Southeastern’s Alumni and Friends Luncheon Focuses on Mission Impact

Emphasizing the Great Commission partnerships that make the mission of Southeastern possible, the lunch offered attendees the opportunity to hear testimonies from alumni and faculty about how God is blessing and multiplying the impact of Southeastern’s training efforts.

As the first speaker at the luncheon, Todd Unzicker, Southeastern alum and executive director and treasurer of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSCNC), shared his appreciation for Southeastern’s investment in his own life and throughout his state convention.

“Southeastern is North Carolina Baptists’ most valuable partner right in our own state,” commented Unzicker. “We want to see every student going to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. That is our goal and our pipeline because we know that those students will leave with an on-mission-together spirit, mantra, and ministry.”

It was this spirit of mission that indelibly shaped the life of Southeastern alum Quintell Hill, pastor of Multiply Community Church and president of the BSCNC. Narrating his Southeastern story during the luncheon, Hill recounted how God first brought him to Southeastern and how God used Danny Akin’s teaching on Bible exposition to give him a passion to preach God’s word and join in God’s mission.

Hill also shared how Southeastern’s Great Commission community taught him the priority of the Great Commission, which has continued to inform his everyday ministry.

“At Southeastern, every classroom is a Great Commission classroom,” remarked Hill. “The whole point is for us to go out as students to fulfill the Great Commission.”

At Southeastern, every classroom is a Great Commission classroom. The whole point is for us to go out as students to fulfill the Great Commission.

“There is not a day that goes by that I don’t remember the influence that Southeastern has poured into my life,” added Hill. “They taught me the urgency of the gospel, the good news of Christ that needs to go to the neighborhoods and to the nations.”

Hill noted that Southeastern’s Great Commission community not only helped him orient his ministry around God’s mission but also gave him a seat at the table in ministry and convention leadership as a black man from Alabama who now pastors in a small town in North Carolina. Having been blessed with opportunities for training and leadership, Hill now desires to serve Christ by encouraging and equipping churches to become missional churches.

“God is on the move,” commented Hill. “God is a missionary God; therefore, we shall be missionary people. We should bleed this. We should bleed the Great Commission.”

God is a missionary God; therefore, we shall be missionary people.

Following Hill’s testimony, Chuck Quarles, research professor of New Testament and biblical theology and Charles Page Chair of biblical theology at Southeastern, shared with attendees about Southeastern’s Caskey Center for Biblical Text and Translation (CBTT), which will launch this fall.

As an extension of Southeastern’s commitment to the Bible and the Great Commission, the CBTT will help improve the quality of Greek and Hebrew editions of the Bible and ensure the accuracy and clarity of Bible translations worldwide, providing critical Bible translation resources for missionaries and church leaders around the world.

For Southeastern, this project is integral to its Great Commission mission because the Bible is God’s Spirit-enabled and Church-proclaimed instrument for communicating the gospel.

“The most important piece of equipment for those who serve the Church and fulfill the Great Commission is the holy Scriptures,” Quarles told attendees. “It’s because the holy Scriptures are essential to salvation that a clear and accurate translation of the Bible is an essential resource for evangelism, church planting, international missions, the worship of the people of God on the Lord’s day, and the edification of the saints. Nothing is more central than this holy book.”

Quarles shared that the CBTT will partner with Lifeway, the Bible League, Wycliffe Bible Translators, the Museum of the Bible, the Cason Foundation, and other organizations to translate the biblical text and provide resources to translators and missionaries who are already on the field. Quarles noted that the important work of the CBTT relies on these translation partners as they labor together to ensure the accuracy and availability of Bible translations.

“The Caskey Center is a great example of going together,” commented Quarles. “In Bible translation work, nobody can go it alone. We desperately need each other, working in tandem and sharing the same yoke to ensure that God’s word gets to people all around the world and that it actually reflects what the prophets and apostles wrote.”

Offering a word of encouragement to attendees, Akin concluded the luncheon by sharing some of the ways God is uniquely blessing Southeastern in its efforts to equip students to reach the nations. Akin reported that this spring Southeastern commissioned 59 students and families to serve the Church and fulfill the Great Commission with the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board (IMB) — several of whom participated in this year’s IMB commissioning service at the SBC.

Akin also shared that Southeastern recently celebrated its historic first commencement ceremony for its Persian Leadership Development Program, which trains more than 3,500 Farsi speakers from around the world to make disciples and serve the Church in hard-to-reach places. Akin also noted that a week later Southeastern celebrated its third commencement in its North Carolina Field Minister Program, commissioning 14 incarcerated men to serve in facilities throughout North Carolina.

“This could not have happened if I did not have a faculty, student body, and staff who have a heart and passion for the nations,” commented Akin. “My prayer is that we’ll continue in this until Jesus comes again. … But until he does, we’re going to keep working hard at asking that question: not, should I go, but why should I stay?”

We’re going to keep working hard at asking that question: not, should I go, but why should I stay?

Akin also reported that in recent months Southeastern surpassed its $20 million goal for its For the Mission capital campaign, reaching $24,159,000 to support Southeastern’s Great Commission efforts. Akin praised God and thanked the thousands of generous donors who share Southeastern’s Great Commission vision.

“As our largest annual alumni event, the alumni and friends luncheon is always a highlight of our year,” shared Drew Davis, director of financial and alumni development at Southeastern. “This year, it has been particularly exciting to report to our Southeastern family how God has blessed our institution with record preview day numbers, record enrollment, more than 100 students going on institutional mission trips to confirm their calling, our largest giving year in institutional history, and exciting new academic efforts like the Caskey Center for Biblical Text and Translation. It is because churches send, because students come, and because people give that together we go.”

To learn more about how you can partner with Southeastern and join together in this global Great Commission mission, visit www.sebts.edu/alumni.