RICHMOND, Va. — “It will be a night to remember,” said Ron Crawford, president of Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.
On Oct. 17 at 6:30 pm, BTSR will host its 20th anniversary celebration dinner at First Baptist Church in Richmond. Supporters and friends will come together for an evening of sharing stories, laughs and hope as the seminary looks toward progress in the days and years ahead.
“The event will be a mixture of old and new,” said Crawford. “An early graduate and a current student will speak. We will celebrate the past and the future.”
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A highlight will be an update on “Opening the Door to the Future: Our One Million Dollar Challenge.” Five donors initiated the campaign, which will match any new gifts to the seminary up to $500,000 during the next year.
“We are making very good progress as we have only $350,000 remaining to be matched,” said Crawford.
The dinner event is part of a much larger, two-and-a-half year celebration which has been going on since March 2009, when current and former faculty, staff and students gathered for a banquet to commemorate the March 1989 decision to create the seminary.
The dinner commemorates the 20th anniversary of the first classes which met in the fall of 1991.
Since the founding vote of its innovators in Greenville, S.C., BTSR has grown in size and reputation through a focus on its distinctiveness as a freestanding Baptist seminary with an emphasis on preparing women and men to be ministers.
“I chose to attend BTSR because it’s a seminary specifically geared toward training ministers for the church,” said Dan Schumacher, class of 2012. “They do this by incorporating elements of spirituality and practical application without denying rigorous academic training. You’re a student not just of the textbook, but of the life and movement of the church. That’s why I chose BTSR.”
For 20 years, BTSR has been preparing its students to serve Christ using a balanced approach of excellence in academics and hands-on ministry. It remains dedicated to the principles of excellence in scholarship and spiritual growth, stressing classical theological disciplines while pursuing new avenues of education, commitment to its Baptist heritage with an ecumenical and global perspective, and commitment to gender and racial inclusion among its faculty, staff and students.
The school’s dedication to these principles — guided by the leadership of Tom Graves, its first president, and continued since 2008 by Crawford — has attracted many students from the United States and around the world who want something different from their seminary education.
From the original 32 students who enrolled when classes began in 1991, the student body has grown to over 140 degree-seeking students. The smaller size and personal connection between professors and students is of great importance to those who choose to attend.
Students like the expansive network of learning experiences BTSR offers in cooperation with Union Theological Seminary, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University and the dual degree programs with Virginia Commonwealth University.
Prospective students are also drawn to the required Mission Immersion Experience (MIE), through which they gain a global perspective by immersing themselves in an unfamiliar culture guided by Christian leaders worldwide.
As of May 2011, BTSR has 609 graduates serving all around the world in local congregations, social service agencies, educational institutions, chaplaincies and on the mission field.
Reservations for the Oct. 17 dinner are limited but still available by following the link at www.btsr.edu or by calling Ivy Haga at 804.355.8135. Reservations must be made in advance by Friday, Oct. 7, and the cost per person is $20. Childcare for children 5 and under is available upon request. There will be pre-dinner music and photo opportunities beginning at 6 pm, and dinner will be served at 6:30 pm.
Those whose lives have been touched by BTSR — whether as teachers or students, or those who have been ministered to by them — are too numerous to count. But more importantly than celebrating the past, friends of BTSR will join together as they look to the future — to the yet untold stories, the minds and skills that have yet to be stretched and developed, and the lives that still need to be touched and transformed.
Jennifer Law ([email protected]) is communications director at BTSR.