As The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary launches a new semester an air of excitement is building around the Jan. 1, 2010, appointment of Troy Bush, the newly selected director of the Wayne and Lealice Dehoney Center for Urban Ministry Training.
At the Dehoney Center, Bush will strategize, organize and implement plans to help the student and faculty of Southern Seminary further reach the cities of the world for Christ. Bush will serve alongside Jeff Walters, associate director of the Dehoney Center, and under the leadership of Chuck Lawless, dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism.
“Dr. Bush has served in urban settings with both the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board, and I know no one else who combines academic credentials (Ph.D. in missions from Southern Seminary), urban ministry experience and practical creativity as he does,” Lawless said.
Bush brings years of experience in stateside and foreign missions, urban church planting and church leadership to his new post.
2010 will prove to be busy for Bush, who has also followed a call to move to Georgia to join the leadership team of Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, an Atlanta suburb. Under the leadership of Pastor James Merritt, Bush will serve Cross Pointe as minister of evangelism and missions.
Bush currently serves in Baltimore, where he is director of church starting for Embrace Baltimore, a Strategic Focus City effort of the NAMB that works with partners to serve the larger metro-Baltimore area through a focused blend of prayer support, church planting, developing pastoral and lay leaders and impacting neighborhoods through community-based activities.
“I realize that having a director who lives in Georgia will be a different approach, but I have no question that Dr. Bush’s leadership will pay significant dividends as we focus on reaching cities around the world,” Lawless said.
God’s calling to these two new roles will allow Bush to present a strong path for leadership training to Southern students. Bush explained that Cross Pointe is engaged in strategic missions both in the U.S. and around the world, and it will be one of the models and locations for student internships that will better equip Southern students for urban ministry.
“Ethnic groups from around the world, multi-housing of all types, and strong representation from all major religions and many cults found in cities around the world make the Atlanta Metro an excellent place for students to gain urban ministry experience,” Bush said.
The Dehoney Center will enable Southern students to gain practical urban ministry experience to enhance their theological and pastoral development.
“Southern Seminary is establishing a great model with the Dehoney Center by providing students the very best of both, and I am excited to be part of this effort,” Bush said.
“I am humbled to have the opportunity to serve with Dr. James Merritt at Cross Pointe and with Dr. Mohler and the Seminary family,” said Bush. “Dr. Lawless and the Graham School are on the leading edge of missions and the launching of the Dehoney Center reflects a strategic commitment to preparing leaders to reach cities around the world. In many ways these two roles have much overlap that will require one ministry focus.”