NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–David P. Gushee is joining the faculty of Mercer University in Atlanta as distinguished professor of Christian ethics after 11 years on Union University’s faculty in Jackson, Tenn.
In a Mercer news release, university President William D. Underwood described Gushee as “one of the country’s leading voices in the field of Christian ethics. He not only is an outstanding teacher and a prolific scholar, he is frequently called upon by the popular press to comment on contemporary ethical and moral issues facing our country and our world. He is an evangelical Christian who is committed to broad ecumenical and interfaith engagement.”
Union’s president, David S. Dockery, issued a statement voicing appreciation for “the impact David Gushee has had on the Union campus,” encompassing “his influence on students, his writings and his leadership on our faculty, and we wish God’s blessings on him in this new opportunity.”
Both Mercer and Union are Baptist-related institutions.
At Mercer, Gushee will be based at the James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta but also will teach at Mercer’s main campus in Macon, Ga.
Gushee has authored, coauthored or edited nine books, including “The Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust”; “Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context” with Glen Stassen, named theology/ethics book of the year by Christianity Today after its release in 2003; and, most recently, “Only Human,” a Christian theology of human nature. Gushee also is a columnist for Christianity Today.
He was the principal drafter of “Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action,” a widely publicized February 2006 statement by more than 85 leaders affiliated with the Evangelical Climate Initiative.
Gushee holds a Ph.D. in Christian ethics from Union Theological Seminary in New York; a master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.; and a bachelor of arts degree from the College of William and Mary.
At Union, Gushee served as Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy and senior fellow of the Carl F.H. Henry Center for Christian Leadership.
ZAMBIAN PRESIDENT INVITED TO TEXAS — The president of Zambia, Levy Mwanawasa, has been invited to visit Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where his pastor, Rodney Masona of Twin Palms Baptist Church in Lusaka, is a student.
The invitation was delivered June 21 by Southwestern President Paige Patterson and his wife Dorothy and Mike and Lindy Howard, International Mission Board missionaries in Zambia. Mike Howard is a graduate of Southwestern.
Mwanawasa, a relatively new believer in Jesus Christ, expressed spiritual concerns for the people of Zambia. The group discussed Southern Baptists’ work in Zambia and the work of Zambian Baptist churches, their orphanages and a seminary, along with the need for clean water sources.
“Efforts in the education of every child, in True Love Waits and the fight against AIDS and immorality are clearly making substantial strides,” Paige Patterson said. “At the same time, the standard of living is rising among Zambians.”
Howard added that more than 180 new churches had been established and baptisms among Zambian Baptists dramatically increased over the past year.
Students enrolled in Southwestern Seminary’s “2 + 2” M.Div. program for training missionaries will be focusing their efforts this year on Zambia. The program allows Southwestern students to serve in Zambia under the guidance of missionaries like the Howards, with their courses taught on location at the Zambian Theological Seminary. Southwestern has a number of students and graduates already serving in Zambia and more are expected to deploy in the months ahead.
MISSIONARY IS ‘PROF OF THE YEAR’ — David Wheeler, a North American Mission Board national missionary who also serves as an evangelism and church planting professor at Liberty Theological Seminary, has been named “Professor of the Year” in a vote by the school’s 350 students.
“The award was even better because of the student involvement,” Wheeler said from New Orleans, where he was spending a recent week on a NAMB “Families on Mission” project.
Ergun Caner, president of Liberty Theological Seminary and Graduate School, called Wheeler “the best thing happening in the LTS classroom this year according to our students. Dr. Wheeler’s passion for evangelism and church planting has been integral in re-establishing our priorities in these foundational areas…. God has used Dave to remind us that the reason we prepare and study is to give people the opportunity to choose Christ.”
With the vision of planting more churches in North America than ever before, NAMB developed a covenant with Liberty Seminary to place Wheeler on the campus, said Ken Weathersby, senior director in church planting at NAMB.
At Liberty, “Dr. Wheeler assists in coordinating a NAMB convocation at least once a year, when a NAMB representative addresses the Liberty students,” Weathersby recounted. “He also serves as the associate director of Liberty’s Center for Church Planting and as a liaison with state conventions for the purposes of developing church planting/ministry relationships with Liberty.”
Wheeler joined Liberty Theological Seminary after five years as the evangelism resource group leader for the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio. He previously was NAMB’s church planting professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. For seven years, he also served as evangelism and prayer director for the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana. He also has pastored churches in Tennessee and Texas.
BARBARA, JEB BUSH TO SPEAK AT SCHOLARSHIP FUNDRAISERS -– Former First Lady Barbara Bush will headline a three-day “Follow the Star” Christmas celebration to raise scholarship funds at Louisiana College.
Bush will read the Christmas story on Saturday, Dec. 1, as part of an evening performance of Handel’s “Messiah” in Guinn Auditorium on the campus of the Baptist-affiliated university in Pineville. Earlier in the day, she also will participate in an afternoon “high tea” in the Granberry Conference Center.
The first annual event, slated Nov. 29 through Dec. 1, also will feature special Christmas lighting displays, community choirs and children’s activities.
This fall, her son, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, will deliver the keynote address at the University of Mobile’s third annual scholarship banquet, Oct. 4 at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center.
Previous scholarship banquet speakers at the Baptist-affiliated university in Alabama were former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and former Georgia governor and retired U.S. Sen. Zell Miller.
Bush was Florida’s governor from 1999-2007 and is the brother of President George W. Bush.
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