Volume 70, Number 5
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Campus Newspaper of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary • Fort Worth, Texas A LOOK INSIDE »
THE SCROLL
Patterson answers questions in 140 characters or less pg 4 »
Engage24 emphasis yields 9 professions of faith By Alex Sibley | SWBTS In early October, a discouraged former graduate of Southwestern Seminary wrote on Twitter that, due to a perceived lack of evangelistic focus among Southern Baptists, he would no longer identify himself with the denomination. Tommy Kiker, assistant professor of pastoral theology at Southwestern, discovered this tweet and reached out to its disheartened author. Kiker encouraged him to reconnect with Southwestern, informing him that groups of students and faculty go out into the community every day, Monday through Friday, in an effort to evangelize every home within a two-mile radius of the campus through an initiative called “Going the Second Mile.” On Oct. 14, in response to Ronnie Floyd’s call to all Southern Baptists to share their faith with at least one person in a ministry effort titled “Engage24,” Southwestern students and faculty committed to devote the day to evangelism. Although the seminary had already scheduled teams to evangelize that day (as they do every day), additional slots were opened to allow more people to participate in the Going the Second Mile effort. At the end of the day, Kiker reached out again to the discouraged former graduate and informed him that Southwestern’s evangelism efforts that day yielded
By Alex Sibley | SWBTS
nine professions of faith. The former graduate responded that he was inspired by such zeal for evangelism, which he said he never sees anywhere else. He added that, next time he is in Fort Worth, he will join one of Southwestern’s evangelism teams. Matt Queen, Southwestern’s L.R. Scarborough Chair of Evangelism (“Chair of Fire”), says that evangelism is the spirit of who Southwestern Seminary is. “Evangelism as an academic discipline
was birthed at this school,” he says. “Southwestern has been known for professors, staff and students evangelizing consistently throughout its history, and so we, today, are just part of a story that's gone on since 1908.” As a result of the Going the Second Mile initiative, since January of 2014, 121 people have professed faith in Christ for the first time. Since fall 2013, at least one person has been saved every week. Engage24 pg 2 »
Southwestern receives $12 million lead gift for construction project By Alex Sibley | SWBTS Harold Mathena announced in chapel, Oct. 16, that he is bestowing to Southwestern Seminary a gift of $12 million for the construction of a new building for the College at Southwestern and the Roy Fish School of Evangelism and Missions. Other gifts are already in hand for this project. This lead gift will cover roughly half the cost of construction. “There are living in this world seven billion unsaved men and women, boys and girls,” said Mathena, a bi-vocational evangelist. “I also know that, from the beginning, Southwestern Seminary’s mission has been to prepare men and women to take the Gospel to the ends of the world. To enhance this mission of taking the good news of Jesus Christ to every man and woman, we [the Mathena family] believe that the Lord wants a home for the proclamation of the Gospel on this campus. We want to be a part of that. “After much prayer, [my wife] Patricia and I want to give you today this pledge of $12 million as our testimony and our personal stewardship commitment to
ENROLLMENT INCREASE, NEW SCHOLARSHIP ANNOUNCED AT FALL TRUSTEE MEETING
the College at Southwestern and to the Roy Fish School of Evangelism and Missions—for the building of a complex to hold their strategic ministries.” Mathena was relatively poor in his early years, working as a roughneck in the oil industry and later serving in the
pastorate. After working as both a fulltime and bi-vocational pastor at various churches, Mathena became a full-time evangelist. Using his experience from the oil field, he founded a manufacturing company for the oil industry as an effort Construction pg 3 »
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees elected new faculty members; appointed faculty to six new academic chairs; approved new degrees for the college and seminary; and conducted other business during their fall meeting, Oct. 22. Additionally, trustees received reports of double-digit increases in enrollment for the fall semester and learned of a “game-changing” scholarship opportunity. Trustees pg 3 »
BUSINESS OPENS DOORS FOR SHARING THE GOSPEL By Alex Sibley | SWBTS Dean Sieberhagen, assistant professor of missions and Islamic studies at Southwestern Seminary, says that, in many countries around the world, if one goes to an embassy and requests a visa to live in that particular country, the embassy will ask why. “And if you say, ‘Because I’ve graduated from seminary and I want to come here [to do missions],’ you won’t get it,” Sieberhagen says. “But if you’re there to go and help develop the economy and do business, they’ll consider giving you that visa.” With this in mind, Sieberhagen explains that business is “a way in which God can use the talents and training [people] already have to creatively enter a situation that they otherwise couldn’t.” Sieberhagen can speak authoritatively on this subject because this is what he did in order to enter the mission field of Central Asia, where he served for 13 years. Knowing he was called to be a missionary to an unreached people group, Sieberhagen enrolled in the 2+2 program at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. There, Sieberhagen met IMB personnel from Central Asia who told him what kind of people they needed to join them in the field. Specifically, they wanted Sieberhagen pg 2 »