By David Roach

Michael Harris has taught Sunday School, served as a deacon, sung in his church’s choir and practiced orthodontics for more than three decades.

But one service opportunity in his life trumps all the rest for Harris: being a Southern Seminary trustee.

Harris served on the board of trustees from 1989-1999 and helped bring about the seminary’s return to its conservative theological roots.

“I will always feel like if I have had no other purpose in this life but to have had the opportunity to have been a part of the change that took place in our seminary and our denomination, I feel that God will look at me and say, ‘Well done thou good and faithful servant,’” he said.

Coming on the board of trustees the first year conservatives gained a majority, Harris saw changes begin to happen immediately. He became increasingly passionate about the seminary during his time as a trustee and joined the Southern Seminary Foundation Board in 1999 upon completion of his term.

Several years ago, Harris and his wife, Rose, attended a chapel service and became overwhelmed at how much God had blessed and changed Southern through the service of people like them, he said.
“My wife and I just looked at each other, and both of us had tears streaming down our faces,” Harris said. “It was magnificent. The feeling in the room, watching the students and seeing the look on their faces and feeling the atmosphere that was there was just overwhelming.”

Because of his gratefulness to God for Southern, Harris cannot help but give his financial resources to the seminary, he said.

“I’ve come to believe that the change at Southern Seminary has the potential of changing our denomination, and our denomination has the potential of changing our country,” he said. “So if you believe those things, you would have to feel like you would want to financially support an institution that was truly seeking to spread the Word of God around the world.”

Along with his service to Southern, Harris since 1973 has been active as a member at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown, Ky., where he lives. He opened an orthodontics practice in Elizabethtown in 1973, eventually expanding to open offices in Radcliff, Ky., and Bardstown, Ky., as well.

Nearly a decade ago he sold the Elizabethtown and Radcliff offices. Today he works three days each week out of the Bardstown office.

Through all his ministries and activities, Harris has maintained an ongoing enthusiasm for Southern and advises prospective donors that any investment they make in the seminary will pay eternal dividends.

“I don’t believe that I have talked to or met a teacher or student at Southern right now who is not totally and completely dedicated to the purpose of the seminary, that being to raise up pastors to go out and reach the lost of the world today,” he said.

“And the Lord knows there is a great need in our country and the world around us. Money that is spent there is money that will come back many many many times over in rewards in the number of people that are saved and the opportunity to change the world in which we live.”