When R. Albert Mohler assumed the presidency of Southern Seminary in 1993, his initial aim was to transform the theological character of the seminary. The trustees who elected him charged him to accomplish his aim. So did Southern Baptists generally. Much of the faculty at that time opposed the inerrancy of the Bible; disagreed with some affirmations of the seminary confession, the Abstract of Principles; were dismissive of evangelicalism’s commitments; and were unenthusiastic about such evangelical leaders as Billy Graham. Mohler, in contrast, affirmed the inerrancy of the Bible, defended the truth of the Abstract of Principles, sympathized with evangelicalism’s commitments, and deeply appreciated the faithfulness of Billy Graham’s evangelistic ministry. Mohler’s mission as president was, first and foremost, to build a faculty that did the same. The transformation of the seminary would transpire only by an extensive renovation of the theological character of the faculty.
In the battle over inerrancy waged by Southern Baptists since 1979, conservatives argued that belief in the inerrancy of the Scriptures was crucial to maintaining evangelistic zeal and effective witness. The progressive Southern Baptists who opposed the conservative campaign believed that insistence on inerrancy damaged evangelistic and missionary efforts. In establishing the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Church Growth in 1994, Mohler was able to raise a banner that marked The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary as a school that was committed not only to inerrancy, scriptural fidelity, and historic Southern Baptist doctrinal convictions but also to strengthening Southern Baptist commitment to evangelism and missions.
Mohler and the seminary trustees believed it to be vitally important to emphasize that theological conviction resulted organically in commitment to evangelism and missions. Therefore, they established a full-fledged school to teach those disciplines. It was the first such school at any of the Southern Baptist Convention’s six seminaries.
At the time of Mohler’s election, Southern Seminary consisted of four schools: the School of Theology, the School of Church Music, the School of Religious Education, and the Carver School of Church Social Work. The Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Church Growth became the fifth. Establishing a school in an institution of higher education indicated a strong commitment to the disciplines of that school. Each school must establish its own degree programs, faculty, and administration. The seminary already had professors who taught evangelism and missions, and they became of part of the initial faculty. In founding a school, Mohler was looking to expand these and related disciplines and hire additional faculty.
The new school therefore provided an immediate instrument by which to begin the process of transforming the faculty. Mohler would be able to hire a new dean who would build a faculty for the new school. For these reasons, Mohler developed plans to make the Billy Graham School a reality as quickly as possible. Mohler presented the vision and rationale to Billy Graham, and Graham graciously gave his support to the school and approved the use of his name for it.
Throughout his career, Graham exercised extreme care in the use of his name. God had blessed Graham’s gospel preaching in the most extraordinary way for over fifty years. The name of no other twentieth-century preacher was so closely and so widely identified with the gospel of redemption from sin through faith in Jesus Christ. The reputation of the gospel would suffer great injury if Graham’s name suffered ill repute. Graham therefore rarely permitted the use of his name. When he approved the use of his name for the new Billy Graham School at Southern Seminary, Graham was making a statement. It was a statement indicating his deep trust in Mohler’s convictions, wisdom, and leadership as well as his profound commitment to the purposes of the school that would bear his name.
As an expression of Graham’s support of Mohler and the new school, he agreed to speak at Mohler’s inaugural observances. On Thursday evening, October 14, 1993, Graham preached to the nine thousand people who filled Freedom Hall in Louisville. Graham affirmed Mohler as the kind of leader needed to assist churches to address the dire need of spiritual awakening in the United States. “I believe God has raised him up for an hour such as this,” Graham said. It was at this event that Mohler announced the plan to establish the Billy Graham School.
The Billy Graham School attracted immediate and warm support from donors who wanted to give directly in support of Mohler’s vision. Faye Stone gave 2.7 million dollars from the estate of her late husband, Judge A. P. Stone, to endow the Billy Graham School. The new school also attracted other major donations. The new school needed a dean with theological conviction, zeal for evangelism and missions, and wise leadership to lead the building of its initial degree programs and its initial faculty. Mohler invited Thom Rainer, pastor of Green Valley Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, to fill the role. Rainer was well known for his commitment to encouraging Southern Baptists in evangelism and church growth and had written five books advocating such efforts. Rainer recruited a gifted and dedicated faculty who supported Southern Baptists’ vision for theological education.
Some of those recruited by Rainer continue even till today to teach with the same zeal that brought them to the Billy Graham School in its early years.
In 1996, Timothy Beougher joined the faculty of the Billy Graham School as Associate Professor of Evangelism. He arrived from Wheaton College, where he was Assistant Professor of Evangelism and where he was on staff at the Billy Graham Center’s Church Evangelism Institute. Beougher has taught a generation of students how to witness boldly and faithfully as well as how to train churches to do the same. His gospel tract Experiencing God’s Grace is a widely used tool for effective gospel presentation.
Also in 1996, George Martin joined the Billy Graham School faculty as Associate Professor of Christian Missions. Martin spent 1988– 1994 serving as a missionary in Indonesia with the International Mission Board, and he served on the faculty of North Greenville University before coming to the Billy Graham School. Martin has passed on his passion for foreign missions to a generation of students, and he has led many of them on mission trips around the world.
Beougher and Martin continue to shape students for faithful service alongside a cadre of remarkable scholar-practitioners who have joined them on the faculty of the Billy Graham School. The school has stamped its commitments on a number of disciplines that have been incorporated into it in the years since its founding as the seminary sought unite the various practical ministry-related disciplines in the Billy Graham School. The faculty now provides excellent training in Biblical Counseling, Biblical Worship, Christian Leadership, and Educational Ministry, in addition to training in Evangelism, Church Planting, Missions, Islamic Studies, and World Religions.
The faculty of the Billy Graham School has exemplified the power of careful scholarship in the service of practical ministry. The faculty are experienced practitioners of the academic disciplines that they teach in the classroom. They have served as pastors, evangelists, missionaries, counselors, apologists, and ministry leaders. Many serve concurrently in such roles. This experience in ministry is an essential component of effective seminary training. The Billy Graham School has now trained an entire generation of faithful pastors, missionaries, church planters, worship leaders, biblical counselors, and other ministry leaders.
Only eternity will reveal the true significance of the founding of the Billy Graham School in 1994. How many pastors have been enabled to witness and lead sinners to Christ because of the training they received in the school’s courses? How many laypersons have been equipped to do the same because their pastors were trained to equip others? How many evangelists now fearlessly share the gospel in the diverse languages of the nations around the globe because missionaries trained in the Billy Graham School shared the gospel with them, led them to Christ, and prepare them to witness? Surely it is true, as Mohler observed at its beginning, that the founding of the Billy Graham School was “one of the most historic moments in the life of Southern Seminary.”