Southeastern Celebrates With Alumni and Friends at Annual SBC 2024 Luncheon

During the event, Southeastern students, alumni, and family had the opportunity to reconnect, celebrate the Akin’s 20 years of Great Commission impact, and share stories of God’s faithfulness in their lives, and worship King Jesus together.

In the banquet introduction, Steve McKinion, director of Southeastern’s PhD and ThM Programs and professor of theology and patristic studies, welcomed attendees and took a moment to reflect on Dr. and Mrs. Akin’s twenty-year anniversary at Southeastern.

“Every corner of our campus and every aspect of our mission has been touched by Dr. and Mrs. Akin,” McKinion noted. “Their heartbeat has been poured into everything that we do. Our culture is built around the same commitments that they have to Jesus Christ and his mission and his commission, partnering together to see the gospel spread.”

Every corner of our campus and every aspect of our mission has been touched by Dr. and Mrs. Akin. Their heartbeat has been poured into everything that we do.

Because of Dr. and Mrs. Akin’s leadership, Southeastern’s heart for the Great Commission has been not only furthered but also solidified within the mission of the institution and its students.

Hearing stories of the Akin’s Great Commission impact on alumni and faculty, attendees watched a video of Southeastern alumni Nathan and Tessa Baker who are currently serving as international missionaries in Madagascar. With a heart for the nations, Tessa and Nathan arrived at Southeastern with the intention of returning to the mission field. During their time in seminary, they intentionally applied their education towards the goal of teaching what they were learning in class to the people of Madagascar. Now, thankful for the training that has equipped them, Nathan and Tessa are sharing God’s word with the Malagasy people through the art of storytelling.

Michael Guyer, a two-time Southeastern alumnus, also shared his personal story of coming to Southeastern and how God directed him towards the ministry of church planting. Dr. Akin especially played a pivotal role in this journey, Guyer recalled.

“The question that animated my theological education was not whether I should go, but it was where I should go,” he said. “And as I thought about where God was calling me and what God was calling me to do, it was clear that church planting was the next thing. And it was from Dr. Akin that I learned that the local church is God’s ‘plan A’ in fulfilling the Great Commission.”

The question that animated my theological education was not whether I should go, but it was where I should go.

These alumni stories were followed by a video from Southeastern faculty member Jim Shaddix, in which he reflected on Dr. Akin’s leadership, what it means to be a godly leader, and what his hopes are for Southeastern’s future.

“I lay awake at night thinking about Southeastern continuing to embrace and champion the values it has and then to pull those together as a laboratory for pastoral ministry training,” Shaddix shared. “I think we’ve got one of the greatest opportunities,” he added, “through the atmosphere on campus, to be able to do that.”

At the end of the banquet, Akin spoke to the alumni and friends in attendance, sharing with them the work that God has been doing over the past year at Southeastern.

Akin reported that 26 of the missionaries commissioned during the International Mission Board Sending Ceremony were either Southeastern alumni or current students. Already, Southeastern has 200 students serving around the world, and they are now joined by these brothers and sisters in Christ with a Great Commission vision for making disciples of King Jesus

Akin also shared about Southeastern’s ongoing prison program ministry from which 61 men have been deployed as field ministers across 15 North Carolina facilities. Furthermore, as of this year, two women’s prison programs have been or are in the process of being started as well — one in North Carolina and the other in Florida.

“I feel honored,” Akin shared, “that God, in his kindness, has allowed Charlotte and me to have 20 years here at the most wonderful school, I believe, in the world.”

I feel honored that God, in his kindness, has allowed Charlotte and me to have 20 years here at the most wonderful school, I believe, in the world.

“I want to say thank you for making my job a joy unspeakable and full of glory. I believe that Southeastern’s best days are in the following years and decades. I believe that with all my heart.” He added, “We have a great God who is going to honor those that honor him. And he is going to honor those who stay faithful to his final marching orders to go.”

Because of God’s favor and the leadership of Dr. and Mrs. Akin, Southeastern’s community is marked by an unwavering commitment to the Great Commission — to serve the Church by making disciples of Jesus. To learn how you or your church can partner or participate in this mission, visit sebts.edu/churches.