 44 member institutions, including our newest members: the University of Mobile and New Orleans Baptist Theological He is the unseen but ever present teacher in its classes. Seminary. I look forward to working with each of you to fulfill the IABCU mission of stimulating and supporting a quest for He is the model for its faculty and the inspiration of its students. high-quality Christian higher education within the context of our During my visit Dr. Cook also gifted me with a copy of Mark Baptist history, heritage and relationships. Batterson’s Draw the Circle: A 40-Day Prayer Challenge, noting IABCU membership affords each of us a host of “perks,” including that administrators, faculty, and staff at DBU had taken this chal- access to the resources featured on the IABCU website and the lenge on together, resulting in a new expectation to witness what opportunity to participate in a network of professionals dedicated only God can do. Thanks to a “divine appointment” with an to the cause of Christian higher education. For me, the most IABCU colleague, the Blue Mountain College community has valuable perk occurs as we gather to be challenged, encouraged, formed this same expectation—and we are experiencing daily and equipped at our annual meeting. Invariably, I leave this gath- blessings that can only be attributed to our great God! ering with a renewed sense of our collective mission and with my So, as we enter the season of thanksgiving and reflection, I am quiver full of fresh ideas for underscoring and advancing the thankful for the vision that led to the formation of the IABCU, for Christ-centered mission of Blue Mountain College. The 2017 the resources and support that this organization provides, for the meeting, held at the historic and beautiful Peabody Hotel in commitment of our member institutions to their God-honoring downtown Memphis, was no exception. missions, for the men and women who model Christ as servant As the 2017 Hester Lecturer, Dr. Russell Moore, president of the leaders and mentors, for the opportunities to fellowship with and Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist learn from one another, for the generous spirit of IABCU col- Convention, challenged us to consider how Baptists in the 21st leagues willing to share of their time and wisdom, and for the century must prepare to address the issue of loneliness in an era divine appointments that afford us the privilege and blessing of of a loss of community. To call lonely people “out of a herd men- pursuing Kingdom work together. tality” and toward a “personal, individual relationship with God,” we must demonstrate our confidence in the gospel, in the author- ity of scripture, and in the church to speak to the lonely in a way that can “change and transform human hearts.” The full tran- script of Dr. Moore’s lecture is featured in this edition of The Baptist Educator. A highlight for me of the 2017 meeting was the session led by Dr. Bob Agee and by Dr. Gary Cook. Both of these great leaders instilled in me a heightened respect for the history, purpose, and influence of our organization. More importantly, their comments sparked in me a curiosity for learning more about how our respective institutions remain unwaveringly faithful to their mis- sion and to our denomination in a time when challenges to such a commitment abound. Their passion for the unapologetic pur- suit of Christian higher education led me into an extended con- versation with Dr. Cook and ultimately to a visit to Dallas Baptist University. While there I was inspired by the university’s commit- ment to its mission, a commitment conveyed visually through Christian art and symbols gracing the halls and grounds of their beautiful campus. So inspired was I that a version of this state- ment, found displayed throughout the DBU campus, now appears in the hallways of Blue Mountain College: Barbara McMillin 2nd Trimester 2017 3 From Student to Teacher: How a Baptist Education Prepared Two Women for Academic Leadership Nurtured and challenged through pleted her undergraduate studies How would you describe your their experiences in Baptist col- at Southwest Baptist University leges and universities and the and earned her MDiv from experience as an undergraduate Baptist College and University Baylor’s Truett Seminary. Upon student at a Baptist university? (BCU) Scholars program, Kim finishing her PhD in religion at Bodenhamer and Stephanie Peek Baylor in May 2018, she will join Peek: [When I was applying for are now equipped and eager to the faculty of Judson College as college,] I applied to a lot of Ivy begin their academic careers in the department head of the League schools with high Baptist higher education. Department of Religion. research focus. A friend of mine went to a small Baptist school in Bodenhamer earned her BA in Bodenhamer and Peek share a Missouri, Southwest Baptist biblical studies from Hardin- glimpse into their experiences in University, and I fell in love with Simmons University before com- Baptist higher education and how it. It felt like home. The people pleting her MTS at Duke the people they engaged with and were caring, kind, and cared University. This fall, she began the opportunities they participat- about me as a person – and not her role as assistant professor of ed in have prepared them for just academic life but my life of Christian studies at the University their well-earned teaching faith. of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Peek com- appointments: 4 The Baptist Educator Bodenhamer: I had such a posi- whole being, which includes our time as a BCU Scholar that tive experience as an undergrad- intellect. I was inspired to pur- uate at a Baptist university, sue my education so that I might helped to shape you or point you Hardin-Simmons University. join in the work of guiding stu- toward your current career While the institution itself, the dents through the difficult ter- path? size, the environment, and the rain of life as their faith is life-long friends I made all con- stretched and challenged during Peek: It wasn’t any one moment; tributed to that positive experi- an undergraduate education.