After serving in an interim role for more than 18 months, Gregory DeLoach has been named dean of Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology.
Prior to being named interim dean in 2018, DeLoach served as a development officer for Mercer’s School of Theology and College of Professional Advancement. A Georgia native and former member of the university’s board of trustees, he has had a long association with the school, although he is not a Mercer graduate.
Greg DeLoach
He earned an undergraduate degree from Shorter College, also in Georgia, and earned a master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctor of ministry degree from Columbia Theological Seminary.
He served several Georgia Baptist congregations as pastor over a nearly 30-year span, concluding with a 10-year pastorate at the historic First Baptist Church of Augusta. He then became executive director of Developmental Disabilities Ministries, an Atlanta-based nonprofit.
McAfee School of Theology, founded in 1994, is one of several seminaries and divinity schools that emerged from the schism in the Southern Baptist Convention that began in 1979. While the university’s main campus is in Macon, Ga., the seminary has been located from its beginning in Atlanta. It is a partner school with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, also based in Atlanta.
The most recent data published on the school’s website reports 50 graduates in the 2019 class, with three types of degrees granted: master of divinity, master of arts in Christian ministry, and doctor of ministry. The 2019 graduating class was 54% female and 46% male, 54% African American and 44% white. The school boasts a high placement rate for its graduates within one year of graduation.
McAfee last year announced accreditation for a fully online option for the master of divinity degree, which will begin this fall.