As a pastor committed to discipleship, JT English regularly gets asked about seminary recommendations from young men and women sensing God's call to ministry. His answer is always the same: Southern Seminary.
Here's why:
1. Fidelity and Faithfulness to God's Word
2. Uncompromising Commitment to the Local Church
3. Rigorous Academics
4. The Best Faculty Anywhere
5. Classmates Who Become Colleagues
Why I Always Recommend Southern Seminary
Choosing a seminary is one of the most important decisions a future pastor or ministry leader will make. This is not just an academic choice—it’s a formative choice that will shape your theology, your ministry philosophy, your relationships, and your life in the church for decades.
Over the years, I have sent countless students to Southern Seminary, and I continue to recommend it without hesitation. Why? Because there is a unique convergence of fidelity, excellence, and community here that I believe is rare in theological education today.
Here are five reasons I tell my students to attend Southern Seminary:
1. Fidelity and Faithfulness to God’s Word
When you are choosing a seminary, there is one question that stands above all others:
What do they believe about Scripture?
That single question will tell you more about an institution’s theology, its priorities, and its future than anything else.
At Southern Seminary, fidelity to God’s Word is not a marketing slogan. It’s not just a doctrinal statement on a website. It is the bedrock—the foundational reality underneath everything else they say and do. Every class, every lecture, every conversation flows out of the unshakable conviction that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and sufficient Word of God.
Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3:16–17 set the tone:
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Local church ministry is nothing if it is not first and foremost a ministry of the Word. There is no church without the Word. The proclamation of the gospel is not just one part of our ministry—it is the ministry. It is through His Word that God creates His church, calling the dead to life and forming a people for His name. It is through His Word that He sustains His church, nourishing believers with the truth that saves and sanctifies. It is through His Word that He grows His church, shaping disciples into the image of Christ. And it is through His Word that He transforms His church, bringing about repentance, renewal, and mission.
Sadly, in a post-Christian context, many churches adopt strategies that relativize, trivialize, or even sideline God’s Word. They fear that clear, consistent, biblical preaching will alienate visitors or slow numerical growth. They treat the Scriptures as an accessory rather than the engine of the church.
But the truth is, when we set aside the Word, we cut ourselves off from the very power that creates and sustains the people of God. The proclamation of Christ from the Scriptures is not an obstacle to ministry—it is the lifeblood of ministry. Without it, we are only entertaining people who will remain unchanged.
This is why I have such deep joy and confidence in sending students to Southern Seminary. I know that when they arrive, they will be immersed in the Word of God. They will be taught to handle it accurately, preach it faithfully, and love it deeply. And when they leave, they will carry with them the single most important foundation for a lifetime of ministry:
An unwavering commitment to the fidelity and faithfulness of God’s Word.
2. Uncompromising Commitment to the Local Church
Southern Seminary exists to serve the church. I can say without hesitation that I would not be a pastor today if it were not for the training I received at SBTS.
Yes, it was the classrooms, the books, and the seminars that equipped me with the theology and tools I needed for ministry. But something even more formational happened alongside the formal education: I saw the people who taught me give themselves to their local churches.
It wasn’t only the hours spent in lecture halls or the pages assigned in their books that prepared me for ministry, it was seeing thier lives up close. I watched my professors who, after teaching systematic theology all week, would stand before a Sunday school class with the same zeal they brought to the classroom. I saw faculty who met students for coffee in the morning and then led small groups in their churches at night. What shaped me most was realizing that the people training me for ministry were already modeling the very ministry they were calling me to.
Some seminaries are tempted to become academic ivory towers, brilliant in theory but disconnected from the life of the church. Southern refuses that path. Here, your professors are not only training men and women to serve in the local church—they are themselves serving the local church. The people shaping your theology are also shepherding real flocks, preaching real sermons, and walking with real people through the valleys and victories of life in Christ.
This matters because the seminary is not the final destination. Your classroom experience is meant to equip you for the front lines of pastoral ministry, and the best way to learn how to do that is to watch your mentors live it out.
When I send my students to SBTS, I know they are going to learn from faculty who model what it looks like to love the bride of Christ. They will see that the local church is not an afterthought—it is the very reason Southern exists. And they will leave here not only prepared to serve the church, but deeply convinced that there is no higher calling than to give your life to her.
3. Rigorous Academics
We live in an age of competing delivery models and a race to the bottom in terms of academic standards. Many institutions have chosen the path of lowering expectations in order to attract more students. Southern Seminary refuses to take that path. Here, the bar is not lowered to meet you, you are called upward to meet it.
Rigorous academics are essential for ministry. You cannot lead God’s people faithfully without being deeply formed in God’s Word and trained to think theologically. While new technologies and delivery models have changed the way classes are offered, SBTS has not compromised on the depth and seriousness of what is taught. I still believe it is the gold standard in theological education.
Believe me, my students notice the difference. They see other seminaries reducing requirements, trimming core curriculum, and making everything as easy and convenient as possible. And at times, that can be appealing. The path of least resistance always is. But when theological education is cheapened, the local church suffers. Shallow preparation produces shallow shepherds.
“When theological education is cheapened, the local church suffers. Shallow preparation produces shallow shepherds.”
The next generation doesn’t actually want a seminary that will lower the bar, they want one that will raise it. They want professors who will challenge them, assignments that will stretch them, and a community that will call them to their best work for the glory of Christ.
I tell my students that their years in seminary are their years to dig deep wells—wells of biblical knowledge, theological clarity, and ministry skill that they will draw from for decades. These are not the years to cut corners; these are the years to do the hard, slow work of study and reflection.
SBTS is one of the few places left where you can dig those deep wells without apology. And here’s the thing about ministry: when you are in the middle of a crisis, or wrestling with a complex doctrinal question, or preparing a sermon for a weary congregation, you will not wish you had done less work in seminary—you will wish you had done more. Southern gives you the opportunity to do more now so that you can give more to God’s people later.
4. The Best Faculty Anywhere
Quite simply, Southern Seminary has assembled the finest faculty of any evangelical school on the planet. I do not say that lightly. In God’s providence, He has brought together a team of professors who are at the top of their respective fields in virtually every discipline—biblical studies, theology, church history, counseling, preaching, missions, and more.
But it’s not just their scholarship that sets them apart. It’s the way their scholarship is married to a deep love for Christ, His Word, and His church. As a local church pastor, if I want my students to be shaped for a lifetime of faithfulness, I want them to be shaped by people like this faculty. Ten times out of ten, I will point them here.
One of my mentors, Jeff Bingham, once told me, “You don’t choose a school—you choose a faculty.” He was right. A seminary is not just a building or a program—it’s the people who will teach you, challenge you, mentor you, and model the kind of pastor, theologian, or missionary you will become.
When I send my students to Southern, it’s because I want them to sit under these professors. I want them to hear their lectures and read their books, yes, but more than that, I want them to watch their lives. I want them to see what it looks like to follow Jesus with both head and heart fully engaged. I want them to see the Spirit at work in their humility, their integrity, their perseverance, and their joy in ministry.
In my context, to serve faithfully requires the very best training available. And that training is not just about mastering content, it’s about being mentored by people whose lives are worth imitating. At Southern Seminary, the faculty you learn from are also the kind of men and women you would be glad to stand beside in ministry.
When you choose Southern, you are not just choosing access to world-class expertise—you are choosing to be shaped by people who embody the very convictions they teach.
5. Classmates Who Become Colleagues
One of the most underestimated factors in choosing a seminary is not the curriculum, the campus, or even the faculty, it’s the people you will sit beside in class. Your classmates today will be your colleagues tomorrow.
Think about it: when your church is going through a difficult season, when you’re wrestling with a challenging pastoral care situation, when you need wisdom from someone who understands both your convictions and your context—who will you call? More often than not, you will call your friends from seminary.
I’m part of a text thread with around twenty SBC pastors. All of us are graduates of Southern Seminary. We serve in different states, in different church sizes, and in different cultural contexts. But we share a common foundation. We were shaped by the same commitments, trained by the same faculty, and formed in the same environment of theological depth and love for the local church. That shared history means we trust each other. We understand each other’s challenges. We speak the same gospel language.
When you choose a seminary, you’re not only choosing who will teach you—you’re also choosing who will walk with you in ministry for decades to come. The relationships you build here will become a lifeline. You will celebrate each other’s joys, pray through each other’s trials, and sharpen each other in the work of the gospel.
That’s why I tell my students: I want you to have colleagues who went to Southern. Not because of prestige or name recognition, but because I want you surrounded by men and women who share an unshakable commitment to God’s Word, the church, and the mission of making disciples.
Your classmates will shape your future just as much as your professors. Choose them wisely. Choose Southern.
“Come to Southern Seminary, dig deep wells, and join a community that will equip you to preach Christ, shepherd God’s people, and take the gospel to the ends of the earth.”
Conclusion
If God is calling you to serve His church, this is the time to go deep, not wide; to be formed, not just informed. At Southern Seminary, you will find a deep commitment to God’s Word, a faculty worth imitating, a love for the local church, rigorous preparation, and classmates who will walk with you for decades in ministry. Come to Southern Seminary, dig deep wells, and join a community that will equip you to preach Christ, shepherd God’s people, and take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
JT English
JT English became the Lead Pastor at Storyline Church. He is the author of Deep Discipleship: How the Local Church Can Make Whole Disciples, and You are a Theologian: An Invitation to Know and Love God Well, co-authored with Jen Wilkin. He is also a co-founder of Training the Church and a co-host of the Knowing Faith Podcast. He received his ThM in Historical Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and PhD in Systematic Theology from Southern Seminary. He is married to Macy English, and they have two children.
