Well, it's official now......

The first time I sat in Paige Patterson's office I knew he was a true servant of God. My days at SEBTS were great ones b/c of his influence. I look forward to seeing what God will do through him at SWBTS.

SEBTS has bright days ahead as well under the leadership of Danny Akin. There appears to be no one else in the Patterson family who can take the reins besides Akin.

 

I think Akin will be the natural choice, and a good one. He is a first-rate scholar and passionate preacher. He also has the personality that will make any attacker look foolish, and we all know that our seminaries have their detractors

Going to be interesting!

 

There are still not any graemlins that glare. What is up with that?

 

Saw a local TV news story on Patterson. He said that he doesn't want women teaching classes in ANY theology classes.

The news camera was at the back of the room for the press conference and it looked like there were only about 5 reporters there... Rows and rows of empty seats.

I guess it's not considered much of a news story.

 

Since when does the secular media care about what goes on in Baptist seminaries?</font>[/QUOTE]The seminary normally gets a lot of local press. The fact that they had such a large room prepared for the press conference tends to indicate that they expected a large crowd.

There's probably some truth to that. Those who like Patterson doesn't seem to have much to say. Those who dislike Patterson seem to share the opinion that having Patterson at SWBTS will be a PR disaster for the "conservative resurgence" (sic) crowd.

 

My guess is every reporter in the Triangle was too busy covering or speculating on the ACC conference call or Jay Williams' bike accident. The media kind of has a one-track mind in Duke-UNC-NCST country these days.

 

Southern Baptists and Paul Pressler have spoken and all is happy in Baptistland!

 

BB, I don't know why you think SEBTS gets a lot of local news coverage. I am on campus nearly every day. In the 4 years I have been around here I have seen maybe 4 times at the most a news crew film here.

God bless Dr. Patterson, I pray that those at SWBTS will love him as much as we here love him.

Oh and just incase anyone wants to know... absolutely no faculty (teachers) are leaving SEBTS, they are going to stay here and still give the same great teaching they did with Dr. Patterson at the helm.

 

I wasn’t talking about Southeastern Seminary… I was talking about Southwestern Seminary. Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought Patterson was here in Fort Worth yesterday to meet with the trustees for the vote.

 

[/QUOTE]I am not sure about that. But either way, that is a suprise to me that the secular media is interested in SWBTS. Here at SEBTS, like FearNot said, the media seems to not even know we exist.

In Christ,
Neal[/QUOTE]

Hmmm. A shame really. It seems that if ya'll were truly making a difference or mattered in your community, a change of this magnitude would never go unnoticed. It was only recently when the "rumour" that Dr. Godsey might retire from Mercer was going around it was in the papers, even talk radio.

 

I am not sure about that. </font>[/QUOTE]From what I read in the Baptist Standard, I’m under the impression that Patterson was indeed in Fort Worth yesterday.

Southwestern is a major part of the Fort Worth community and has been since its founding. I think that’s what took many of Southwestern’s trustees by surprise when they fired Dilday about 10 years ago. They didn’t expect that many outside of the seminary community would know or care what they did. They didn’t expect the glare of the secular media (and the religious media) shining in on their actions. Things that normally would go unreported ended up on the front page of the local papers and the lead story on the television news.

The fact that the local media is treating Patterson coming to Southwestern as nearly a non-event is significant, but I’m not quite sure what it means – except that perhaps no one is surprised by the selection.

But I think that Patterson will make news when/if he starts an inquisition of the faculty. I doubt it will be enough that faculty sign the 2000 BF&M (since it wasn’t enough for Steve Stookey and Karen Bullock).

 

I've known scores of people who've studied at Southwestern, and to a person, they'd laugh at this statement. The stories I've been told suggests the community tolerates the seminary and all the seminaries/schools in the metroplex at best. My firsthand experience bears this out as well.

 

I've known scores of people who've studied at Southwestern, and to a person, they'd laugh at this statement. The stories I've been told suggests the community tolerates the seminary and all the seminaries/schools in the metroplex at best. My firsthand experience bears this out as well. </font>[/QUOTE]I’m really surprised at your assertion.

When I was a seminarian, I was always treated very warmly by the people of Fort Worth and it was always an advantage when I applied for “secular” employment. The potential employers knew they were getting someone who had at least a college degree and was able to pass a measure of financial accountability in order to even become a student at the seminary.

I’ve only been in Fort Worth during two different presidencies, but both Dr. Dilday and Dr. Hemphill maintained good relations with the community. (Unfortunately, Dr. Hemphill had some disadvantages after the Dilday firing fiasco.)

As someone with only nominal ties to the seminary (friends, fellow church members, and acquaintances working/studying there), I still find that most “secular” people know about the seminary and have at least a measure of respect for its mission.

 

I don't doubt Dr. Dilday's and Dr. Hemphill's influence on the community. And I'm glad you had a good experience. Most employers in seminary towns love to hire seminarians because they know they're solid citizens (and because they're financially desperate) But many communities are not as welcoming because they see the seminarians as fluid, as a closed community to themselves, and as a temporary nuisance.

I'm glad you had good experiences there in terms of the community at large. But not everyone would agree with your experience. The horror stories are legion.

 

That’s the truth!

I saw some of that when I was in college. I think a lot of it has to do with the leadership of the institution. When I transferred to a Texas Baptist school, the president of the school was new and he was just starting to build relationships. The previous president had not been popular with students, faculty or the town and as a result, the town did not have much use for the university. But after a few years of the president doing the appropriate PR work and participating in the community, the university was considered a vital part of the town.

Dr. Dilday did a good job with the PR work and so did Hemphill. Although I’m not a fan of Hemphill by any means, he seemed to be able to heal many of the PR problems the seminary was facing after the Dilday firing debacle. Unfortunately for Southwestern, I doubt Patterson is very interested in that sort of thing.

I’m sure there are many who would disagree.

But unfortunately, I have a few horror stories of my own involving secular employers and seminary students. Some of my fellow students were involved in the theft of very expensive property (both from a retail store and from a private school – all documented on video tape), harassment of fellow workers (including explicit sexual harassment), lying (I had to fire a seminarian for his persistent dishonesty on the job), laziness and sleeping on the job (unfortunately, this was far too common), viewing internet pornography on the job using school equipment numerous times, etc. A number of these people claimed that they were being persecuted and continued their education and are now pastoring/ministering in Southern Baptist churches!