BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. — Charles Bugg, professor of preaching at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, is the new dean of Gardner-Webb University's school of divinity.
Bugg, 62, an author and popular preacher, will also serve as professor of church ministry and leadership at the Baptist theological school, which has 200 students and annual revenues of $2.6 million. He begins his new duties June 1, succeeding Wayne Stacy, who left the deanship in late 2003 to become pastor of Southside Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla.
“I was impressed with the emphasis placed on congregational enrichment at Gardner-Webb,” said Bugg in a statement. “My goal for the divinity school is to continue to prepare ministers who are skilled in academic competencies and who are caring and informed practitioners of the ministry.”
The M. Christopher White School of Divinity was founded in 1992 and named in 1998 for the former president of the 100-year-old Gardner-Webb. The divinity school has ties to the North Carolina Baptist State Convention and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
“We are delighted to have a person in this position with the character and theological caliber of Dr. Bugg,” said current university president Frank Campbell. “He is an educator and a preacher who can relate to all walks of life.”
Before entering teaching, Bugg was pastor of Providence Baptist in Charlotte, N.C.; First Baptist Church of Augusta, Ga.; and First Baptist Church of DeLand, Fla. A native of Miami, Bugg is a graduate of Stetson University in DeLand, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he earned a PhD. He and his wife, Dianne, who is a nurse, have two children.