This Month in Our History: March 2009

This month in our history one of the Virginia Baptist ministry partners is celebrating a key anniversary. Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond is marking its 20th anniversary. 

It all began late in the afternoon of March 3, 1989, in the First Baptist Church of Greenville, South Carolina. Elmer West, long prominent in Baptist life, was there along with others attending the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Alliance (now simply called the Alliance of Baptists). West remembers: “Following more than two hours of spirited discussion, the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of establishing a seminary at Richmond. After reminding us that it would take a great deal of money to start such an institution, a man stood down front following the benediction and held a large paper bag to collect cash, checks, and pledges for the new cause.” 

Two years earlier, the Baptist General Association of Virginia had appointed a study committee to consider the prospects of creating a new seminary. Some hoped that the University of Richmond, a school with a Baptist heritage, might consider starting a divinity school. One member of the BGAV committee spoke with the president of Union Theological Seminary, the venerable Presbyterian school in Richmond. The president advised to appeal to the best within Baptist heritage – freedom, religious liberty. Ultimately the committee realized that the task was too great for the General Association alone to undertake. It required an even larger base.

Six weeks after the Greenville meeting, the first meeting of the seven “provisional trustees” was held and Mary Strauss was elected chair. Again, Elmer West supplies the memory. “Her response was, ‘Okay, I’ll do it. Let’s get busy and build an agenda.’ Just like that, we were up and going.”

The germ of the Richmond experiment was in the nurturing hands of Morris Ashcraft, former dean of Southeastern Seminary, who served as acting president without a salary. There was a borrowed office available at Union Theological Seminary and the Presbyterian School of Christian Education and soon the opportunity to use the basement of Northminster Baptist Church, which is located near the Presbyterian school. In the incubator phase, like any new baby, the seminary received a name – Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond – and tender loving care, including letters of incorporation, tax-exempt status, and some funds (a half-million in cash and pledges). It was a beginning.

Thomas Henry Graves, pastor of St. John’s Baptist Church in Charlotte and previously a
professor at Southeastern Seminary, took a leap of faith; and in 1991, at age 43, he became president of what was still little more than a dream. In his acceptance address, Graves said: “I do not go with a guaranteed future – this could fail. But it will not fail for my refusal to share the dream. Our task is to wed dreams and hard work in order to meet the needs of Baptists.”

The dream metaphor became an oft-repeated and apt image for the seminary. Dreams need reality. Graves added the first two full-time faculty members: Tom Halbrooks and Linda McKinnish Bridges. Several adjunct faculty were secured, including the renowned Chevis Horne and the creative Bob Dale. 

Graves and the new seminary were welcomed by the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. In an address to the Board, the president said: “Better than any one Baptist body on earth, Virginia Baptists have understood and practiced what it means to be free Baptists. Virginia Baptists are guardians of the freedom of the individual before God, the freedom of the local church, and the freedom of a state where there is separation of church and government. But now these cherished ideals are in jeopardy. We are in danger of forfeiting our birthright. If we are to remain truly Baptist, new institutions are needed.”

Classes began in the fall of ’91. Of the 32 students, 17 were Virginia Baptists. Recognizing the potential, the General Association allocated a modest $25,000 for 1992. The seminary moved four blocks from Northminster and rented a building hard by the Presbyterian seminary. Arrangements were made for the Baptist students to have borrowing privileges at Union Seminary’s magnificent library.

The trustees, faculty, and president had a vision for BTSR. It was to focus on the well-being of the churches, to seek “teaching congregations” which would mentor students, to offer “missions immersion,” and to recover “the importance of spirituality and meditation.” From the heart and mind of Tom Graves, a vision was cast. “BTSR will endeavor to be a great deal more than just an attempt to offer old style education in a new place. It will be a creative attempt to train students spiritually as well as academically for service in local churches with a view toward the global importance of the tasks of Christian ministry. Such a program would be worthy of support regardless of what is happening in our denominational life.”

Through Graves’ recipe of dreams and hard work, the seminary grew “from strength to strength” and in all in rapid succession: graduated first seminarians in ’93, was granted full accreditation in ’97, and moved one more time in the fall of ’97. The move was onto the campus of Presbyterian School of Christian Education. A large three-story building, Watts Hall (now, joyfully, Graves Hall) was purchased and renovated. By then the number of students was 219 and climbing. BTSR had become a partner school with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and was receiving increased allocations from the BGAV.

In 1998 Harwood and Louise Cochrane, members of Tabernacle Church, Richmond, made a munificent gift of $1 million, which boosted the seminary. Many others joined the list of donors. In 2000 the Center for Distance Education, led by Jim Peak, opened and revolutionized educational access for Virginia Baptists. For the first time, space and time were not hindrances to receiving theological education. BTSR acquired two more buildings from the Presbyterians. The best measure of success came in 2007 when BTSR awarded its 500th degree. 

Tom Graves’ retired in June 2007 and was succeeded by Ronald W. Crawford. In his inaugural address, Ron Crawford echoed the dream theme: “BTSR is the lengthened shadow of a dream, a dream that grew out of a longing in the Baptist heart for freedom.” Twenty years and counting, it is still a time of beginnings for Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. There is still much to be done for the dreamers.

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