Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Names Paul Akin Provost

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler announced on Wednesday, at the school’s annual luncheon during the SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California, that Paul Akin has been named the seminary’s provost and senior vice president for academic administration. Akin has served as dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Ministry since 2019.

Mohler said the seminary’s leaders searched widely for the position, but it became clear that the best candidate was already part of the SBTS family. He said faculty support for Akin in the role was “simply overwhelming.”

The current provost, Matt Hall, was recently elected provost of Biola University, an evangelical school.

Akin first came to Southern Seminary at age 12, in 1996, when his father, Danny Akin, was elected dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration. Paul Akin later received his MDiv and PhD from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where his father serves as president. With the new appointment, Danny Akin and Paul Akin are the first father and son to serve in the same leadership role at Southern Seminary.

Paul Akin said he had watched “what the Lord has done at Southern over the last 30 years” and called the appointment “a bit surreal.” He said that when Mohler approached him about the role, he first sought the counsel of his father, who had served in a similar role at Southern for many years in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Before returning to the seminary, Akin served for many years on the mission field, working among Muslims in Africa and the Middle East and training missionaries in local church and seminary settings. He served alongside mission teams in 40 countries and later was team leader for new missionary sending with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. His years of training others for mission work reflect labor done for the Lord, a lesson in faithful calling (Colossians 3:23).

Akin will remain dean of the Graham School until a successor is found, which Mohler said would likely happen by fall. Akin and his wife, Kari, a Louisville native, have four children.

Mohler said the role is “so important at Southern Seminary and beyond,” adding: “Academics are at the very heart of what we do. The credibility of our academic program, the strength of our faculty, the faithfulness of the curriculum, what happens in the classroom is of crucial, crucial importance.”

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