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Neal to head seminary
by Matt Hanson, Wake Weekly Summer Intern
For the last 11 years Dr. Paige Patterson has held an unwavering course of unabashed conservative revivalism at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary -- despite the outcry of secular and denominational opponents.
When the seminary president leaves at the end of this month, not much will change. The seminary's Board of Trustees announced in its special Monday meeting that Dr. Bart C. Neal will take the reins until a permanent president is found. Neal has served as vice president for institutional advancement at the seminary since 1993. "I don't think we need to change the tune of the orchestra," said Neal, who has been a music minister at several churches during his career. "I might not even change the beat of the orchestra." The nine-member committee charged to find Patterson's permanent replacement held its first meeting Tuesday. The board gave it on Monday an $85,000 budget with which to fish the candidate pool, find a replacement and finalize the deal. A charge and benediction Monday's meeting was Patterson's last official chance to address a board that he said was the most faithful he had ever seen. The encouragement and interaction of the board with the seminary community has contributed to the school's success over the last 11 years, he said. "In the process of doing that you have endeared yourself to faculty and students alike," he said. The decade of success has been to the tune of $18 million in capital improvements and a 500 percent increase in enrollment. Patterson called the surge "one of the most miraculous interventions of God's hand in history." Patterson will now assume the presidency of Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where he will work to bolster similar growth. Southwestern is the largest of the Southern Baptist Convention seminaries. Texas, he said, is one of a few states where conservative and liberal beliefs are still at odds in the church. He asked that the board pray for him and his wife to be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves" in their transition, in establishing their conservatism. Patterson's wife, Dorothy, who has been at the forefront in the process of developing the seminary's women's studies curriculum, assured the trustees that the program would continue in her absence. She added she has no official plans to start a similar program at Southwestern. "I'm going to to do the same thing I've done for 40 years: help the president," she said. Once in Texas, Patterson said, he will do what all good ex-presidents should do. "I will go and keep my nose out of Southeastern's business," he said, making some suggestions for the board before he left. A qualified successor, he said, should exhibit a strong family commitment, adherence to the Baptist Faith and Message statement of 2000, ability to command respect from the faculty, a world mission commitment, a pastor's perspective and the ability to raise money. He said just as in any search process the group should create a profile of the man they want. "As soon as you do, I'd like to urge you to throw it away and forget it, and find God's man," he said. In his leaving, the board voted to create a Paige Patterson Faithful Servant Award and a Dorothy Patterson Visiting Professor of Women's Studies award. The new campus center, the next building to be constructed on campus, will be named after the Pattersons. Stepping up, stepping out Neal has been a key player in the seminary's fund raising during the last 10 years. He will step into the interim presidency for the next year, but promised he would not be a candidate for the permanent position. "I will retire from active ministry at the end of the year," he affirmed. To date there have been two names spoken as possible candidates for the presidency. Radio personality and author Richard Land, who is head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission in Washington, D.C., is one such name. Danny Akin, dean of the School of Theology and vice president for academic administration at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., is the other. If a new president is found before the year is up, Neal said, he will stay on to help with the transition. And even if a year goes by without a permanent replacement, he said he is willing to stay on until the deal is done. He said one of the most difficult parts of the next year will be maintaining the environment of conservative passion at the seminary. But he added that the job will be easier because of the way jobs are already delegated to other vice presidents and because the board of trustees has shown a sense of unity. His wife, Edith, said she will not flinch at new responsibility this year. She has worked with Dorothy Patterson quite a bit in the last 10 years. "It's not anything I wasn't already doing," she said. Neal was ordained to the Gospel Ministry in 1966, a statement from the seminary said. He has overseen the seminary's Scholarship on Fire! campaign, which will fund new campus buildings, endowments, student aid, property acquisition and curriculum and faculty expansions.
Last Updated On: July 24, 2003
Copyright 2003 The Wake Weekly