WAKE FOREST, N.C. (ABP) — Trustees at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in their annual meeting Oct. 9-10 broke ground for a $6 million building named for former seminary president Paige Patterson.
They also used the meeting to approve an energy-saving program and decided not to participate in a federal grant program for the school's students, saying participation would risk church-state entanglement.
The trustees approved the recommendation from their executive committee that the school not participate in the federal Pell Grant, which gives up to $4,050 apiece each year for undergraduate students and graduate students in certain teaching certification programs. Grants do not have to be repaid.
Seminary President Danny Akin told trustees he had previously asked why students weren't getting the grants. He said Patterson and his administrators had moved toward possibly participating in the program but then decided against it.
Akin said most Baptist colleges receive the grants, but seminaries are treated differently. “We are looked upon as a church,” he said, adding later that participation in the Pell program would blur lines between church and state. “The better part of wisdom, I think, is we stay away from it.”
Akin said construction of Paige and Dorothy Patterson Hall will be done by 2008. Patterson, who was seminary president from 1992 to 2003, was a significant force in developing the seminary and the Southern Baptist Convention, Akin said. Patterson is considered an architect of what supporters call the “conservative resurgence” and detractors call the “fundamentalist takeover” in the SBC.
“I think we would be hard-pressed to over-honor him,” Akin said. The Patterson building will be the “intellectual hub of the seminary,” he said.
The $6.2 million building is the largest building project in the school's history, according to seminary officials. It will house classrooms, faculty offices and the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture. The center will help churches respond to cultural issues through conferences, lectures and a website.
In further discussions, the school's trustees approved an energy-saving plan expected to save the school $53,000 a year. The trustees will borrow $550,000 to help pay for the $730,000 project.
Ryan Hutchinson, the school's vice president of administration, said the plan will save 2.3 million gallons of water each year, about half of what the seminary uses.
The trustees revised the school's identity, confession and mission statements. Akin said the revisions didn't reflect a change in the seminary's beliefs or values but made the initial statements more concise and streamlined.
In remarks to trustees, Akin talked about integrity in ministry and urged people at Southeastern to incorporate it into their daily lives. He called the last three months a “megachurch meltdown” because of several prominent scandals that recently came to light. Akin said pastors have no reason to lie or bend the truth.
The recent pastoral scandals, as well as earlier controversies at Southeastern, involved compensation issues. He also said trustees may know the salary and benefits for every person on campus.
“If you have the slightest doubt about the way we're doing things here, please let me know,” he said. “I want this school to be clean as a whistle and so far above reproach that it's impossible to bring accusations against [the seminary].”
Akin also responded to a question about blogs, online journals that are prevalent among some Southern Baptist leaders and pastors. He said they can be a blessing and a curse.
Blogs have become a “21st century outlet for extreme narcissism,” he said. Since bloggers have no accountability, he said, they can make “scurrilous, false, untrue accusations against men that I believe are men of God.”
Akin said he's seen comments on blogs that shame the body of Christ. Even if the bloggers have legitimate concerns, he said, they are not airing them in a biblical way. “I don't really give a rip what most bloggers think,” Akin said. “Most are little men with little ideas with little agendas.”
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