SBTS Trustees Celebrate Enrollment Growth and Financial Strength

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) board of trustees convened for its fall meeting, Oct. 19-20, where they welcomed eight new members and reviewed the institution’s progress. President R. Albert Mohler Jr. highlighted nearly 170 years of God’s faithfulness to SBTS, emphasizing the seminary’s enduring growth amid challenges facing theological education.

Mohler presented institutional research showing SBTS’s current student headcount exceeds 5,800. This growth has occurred during a period he described as a “catastrophic free fall” for theological education, with several historic institutions closing or reducing programs. “I just am astounded that by God’s grace, the institution is still on the ascent,” Mohler said. “And I just want to say it is not due to strategic planning since 1859. It is due to God’s blessing.”

The growth spans all levels of the institution, from Boyce College to master’s and doctoral programs, with the fastest increase at the graduate level. Mohler reaffirmed the seminary’s commitment to the Master of Divinity as the standard degree for pastoral training. “We do not want anyone who’s training to be a pastor to do anything short of the Master of Divinity,” he stated.

Mohler also addressed artificial intelligence, which he called “one of the major challenges of our generation.” He urged Christians to “defend authentic human ministry, authentic human communication, authentic human learning in the generation ahead.” He emphasized the importance of upholding the image of God in human beings, stating, “We may be, as Christians, among the last people on earth who understand what it means to be a human being made in the image of God. And we are going to have to contend for it.”

Referring to 2 Timothy 1:6, where Paul exhorts Timothy to “fan into flame the gift of God,” Mohler said the verse should guide the seminary’s mission. “The task of a theological seminary is to fan into flame the call of God for ministry,” he said. “We want to do nothing to douse that flame, to minimize that flame, to starve that flame. We want to do everything to feed that flame.”

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