Fulfilling the Great Commission | Leadership | Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Campaign Council

Southeastern’s Campaign Council is comprised of a group of men and women who have come alongside Southeastern to help make the campaign a success. The Council advises our financial development staff on matters pertaining to the achievement of our campaign goals, they pray for us regularly, they receive quarterly updates on our the campaign’s progress, they hold us accountable for following through on opportunities and they have provided early and significant support for Southeastern’s campaign. Because God has so graciously sent these generous men and women to Southeastern, we can succeed in this campaign and we can dare to dream about the many ways in which God will be glorified in and through Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Campaign Steering Committee

Southeastern is also building a Campaign Steering Committee. This Committee is a larger group of individuals that provides substantial support for Southeastern as the public portion of the campaign progresses. They join the Campaign Council in the important work of both encouraging and stretching Southeastern as we seek to achieve the financial goals before us, in order to provide support for the work of equipping students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission. Current members of the Campaign Steering Committee include: Jeannie and Jack Fallaw and Lucile and Hewlett Sullivan.

A three-phase, decade-long campaign - Scholarship on Fire - was approved by the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention in 2002 with an overall goal of $50 million. Phase one concluded in July of 2005 with over $17 million raised, outstripping the initial goal of $16.5 million. The most visible fruit of that labor – the seminary’s flagship academic building, Paige and Dorothy Patterson Hall – was dedicated in October.

On April 15, 2008, Southeastern’s trustees unanimously approved plans for the second phase of the school’s decade-long fundraising campaign, with a stated goal of $17 million and a focus on “Fulfilling the Great Commission” which is reflective of the school’s mission statement.

Projects to be funded through the campaign include renovations to the school’s library, scholarships for undergraduate students, endowed faculty chairs, and the school’s Lewis A. Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies, among others.

Dennis Darville, vice president for institutional advancement, said the board’s approval was an endorsement of more than just a dollar amount, but was an endorsement of President Akin and the faculty’s vision to ensure every Southeastern classroom is a Great Commission classroom.

“The outcome of this campaign will be that Southeastern is better equipped to train up godly pastors, missionaries and Christian leaders across all of our degree programs,” he said. “It is humbling to see how God is working here and how He is raising up students to accomplish His will.”

“Fundamentally, this campaign is not about money,” Akin said. “It is about fulfilling the Great Commission by equipping students to serve the church and spread the fame of the Lord Jesus Christ by every Christ-honoring means possible. We never tire of dreaming about the advance of the gospel. We need and pray for godly men and women to catch this vision and support us generously in this endeavor.”