I will be forever indebted to Dr. Graham for the fact that he gave so generously of his time to come to Louisville, and to give his enthusiastic support to what we were seeking to do right here on this campus.

Come see what God is doing at Southern Seminary as the next generation of “soldiers of Christ, in truth arrayed” is readied for deployment. These students are serious, convictional, devotional, and joyful. They know the landscape of the post-modern world and they are determined to preach Christ and lead gospel churches. They match seriousness with sweetness. God is doing something marvelous in this generation and right here at Southern Seminary and Boyce College. Come see it for ourself, pray for us, and thank God for calling out the called in this generation. How kind of God to let us be a part of all this.

From the very beginning, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has been a confessional institution. Every professor must sign our confession of faith, the Abstract of Principles, agreeing to teach “in accordance with and not contrary to all that is contained therein.” This pledge has remained unchanged since 1859, but the history of Southern Seminary is a history with many twists and turns.

We live in a society marked by secularization. And when I use that term, I’m talking about the sort of secularism that we’ve only experienced in the wake of the Enlightenment and the advent of modernity; we live in a society where theism has lost its binding authority. I’ve lived long enough to watch it happen, and it still surprises me.