Rainer, a master of divinity (M.Div.) graduate from Southern in 1985 and doctor of philosophy graduate from 1988, is president of LifeWay Christian Resources, a publishing ministry of the Southern Baptist Convention. Before assuming the leadership of LifeWay, he was the founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism at Southern Seminary.

After receiving the award, Rainer thanked seminary leadership for the award and expressed his gratitude in particular to the Mohler family for their investment in him and his family.

Rainer is the author of 22 books, including Breakout Churches, Simple Life, Simple Church,Raising Dad and The Millennials.

Closing his address at the luncheon, Mohler surveyed the happenings around Southern Seminary during the past year. He spoke also about the year of transition at the seminary. He pointed specifically to two executive leaders who each assumed the presidency of Southern Baptist entities: Jason K. Allen at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Russell D. Moore at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Mohler then introduced to the alumni Randy Stinson and Gregory A. Wills as senior vice president of academic administration and dean of the School of Theology at the seminary, respectively. He also introduced Adam W. Greenway as dean of the new Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Ministry, Matt Hall as vice president of academic services and Jarvis Williams as a new associate professor of New Testament interpretation.

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Greenway becomes the fourth dean of the Graham School, replacing Zane Pratt, who will continue teaching on faculty at the seminary even as he returns to overseas service.

“Adam Greenway brings a wealth of experience and a compelling vision to this newly-expanded school and its mission,” said Mohler. “He has served well as senior associate dean of the school and he has the eager confidence of his faculty colleagues. He is a proven leader, having served as president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and in a host of similar roles.

“He is a passionate evangelist who deeply loves the local church. He is a recognized leader within the Southern Baptist Convention and he brings a solid track record of denominational cooperation to this strategic new role.”

Greenway, 35, is currently associate professor of evangelism and applied apologetics at the seminary, a role he began in 2007 and plans to continue. Greenway also served, beginning in 2010, as senior associate dean under the leadership of the two previous deans of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism.

A consistent denominational leader, Greenway was president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (KBC) from 2011 to 2012. As president, he was the youngest in KBC history, assuming the role as a 33-year-old. Before that, Greenway served as the KBC’s first vice president from 2009 to 2010, as a member of its Mission Board, as the chair of the Mission Board Size Study Committee in 2009 and as the convention’s parliamentarian.

Also influential at the national level, Greenway is former president of the Southern Baptist Professors of Evangelism Fellowship and current chairman of the board of trustees for LifeWay Christian Resources.

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“This great assembly is humbled by the knowledge that you will go where so many of us have never gone,” R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary, told the 210th graduating class. “You will go to churches of all shapes and sizes and contexts. You will go into the streets with mercy and into the cities with compassion. You will go into homes with care and into places marked by both light and darkness. You will go to preach the Word, to declare the good news of salvation, to make disciples. You will teach and preach and care and pray. You will lead and learn and point people to Jesus.

“Our fervent prayer is that, as you go, you go with the longing to be asked the question that was so famously asked of Peter and John: ‘By whose power or by what name did you do this?’ We long to hear you answer, ‘This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’

“That question may land some of you in jail. It will be asked of others in jungles. But, wherever you are asked and regardless of who does the asking, the answer is always the same: ‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!’”

Also at graduation, Mohler presented the Findley B. and Louvenia Edge Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence to Russell D. Moore, who, in addition to his role as dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration, has served as professor of Christian theology and ethics. This was Moore’s final commencement before beginning as president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, June 1.

Mohler presented a posthumous master of divinity degree to Heather Weeks on behalf of her husband, Wesley Matthew Weeks, who died March 28 after a short battle with cancer. Matt served as the administrative pastor at FBC Kissimmee in Kissimmee, Fla.

Mohler’s entire address is available in audio and video at the SBTS Resources page, www.sbts.edu/resources. A complete transcript of the address, “‘By What Power or by What Name Did You Do This?’ The Question Every Minister of Christ Must Long to Be Asked,” is available at www.albertmohler.com

“Jim Smith is one of the most respected journalists and writers in the Southern Baptist Convention. He is a man of great gifts and tremendous experience,” R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary, said of Smith, who has served as executive editor of Florida Baptist Witness since 2001. “I have known Jim Smith for many years, and I have seen the evidence of his work and leadership up close. I am tremendously proud to have him return to Southern Seminary in this important new capacity.

“I am so thankful for Jim Smith’s commitment to the Southern Baptist Convention and to the cooperative work of our denomination. He will bring a wealth of experience to this new position. Furthermore, he is passionately committed to the development of a Christian worldview and to the equipping of the church. We welcome Jim and Linda Smith back to Southern Seminary,” Mohler said.

In the new position, Smith, 48, will oversee the editorial content of the seminary’s publications, supervise the seminary’s news operation, and lead public and media relations. He is expected to start no later than Aug. 1.

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Earlier this year, on March 26, trustees of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention elected Moore as its next president. Moore, 41, will be the eighth president of the ERLC, an organization that addresses moral and religious freedom issues in the public square. Moore’s last day in his role at Southern Seminary is May 31.

This chapel service came during the spring meeting of the Southern Seminary Board of Trustees. Before Moore preached, seminary president R. Albert Mohler Jr. addressed those in attendance, which included members of the board and a sizable gathering of the seminary community. Mohler introduced Moore and commented extensively about the dean’s tenure at Southern Seminary.

“It humbles me to think about how many men have stood behind this pulpit to preach,” said Mohler as he stood behind the pulpit of Alumni Chapel, which the school built in 1949. “It should cause all of us to consider how many firsts and lasts have taken place here. This pulpit and this chapel have stood here long enough for generations to come and generations to go. And we recognize that we don’t get to hold on to people. They come and they go. And we recognize that that is exactly what this institution stands for: we are not here to accumulate people, but to deploy them. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

“This is the last sermon Russell D. Moore will preach here as dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is going to be the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Nothing should make Southern Baptists more thankful than that fact. God has prepared Russ Moore for this position in a way such that anyone close to him, anyone who knows him, knows that God made his genetic structure for this job and made him for this time.”

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New school of missions, evangelism and ministry

Beginning in August 2013, the seminary will launch a new school: the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Ministry. This school, which combines the current Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism, established in 1994, and the School of Church Ministries, 2009, will serve students of both international and domestic missions, church planting, worship leadership and both local church and educational leadership.

“The new Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Ministry consolidates the great strengths of Southern Seminary’s tradition in Great Commission ministry, in global evangelism outreach and in ministry to the local church,” said R. Albert Mohler Jr., who is president of the seminary. “In a new global age, it is vitally important that students who graduate from Southern Seminary are exposed to a comprehensive curriculum that will prepare them for the challenges of real-life ministry in the local church and the mission fields of the world. This new school will bring together a comprehensive ministry vision and Great Commission passion.

Southern Seminary was the first seminary in the United States to have an endowed chair of Christian missions,” Mohler said. “It is now the first in the nation to combine the strengths of these disciplines into one school of missions, evangelism and ministry. Missions must be more than a department; it must permeate the entire curriculum. The creation of this new school allows us to penetrate the entire institution with Great Commission urgency.”

The new school’s sole purpose will be enhancing the seminary’s Great Commission reach and its faithfulness to the local church. Mohler noted the seminary will retain all faculty in the current Graham School and School of Church Ministries, and will retain and even expand the entire curriculum. The seminary plans to name the dean of the new Graham School in coming months.

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“None of us are exempt from the tactics of the enemy,” Luter said.

Luter, who is also senior pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, La., observed that, despite the fact that God saves sinners so that they might “be light in a dark world and salt in their society,” Christians often do not make a significant impact on their churches, cities or nations. One reason for this, according to Luter, is a lack of renewed minds.

Preaching from Philippians 2:5-8, Luter echoed the exhortation of the apostle Paul to “have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” A renewed mind helps Christians to think biblically about Christ and the impact his sacrifice should have on the choices of Christians.

Given all that Christ has done for his people, “How can you not want to live and stand for him?” Luter asked.

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The ERLC’s board of trustees approved Moore, currently dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in a special, called meeting Tuesday (March 26) at a Nashville hotel.

Moore, 41, a native of Biloxi, Miss., will be the eighth president of the entity charged by Southern Baptists with addressing moral and religious freedom issues. With a background in government, the pastorate and seminary training, he already is well-known as a commentator from a Southern Baptist and evangelical Christian perspective on ethics, theology and the culture.

“I am honored and humbled to be asked to serve Southern Baptists as ERLC president,” Moore said. “I pray for God’s grace to lead the ERLC to be a catalyst to connect the agenda of the kingdom of Christ to the cultures of local congregations for the sake of the mission of the Gospel in the world.”

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For 30 years, he preaches “Jesus is Bangala,” which translates as “Jesus is a poisonwood tree.” Price’s ministry isn’t fruitless because of a lack of zeal, but because he lacks clear communication.

“Pastors need the ability to communicate the greatest truths clearly, in such a way that the least educated person in their congregation can clearly understand them and see the beauty of these life-changing truths,” said Joe Harrod, director of assessment at Southern Seminary.

Toward that end, the seminary will implement a plan to improve theological writing among master’s degree-level students.

As a part of the seminary’s regular 10-year accreditation reaffirmation process, the school formed an enhancement plan to strengthen an area of student learning. In the process, the faculty at Southern Seminary decided to focus on student writing ability. So, starting fall 2013, the seminary will initiate a quality enhancement plan (QEP) to improve theological writing among master’s students.

Harrod says that while theological writing may seem only an academic pursuit, the fruits of better papers will be “vitally important for the church.”

“We recognized that writing is a key feature of academic life, and also a key feature of pastoral ministry,” Harrod said. “Pastors, missionaries and those serving in other ministries — whether they go on to do a higher academic degree or not — will always be writing. We want to help them write better papers while they’re here, and, ultimately, we want them to be better communicators of the gospel.”

The seminary will improve theological writing among master’s level students primarily through a new rubric for evaluating academic papers in systematic theology courses. This rubric, which represents the consensus and expertise of the Southern Seminary faculty, emphasizes eight areas of theological writing: (1) thesis statements, (2) methodology statements, (3) argument and organization, (4) biblical interaction, (5) source and information literacy, (6) grammar and mechanics, (7) style and (8) Southern Seminary format.

This new rubric will allow professors and graders to give students both objective and constructive feedback on written assignments; students will understand clearly those areas in which they need to improve. They can then pursue improvement through the seminary’s newly bolstered Writing Center.

The QEP team also launched a campus-wide campaign to raise awareness of the initiative, which is an important aspect of the QEP. The seminary’s midterm review of the plan takes place in 2018, at which point the seminary must report to accreditors on the impact of its QEP. But that won’t be the end of the seminary’s emphasis on writing.

“This project will extend far beyond 2018; we want it to become part of Southern’s culture,” said Harrod. “This isn’t just something we do because we have to, we want to improve student writing for the long-run.”

More information about the QEP and the Southern Seminary Writing Center is available at www.sbts.edu/writing

“Craig is a man of remarkable gifts, long standing Southern Baptist experience, valuable experience in the local church and a demonstrated expertise in building a ministry,” said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary. “To know him and his wife, Selwyn, is to know a dedicated Christian couple whose commitment to Christ, to the church, and to Southern Seminary is tangible and powerful.”

Parker takes the place of Jason K. Allen, who left Southern to assume the presidency of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Oct. 15.

Southern’s Office of Institutional Advancement and the Southern Seminary Foundation lead fundraising efforts of the seminary, from major building projects to raising money for the school’s annual fund, which defrays tuition costs for master’s degree students.

Prior to accepting this position, Parker served the seminary as vice president of business services. And before arriving at Southern, Parker held administrative roles in Tennessee churches, including 15 years as church administrator at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova — the church once pastored by Adrian Rogers and a significant church in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is also a former trustee for Guidestone Financial Resources.

Parker has been married for 35 years to Selwyn, with whom he has two adult children, Leah and Matt. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., and a master’s from Murray State University in Murray, Ky.