RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — Florida pastor Ron Crawford will be nominated as president of Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.
Crawford, pastor of College Park Baptist Church in Orlando, will be presented March 19 for election by the board of trustees of BTSR, an 18-year-old moderate Baptist seminary with more than 300 students.
A native of Virginia and former trustee of the seminary, Crawford will succeed Thomas Graves, who last fall announced he is retiring for health reasons. Graves, 58, has battled multiple sclerosis for several years.
Crawford, 55, holds a master of divinity and doctor of ministry degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, a bachelor's degree from North Carolina State University, and a master's of public administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.
He previously served as pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., and was president of the Baptist General Association of Virginia. He was pastor of First Baptist Church in Asheville, N.C., before moving to the Orlando church.
Crawford has never worked in an academic setting. But he said: “I have a life-long love for theological education and hope, if elected, to use my 30 years of pastoral experience to help train a new generation of ministers for moderate Baptist life.
“This is a unique time in the history of BTSR,” said Susan Rucker, chair of the BTSR trustees. “We are grateful for all that Tom has done in seeing BTSR from infancy to a school of over 300 students today. We are confident that Dr. Crawford will be able to continue the growth of our seminary.”
The Richmond seminary was founded in 1989 and opened for classes in August 1991. BTSR is affiliated with the Baptist General Association of Virginia and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Crawford is a former member of the CBF Coordinating Council.
BTSR was founded when the Southern Baptist Alliance — now Alliance of Baptists — voted to establish a theological seminary in Richmond as an alternative to growing theological conservatism in Southern Baptist seminaries. Graves, a North Carolina pastor and former professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, was elected the school's first president in 1991.
That year, 32 students enrolled in classes in space leased from Richmond's Presbyterian School of Christian Education. During Graves' 16-year tenure, BTSR has grown to 333 students, with 15 full-time faculty and 19 visiting or adjunct professors, and has an annual budget of $3.8 million.
Over the past several years, the seminary has purchased most of the former campus of the Presbyterian school and additional land and buildings for dormitory space.
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