John Leland Center for Theological Studies

Joseph M. Smith · Jun 7, 2006

I am so proud to be associated, as a trustee, with a new seminary, the John Leland Center for Theological Studies, based in Arlington, VA, but with extensions elsewhere in Virginia. This school was born out of discussions among Northern Virginia and District of Columbia Baptist leaders, several years ago, who felt the need for contextual theological education in the national capital area. Dr. Randel Everett, at that time pastor of Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, VA, has been giving outstanding leadership as President, along with Dean Jeff Willetts. Both serve as pastors as well as staff for Leland. The resident faculty is small but well-trained and multicultural, and other courses are taught by adjuncts.

In only a few short years we have amassed a student body of about 100 and have won a recommendation for accreditation from the accrediting commission of the Association of Theological Schools. We have several small graduating classes behind us now, and the graduates are beginning to make an impact on the churches, particularly those churches that need revitalization.

Leland has studiously avoided affiliation with any Baptist national denomination, though we work closely with the Baptist General Association of Virginia and with the District of Columbia Baptist Convention, because we seek to remain "above the fray" of national denominational politics.

I invite you to examine www.johnlelandcenter.edu.

paidagogos · Jun 8, 2006

Joseph M. Smith said:

I am so proud to be associated, as a trustee, with a new seminary, the John Leland Center for Theological Studies, based in Arlington, VA, but with extensions elsewhere in Virginia. This school was born out of discussions among Northern Virginia and District of Columbia Baptist leaders, several years ago, who felt the need for contextual theological education in the national capital area. Dr. Randel Everett, at that time pastor of Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, VA, has been giving outstanding leadership as President, along with Dean Jeff Willetts. Both serve as pastors as well as staff for Leland. The resident faculty is small but well-trained and multicultural, and other courses are taught by adjuncts.

In only a few short years we have amassed a student body of about 100 and have won a recommendation for accreditation from the accrediting commission of the Association of Theological Schools. We have several small graduating classes behind us now, and the graduates are beginning to make an impact on the churches, particularly those churches that need revitalization.

Leland has studiously avoided affiliation with any Baptist national denomination, though we work closely with the Baptist General Association of Virginia and with the District of Columbia Baptist Convention, because we seek to remain "above the fray" of national denominational politics.

I invite you to examine www.johnlelandcenter.edu.
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Yes, I did view the site and found a number of interesting things. I was duly impressed with your faculty. However, my perusal of the site raised several questions. I am curious.

Am I correct in assuming that John Leland Center is more at home in theology and practice with the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Alliance of Baptists than those of the conservative resurgence in the SBC? I noticed your connections with the World Baptist Alliance, Baptist General Association of Virginia and the District of Columbia Baptist Convention. This would seem to put you squarely in the moderate or more liberal camp of the SBC.

Furthermore, Dr. Everett mentioned that John Leland Center was committed to educating leaders for the emerging church. Did he mean that the center is part of the emergent church movement or was he simply referring to a general notion of change?

Finally, was John Leland founded in reaction to the takeover of the SBC seminaries by conservatives?

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Joseph M. Smith · Jun 8, 2006

paidagogos said:

Yes, I did view the site and found a number of interesting things. I was duly impressed with your faculty. However, my perusal of the site raised several questions. I am curious.

Am I correct in assuming that John Leland Center is more at home in theology and practice with the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Alliance of Baptists than those of the conservative resurgence in the SBC? I noticed your connections with the World Baptist Alliance, Baptist General Association of Virginia and the District of Columbia Baptist Convention. This would seem to put you squarely in the moderate or more liberal camp of the SBC.

Not much connection, if any, with the Alliance, but certainly informal communication with the CBF. Remember that BGAV and DCBC are still affiliated with the SBC, though there are tensions. The seminary was never sponsored by BWA, but it has had trustee leadership from BWA staff in the past, and one of the opportunities posed by its location is the use of the the research library of the BWA by the students. Moderate, yes, but hardly liberal. I know of no effort to dilute Christology or to take the fallenness of human nature less than seriously.

Furthermore, Dr. Everett mentioned that John Leland Center was committed to educating leaders for the emerging church. Did he mean that the center is part of the emergent church movement or was he simply referring to a general notion of change?

Emerging means that the shape of ministry is changing. There is no affiliation with the emergent church movement, formally or informally. In fact, I know of one instance where a Leland student on the staff of a church pastored by someone out of the "emergent" movement was able to help her pastor re-appreciate and re-connect to Baptist denominational life.

Finally, was John Leland founded in reaction to the takeover of the SBC seminaries by conservatives?

In part, yes; but the more significant impetus was that the Washington area needed a Baptist expression of theological education that would truly be contextual. That is not a new idea; years ago a member of the DCBC staff worked diligently on getting Southeastern Seminary to establish a beachhead in DC, and that happened for a while, but was discontinued. A key difference this time is that the decision was made that Leland would not be an SBC seminary, nor a CBF seminary, nor an ABC seminary ... but a seminary of Baptist influence, theology, and tradition, but without formal ties to any national denominational body.

Thank you for your time and consideration.
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Glad to respond. Today I accepted another three-year term on the trustees, and will be pleased to watch accreditation take full shape. I am also thinking in terms of donating my theological library ... or such of it as they would want ... to Leland.

Jimmy C · Jun 9, 2006

Randall Everett is a wonderful, very conservative pastor - just dont let him accumulate too many technical fouls when he plays basketball!

I have great memories of him when I was a young man and he was in his second or third full time church. One memory that stands out is that he would have his entire text of scripture memorized and would stand in front of the church and quote it verbatim. He was always a great example to me for personal evangelism and scripture memory.

Another recollection is his talking about how his father would discipline him - that is he would pick up the couch and spank him with it - what a great visual!

Joseph M. Smith · Jun 16, 2006

I spent nearly all day yesterday in a meeting of the Board of John Leland Center. We received news that not only had ATS accredited us as an institution, but also that they had accredited our MDiv and our MTS degrees .. more than we had really expected.

And we received and acted on an invitation to join the Washington Theological Consortium, which will give our students access to the courses and libraries of a number of other seminaries in the Washington-Richmond corridor (as well as giving their students access to Leland's resources).

We are praising the Lord today for these great blessings, and believe that our student body will grow substantially, now that we can assure them of accredited degrees. And our graduates are finding placement in the churches of the area .. the impact we had desired when we began is coming to pass.

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