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NOBTS names 3 to faculty, 3 as associate deans


NEW ORLEANS (BP)–New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley announced the appointment of three new faculty members during the trustee executive board’s June 6 meeting in New Orleans. The president also named two new associate deans for the extension center system and an associate dean for Leavell College, the seminary’s undergraduate program.

Jeremy Evans will serve as instructor in philosophy and ethics and Wade Howell as instructor in theology, both in NOBTS’ division of theological and historical studies.

“We wanted to increase the number of our faculty in the theological and historical area to match our enrollment,” NOBTS Provost Steve Lemke said. Lemke said he is especially excited about adding another faculty member in the area of philosophy and ethics.

Evans, who will serve on a one-year presidential appointment, is in the dissertation stage of the doctor of philosophy program at Texas A&M University. He currently serves as a lecturer and teaching assistant at Texas A&M and a part-time faculty member at Blinn College in Bryan, Texas.

Before entering the Ph.D. program, Evans had earned a master of divinity degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a bachelor of arts degree in speech communication at Texas A&M. During his time at Southwestern, Evans served as a collegiate minister at Glenville Baptist Church in Haltom City, Texas, and a volunteer collegiate minister at Fielder Road Baptist Church in Arlington.

“One of our most important tasks is equipping today’s ministers to engage a secular and non-Christian culture,” Kelley said. “Jeremy Evans will do that very, very well.”

Howell, currently enrolled in the seminary’s doctor of philosophy program, will serve a two-year appointment. He holds a master of divinity degree from NOBTS and a bachelor of science degree in business administration from the University of Florida.

He currently serves a bivocational pastor of Westside Baptist Church in Live Oak, Fla. He has been an academic assistant and grader at NOBTS and minister to youth at First Baptist Church in Chalmette, La.

“Wade Howell is one of our own who has demonstrated a great grasp of theology and a great affinity for students,” Kelley said. “We are excited about having him as a young professor.”

Kelley appointed Mark Stephens as assistant professor of preaching and pastoral ministry -– ministry-based faculty. Stephens serves as the director of the seminary’s extension center in Orlando, Fla., and as the director of theological education and distance learning for the Florida Baptist Convention. During the regular spring trustee meeting in April, Kelley had told the board he wanted to enhance and enlarge the extension center system over the coming years. At the June 6 executive committee session, he appointed Stephens and two others to aid in this process.

“Mark Stephens has been working with us in Florida for a number of years. He has been a great adjunct teacher for us,” Kelley said. “To have someone of his quality of experience and background is a rare privilege.”

Stephens holds a doctor of ministry degree from NOBTS and a master of divinity degree from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis. Stephens also earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Florida.

Stephens brings more than 10 years of ministry experience to the classroom. Before joining the Florida Baptist Convention staff, he pastored six years in Arkansas and Florida. He had continued to serve interim pastorates in Florida after joining the convention staff.

The ministry-based faculty category is a trustee-elected non-tenure track category for instructors like Stephens who serve in other ministries and bring practical experience to the classroom.

Kelley also appointed Steve Echols to serve as associate dean of Alabama and Georgia extension centers and Norris Grubbs to serve as associate dean of Louisiana and Mississippi extension centers. Echols also serves as director of the North Georgia extension center in metro Atlanta and professor of leadership. Grubbs also serves as assistant professor of New Testament and Greek for Leavell College.

“We believe that the future is going to require seminaries to push theological education out from the campus,” Kelley said. “[These appointments] are an effort to make our extension center system more productive and efficient.

“We are excited about giving an even larger number of students the opportunity to have the highest quality education available,” he said.

Scott Drum, associate professor of theological and historical studies, was appointed to serve as associate dean of Leavell College. Drum, who has served at Leavell College since 2000, also served as assistant director of institutional effectiveness –- the department charged with the seminary’s accreditation process.

In other action, the trustees heard a progress report on campus restoration. Kelley noted that 80 percent of the Hurricane Katrina damage has been repaired and that the seminary contractor is working diligently to complete restoration work before fall classes begin in August.

Trustees also were given an encouraging report on enrollment. During the 2005-06 school year, seminary officials recorded an non-duplicated headcount of 3,291 students. Lemke told trustees that the number was only off the previous year’s count by several hundred students.
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