The former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary made some “imprudent” and “unwise” financial decisions, including “some activities contrary to institutional policies, seminary trustees were told this week.
“These findings, however, did not rise to the level of requiring further action based on what is currently known,” trustee Chairman Danny Roberts told trustees, according to a seminary news release.
Adam Greenway abruptly resigned as president last September, amid verified news of continuously declining enrollment and an unspecified budget deficit. That deficit was variously reported to be $6 million or more, but seminary officials to date have not given any public accounting of it.
Baptist News Global has previously asked for more detailed accounting and received no additional information. Some of that data will be published this summer in the Southern Baptist Convention’s Book of Reports, but SBC agencies and institutions are not required to make their full financial reports or even their audits public.
Adam Greenway
When he was hired in 2019, Greenway inherited a school already in numerical decline and burdened by overspending in the administration of his predecessor, Paige Patterson. As enrollment shrank at Southwestern, Patterson embarked on multiple construction projects, including a 3,500-seat chapel, and hired a host of faculty members.
Although charged by trustees with righting the ship, Greenway was unable to do so — hampered additionally by the global pandemic that hit in the second year of his presidency.
The day seminary trustees heard the report of a trustee task force that investigated Greenway’s financial management, the former president tweeted: “Many have asked about what really happened re: me and @SWBTS. I have not commented publicly before now, and will not say much at this time, except to say that I fully expected an updated summary to be provided by the seminary some time ago now. Why it has not, I do not know.”
Chairman Roberts said the trustee task force “was given unfettered access by the administration to all financial records of the institution and concluded there were instances of imprudent, unwise and some activities contrary to institutional policies.”
“The findings demonstrated a need for greater accountability and oversight for the institution.”
He added: “The findings demonstrated a need for greater accountability and oversight for the institution. As a result, new financial guardrails will be implemented to provide for greater accountability to the trustees in order to prevent similar decision making in the future.”
What those guardrails are was not specified.
Meeting in Fort Worth, Texas, April 17 and 18, trustees approved a fiscal year 2024 budget of $35.9 million, which is similar to the current fiscal year budget, as adjusted by the board in its fall meeting. After Greenway’s resignation, the board cut the current year’s budget about 10% and implemented cost-saving measures.
As previously reported by BNG, the seminary’s enrollment had dipped to the lowest level since World War II. According to fall 2022 data provided to the Association of Theological Schools, Southwestern’s enrollment remained fairly steady from fall 2021 to fall 2022 —still among the lowest number in decades but not getting lower.
Also according to the latest data Southwestern filed with ATS, the seminary booked a $15 million loss in net assets for the most recently reported fiscal year.
Carroll Park
Seminary officials recently reported a deal to sell 15 acres of former student housing to the City of Fort Worth for $11 million. At this week’s meeting, trustees affirmed the sale of Carroll Park Apartments.
Trustees also authorized a plan to lease some seminary property to Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, for a pregnancy care center for women, expanding the suburban Dallas church’s ministry to Fort Worth.
New trustee officers were elected: Jonathan Richard, pastor of First Baptist Church of Estancia, N.M, is the new chairman. Robert Brown, executive director of Lakeway Christian Schools in Morristown, Tenn., is vice chairman. Angela Duncan, a homemaker from Granbury, Texas, is secretary.
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