SEBTS Launches MilSpo Co. Partnership and Student Aid Fund

The U. S. military is one of the most mobile yet least discipled communities in the country with more than 1.3 million active-duty military personnel and millions more Americans who comprise the broader U. S. military community.

In a community often troubled by trauma, addiction, suicide, and death, military chaplains are few and regularly overburdened, exposing the need for a sustained missionary presence in the military community. While continuing to train students to serve as chaplains, SEBTS is expanding its Great Commission efforts among the military by partnering with MilSpo Co. to equip military connected women as vital disciple makers in the military community.

“Aside from chaplaincy programs, Southern Baptists have too often been on the sidelines when it comes to reaching the military families in their communities and when it comes to equipping missionaries and ministry leaders in the military,” noted President Danny Akin. “Southeastern is committed to reversing that trend and mobilizing students to make disciples of Jesus Christ, including among our military service men and women. By partnering with MilSpo Co., Southeastern desires to equip and strengthen military spouses to proclaim life in Christ and shine as lights in a culture of darkness and death.”

Southeastern desires to equip and strengthen military spouses to proclaim life in Christ and shine as lights in a culture of darkness and death.

Women mobilized through MilSpo Co. are equipped through doctrinally rich, hands-on training cohorts to evangelize, lead Bible studies, and disciple people in their communities. Started by military spouse and missionary Megan Brown, MilSpo Co. offers military connected women access to theological education and training for Great Commission service.

“Our mission at MilSpo Co. is to recruit, raise up, and release military connected women as paid and prepared vocational missionaries,” shared Brown, founder and executive director of MilSpo Co. “We connect women to God and each other. We build them into a faith community in the local church. Then we send them to participate in the Great Commission.”

This Great Commission emphasis makes SEBTS and MilSpo Co. natural partners. Through the SEBTS GO certificates program, women in the MilSpo Co. cohorts can receive flexible theological education and ministry preparation from anywhere in the world. Equipped to interpret, teach, and practice Scripture, these women receive courses on the Old and New Testaments, theology, ethics, and biblical interpretation through the certificate in biblical studies and theology.

“This partnership with Southeastern is the key we didn’t know we were searching for,” noted Brown. “We often wonder what our training could have looked like if we would have had access to these courses at Southeastern when we launched.”

This partnership with Southeastern is the key we didn’t know we were searching for.

With 12 women currently enrolled in the pilot cohort of this partnership, MilSpo Co. seeks to help these women raise funds as they pursue training for ministry. Funding for these women not only offsets costs for their theological training but also makes it possible for them to consider training in the first place because of the significant financial needs among military families.

“The military spouse unemployment rate is four times the national average,” commented Brown. “Three out of four enlisted families are experiencing food insecurity right now, which is why WIC and other government assistance is so prevalent in this community. Funding their training and missionary labor frees these women to mobilize and make disciples without an additional burden on their shoulders.”

That is why MilSpo Co. and SEBTS are excited to announce the launch of the Brook Leona Mission Sending Student Aid Fund — a new student aid fund that gives preference to women in the MilSpo Co. partnership and to military connected students at SEBTS.

This student aid fund honors the generosity and vision of Brook Leona Mathews, a 13-year-old girl who donated $5,000 to help MilSpo Co. launch its online platform. Brook, a gold star child, lost her divorced military father to suicide and experienced firsthand the heartache many military families face every day. Paid an annuity for the death of her father, Brook chose to leverage the allotment from her father’s death to support those who are spreading a message of life — eternal life in Jesus Christ.

“Brook’s donation is not about Brook,” shared Catherine Wehrman, Brook’s mom. “This is about a moment of obedience. Brook obeyed the Lord’s direction and handed that money to God for him to redeem it.”

“This story is truly about beauty from ashes,” added Brown. “God has turned this death money into life money.”

God has turned this death money into life money.

Brook’s generosity represents dozens of other faithful donors like Stacey Morgan, a military spouse who donated $10,000 to fund the 2023 MilSpo Co. cohort, or others who have made it possible to launch the Brook Leona Fund at SEBTS. Grateful for this generosity, Brown shared that MilSpo Co. hopes to see the Brook Leona Fund fully endowed and to move beyond the certificate program to fund and send women through bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs at SEBTS.

SEBTS shares this vision for training students to fulfill the Great Commission and is excited to expand its efforts by equipping military spouses to reach military families.

“The U. S. military is one of the largest and most strategic pockets of lostness in our nation,” shared Akin. “Hundreds of thousands of men and women are deployed internationally through the military — many in some of the most difficult places in the world — yet all too few have been transformed by the gospel of King Jesus. What might the transforming power of the gospel do in a global community like that? Might we not see the nations reached, our service men and women saved, and a revival spread throughout our world?”

To learn more about the mission of MilSpo Co. check out milspoco.com, or visit the Brook Leona Fund page to support these strategic Great Commission efforts.