EDITOR’S NOTE: In this Education Digest: Charlie Bass named Brewton-Parker interim president; SWBTS’ Craig Blaising to be honored with eschatology-themed festschrift; Midwestern introduces new journal editor.
Charlie Bass named Brewton-Parker interim president
MOUNT VERNON, Ga. (BP) — Charles Bass, a former vice president of Brewton-Parker College, has been named interim president of the Georgia Baptist school, trustee chairman Gary Campbell announced Jan. 29.
“When I heard of Dr. Bass’ potential interest in returning to Brewton-Parker, I knew God was looking out for us” Campbell said.
From conversations around the Mount Vernon campus, Campbell said, “Everyone who hears the name Charlie Bass displays fondness and appreciation for him as a person as well as respect for him as an academic leader.”
Bass formerly served at BPU as vice president of student services; he also has served in the same role at Dallas Baptist University.
In a news release from the college, Bass said his first 100 days as Brewton-Parker’s interim president will entail:
— Providing stability to the college after a traumatic time when its president, Ergun Caner, resigned Jan. 20, stating that he and his family need healing from the suicide of their teenage son, Braxton, last year.
— Continuing to rebuild the image of BPC in the community and across the state.
— Developing a deeper sense of community on campus.
— Build off recent victories, most notably the reaffirmation of Brewton-Parker’s accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in December.
— Reacquainting himself with the people and heartbeat of the campus.
— Reestablish what it means for BPC to be a Christian college.
The Executive Committee unanimously recommended Bass to the full trustee board as interim president. In a resolution, the board cited not only his significant experience in higher education and ministry but also noted: “Dr. Bass and his wife, Lynn, have a love for the College and the community and look forward to the opportunity to return to Brewton-Parker College.”
Bass and his wife currently live in Franklin, N.C., where he has served as headmaster at a local private Christian academy. He holds several degrees from top-tier Baptist institutions of higher learning including a Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I am so thankful that God has given me a second chance to serve BPC in this way. Even though I physically left there 18 months ago, my heart never moved,” Bass said. “We have a lot of hard work still ahead of us, but nothing we will face will be a surprise to God. Our greatest challenge is to seek His will in all that we propose to do and then be obedient to follow Him.”
Trustee Lynda Yawn, a public school educator from Statesboro, Ga., who will lead the search team for BPU’s 17th president, said Bass “possesses an incredibly successful history of service at Brewton-Parker. We are pleased to have him back on campus. His experience and knowledge will undoubtedly be a stabilizing force during this time of transition.”
Serving with Yawn on the presidential search team will be Fred Evers, senior pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Tifton, Ga.; Dannie Williams, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lyons, Ga.; Tim Redding, a southeast Georgia businessman; and faculty member Vance Rhoades. Campbell and Robert White, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Convention, will serve as ex officio members.
Blaising to be honored with eschatology-themed festschrift
FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) — Craig Blaising, executive vice president and provost of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary since 2001, will be honored with a festschrift titled “Eschatology: Biblical, Historical and Practical Approaches; A Volume in Honor of Craig Alan Blaising” to be published by Kregel Academic next fall.
A festschrift is a volume of writings by different authors presented as a tribute to a scholar.
The announcement was made during the Evangelical Theological Society’s annual meeting in November in honor of Blaising’s 65th birthday.
More than two dozen scholars contributed to the work, including Southwestern President Paige Patterson; David Allen, dean of the school of theology; and R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Jeffrey Bingham, associate dean of biblical and theological studies at Wheaton College, and Glenn Kreider, professor of theological studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, served as co-editors of the festschrift.
“Dr. Blaising, in his ministry at Southwestern Seminary, is a man who has been both brilliant in his handling of the curriculum and a real joy to work with,” Patterson said. “He has proven to be gentle and firm in every way. His marriage has been a splendid example for that of all of our students as well as his home. And his local church involvement has been such that all are aware of it. Dr. Blaising, very honestly, I couldn’t have done a thing without you.”
Jeffrey Bingham, in announcing the festschrift, noted Blaising’s contributions as an evangelical patristic scholar.
“With his studies in Aberdeen on the theological method of Athanasius of Alexandria, Craig Blaising became the blazer of the trail for evangelical patristic studies,” Bingham said. “In a very true way, the present state of patristic studies within American evangelicalism owes its seed and its growth to this man. There are students of Craig’s of two generations now serving in some of the finest evangelical, and beyond evangelical, institutions in North America.”
Mohler said Blaising “has helped to shape an entire generation in terms of understanding not only the urgency of Christian theology — in particular the eschatological message of Scripture — but also to see it in a whole new way and to understand it in a way that is even more faithful, even more consistent in terms of biblical theology, and even more effective in its preaching. Behind him you find a score of others who have been influenced by his writings and by his teaching.”
Following the announcement, Blaising said a festschrift is “one of the great honors a professor can have. It’s an honor for former students and colleagues to do that, and so I am deeply appreciative of their work.”
Midwestern introduces new journal editor
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP) — Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has released its latest issue of the Midwestern Journal of Theology, titled “Challenge in 21st Century Life and Ministry.”
It is the first edition under MBTS church history professor Michael D. McMullen as managing editor.
MBTS President Jason Allen noted, “Midwestern Seminary’s journal has achieved its current status thanks to the labors of previous top-notch managing editors, and that is why I am pleased to announce the responsibility now falls to Dr. Michael D. McMullen,” a member of Midwestern’s faculty since 1998. Allen said McMullen’s scholarship and publications are “marked by his skill as an editor. His vision for the future of the journal is one I think readers will treasure.”
McMullen emphasized two articles from the journal, saying, “We begin this issue with two presentations that were given at the recent inaugural, ‘For the Church’ conference held here at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The first, by Midwestern’s own president, Dr. Jason K. Allen, is a vitally necessary challenge to assess one’s readiness to preach, drawn from 2 Timothy 2:4. We then also have Midwestern’s newly appointed Jared C. Wilson’s challenge using 1 Corinthians 1:26-2:5, on being ready to shepherd.” Wilson was named director of communications and managing editor of Midwestern Resources in October.
Among other articles in the journal’s latest edition:
“Ann H. Judson: An Unpublished Letter” by McMullen, which explores what is believed to be a previously unpublished letter from the Baptist missionary Ann H. Judson, along with a brief sketch of her life, trials and labors.
“Scripture Memorization: Once More” by Radu Gheorgita, associate professor of biblical studies, which is a plea to the church to “taste and see” the fruit that the discipline of the memorization of Scripture will bring forth in one’s life and ministry today.
“Comparing Luther’s Enflamed Dialogue with Tyndale’s Prayer of the Sinner” by Tom Johnston, professor of evangelism, which is a call to assess our own devotional lives in light of words from Martin Luther and William Tyndale.
The Midwestern Journal of Theology is available in print version. To subscribe, contact MBTS Academic Office at 816-414-3745 or [email protected]. Additionally, guests may view the issue in its entirety for free on the seminary’s website, http://www.mbts.edu/news-resources/journal-of-theology.
