Southeastern prays for racial reconciliation

For the last chapel of the fall semester, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) hosted a time of prayer and Bible reading for racial understanding and reconciliation on Dec. 4.  

Friends of Southeastern including students, faculty, staff and local members of the community participated in the event.

Daniel Akin, president of SEBTS, forwent his traditional sermon because he felt it was important to lead the seminary in thinking through present issues facing Americans today.

He quoted 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. “Ours is a broken world and a fractured world. It is a world in desperate need of reconciliation.”

“The most important reconciliation is that which we have with God,” he said. “Apart from reconciliation with God, we will never see reconciliation within ourselves and among ourselves.”

Akin reflected on recent events as “a great tragedy in a fallen, broken world.”

“I am heartbroken at the loss of life, and tragedy of sin and all that it inflicts on everyone,” he said. “Everyone is impacted by these events. It is becoming more evident in these recent days that our nation still has a long way to go when it comes to racial understanding and racial reconciliation and ethic affirmation of one another.”

Akin is convinced that reconciliation will not happen in America until it happens in the church. “It is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Body of Christ, that needs to step up at this particular time and lead the way and show the way forward through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Walter Strickland, special advisor to the President for Kingdom Diversity and professor of Theology at Southeastern, helped organize the event.

Several seminary and community leaders came together to lead the time of prayer, including: Edgar Aponte, director of Hispanic Leadership Development; Brent Aucoin, associate professor of history and associate dean of The College at Southeastern; Maliek Blade, a student at The College at Southeastern; and Al Fullwood, adjunctive professor of preaching and speech.

Mike Lawson, director of security at SEBTS; Jesse Parker, Th.M. student at Southeastern; James White, pastor at Christ Our King Community Church in Raleigh and executive vice president of organizational relations for the Triangle YMCA; and Reese and Kristal Wilson also participated. Reese is a student at SEBTS and Kristal works in the financial aid office at Southeastern and is a former police officer.

During the service, diplomas and certificates were presented to students and The Owens Evangelism Award was given to Brooke Davidson.

The annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering was collected for International Mission Board missionaries. Since 1888 when the offering began, over $3.5 billion has been raised to fund missionaries. To make a donation to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, please click here.

To view photos from this chapel, please click here.

To watch this chapel online, please click here.