RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — As Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond moved past the halfway mark in a $500,000 matching gift campaign, the seminary community continued a two-and-a half-year celebration of its 20th anniversary at an Oct. 17 dinner.
The dinner, held in conjunction with the regular meeting of the school's board of trustees, marked the inauguration of BTSR's first classes in the fall of 1991 with 32 students. The 20th anniversary celebration began in 2009 with a commemoration of the decision taken in March 1989 to create the seminary. That year the Southern Baptist Alliance — now the Alliance of Baptists — voted to establish the school.
At the dinner were (from left) BTSR president Ron Crawford; trustee Harriet Harral of Fort Worth, Texas; founding trustee Sue Fitzgerald of Winston-Salem, N.C.; and Fitzgerald's grand-nephew, a 2009 BTSR graduate and pastor of Blackstone (Va.) Baptist Church.
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"We believe the God who called forth this seminary will sustain her," BTSR graduate Mark Hughes told participants at the Oct. 17 dinner at First Baptist Church in Richmond, Va. Hughes, who holds both master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from the seminary, is pastor of Berea Baptist Church in Rockville, Va.
Hughes and current student Ashley Murphy shared their experiences of seminary life with an audience that included many of the school's founding trustees and some of its first faculty and staff members, as well as current trustees and supporters.
Ron Crawford, president of the seminary since 2007, said the school has raised more than $250,000 in its "Opening the Door to the Future: Our One Million Dollar Challenge." Five anonymous donors have pledged to match up to $500,000 in contributions to the seminary over the next year, to assist the school as it begins a process of moving to a new location in the Richmond area. If successful, the matching gift initiative would raise $1 million for the transition.
Last March, BTSR trustees adopted a business plan that calls for "orderly selling" of campus buildings and eventual relocation in order to broaden the seminary's academic mission.
"While our physical facilities have served us well in the past, they now limit the institution's freedom, vision and ability to respond to the future needs of theological education," trustees said in a statement.
Some of BTSR's founding trustees joined first president Tom Graves (right) and current president Ron Crawford (second from right). From left are Elmer West, Mary Strauss, Clint Hopkins, Sue Fitzgerald and Stan Hastey.
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The plan envisions relocating from the campus adjacent to Presbyterian-affiliated Union Theological Seminary in buildings that once housed Union's Presbyterian School of Christian Education to a new BTSR building with 39,000 square feet of space. The seminary would use 21,000 square feet, and the rest would be leased to partner organizations.
The plan also calls for raising $2 million in pledges to be paid in the next four years and raising $10 million in endowment funds in the next decade, nearly tripling the school's current endowment of $5.5 million.
In comments at the Oct. 17 dinner, former trustee Bruce Heilman said BTSR has passed through "its teenage years."
'That's the hardest part," said Heilman, chancellor of the University of Richmond. "Now here we are with an institution that has proved its worth."
Heilman, whose son, Timothy, was recently named the seminary's vice president of advancement, encouraged supporters to contribute generously to the matching gift campaign.
"We could get over the $300,000 mark with just the people in this room," he said.
BTSR is one of two seminaries funded by the Baptist General Association of Virginia and one of 15 theological partners of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
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Robert Dilday is managing editor of the Religious Herald.