A cross-cultural business researcher and professor will lead the new business management program at Boyce College, the undergraduate school of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Wisconsin native Scott Moodie will assume duties as the assistant professor of business management at Boyce in July 2014. Moodie is currently completing his PhD in management science at Spain’s ESADE School of Business, consistently listed as one of the best business schools in the world.
Moodie will be responsible for Boyce’s new degree offering in business administration, which is currently pending approval from The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The degree is designed to integrate business and missions, and will prepare students for three avenues: intercultural business, non-profit organization efforts and local church administration.
“I am incredibly excited about this new business degree,” said Randy Stinson, senior vice president for academic administration and provost of Southern Seminary. “It will create many ministry opportunities for the gospel both here and around the world. Students will not only be more strategically deployed as missionaries but will also be more effective ministers of the gospel as they develop a biblical understanding of faith, work and economics.”
Before studying at ESADE, Moodie earned his undergraduate in marketing at Cedarville University and his MBA in international business at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He currently resides in Italy, serving as the senior editorial assistant for Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal.
“Scott is an exciting addition to Boyce College,” said global studies coordinator John Klaassen. “He has been a part of international churches everywhere he has lived and will bring not only expertise on the business front but a thorough understanding of what it means to live globally, be a churchman internationally and work with businesses cross-culturally. His perspective will be unique among business leaders and his gifting will serve the church in ways that we have never experienced before.”
Leaders at Southern Seminary and Boyce College, including Boyce dean Dan DeWitt, lauded the new program on social media for its ability to equip students to serve on the mission field.
“Boyce has established itself as a stalwart for biblical and theological education, but now we are enabling gospel ministers to advance the kingdom in difficult places in the world with skills for the marketplace and beyond,” said DeWitt.
“This degree is setting a precedent for training gospel entrepreneurs to be on mission around the globe.”
In a video announcing the business administration degree, Klassen said, ”We need to train our cross-cultural workers to access those nations [that are closed to missionaries].”
“Here at Boyce College you’re going to get the global studies, you’re going to understand missions and how to do missions. But now with this new degree program you’ll also understand business; you’ll understand what it takes to start a business; you’ll understand how local economies work.”
The four-year degree consists of 36 hours in biblical and theological studies, 33 hours of business studies, 15 hours of global studies and 12 hours of ministry studies.
“I want to encourage you to come to Boyce…Get the solid biblical and theological understanding that you need and get the solid business understanding that you need, and learn how to combine those two things together so you can be an effective minister of the gospel,” Klaassen said.