Called to Leadership for the Glory of Jesus Christ  

This is true of the student sitting in her first counseling class at 7:30 a.m. It is true for the young pastor studying biblical Greek as he prepares to translate the word of God. It is true for the global studies major practicing cross-cultural communication as he and his family prepare to serve overseas.

Most students who enter seminary view theological education as an opportunity to grow in their biblical knowledge and understanding. What many do not anticipate is how God often uses this season of preparation as a training ground for leadership.

“My ministry leadership journey began over 30 years ago, when God called me to pastor a small church about 45 minutes away from Southeastern,” shared Stephen Rummage. “I was a second-year seminary student, 23-years-old with zero ministry experience, and I felt absolutely unqualified and way over my head. But I trusted God for help, he helped me every day, and I believe he used me to some extent.”

Today Rummage serves as Executive Director-Treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention. He is a Southeastern alumnus, former Southeastern faculty member, and current visiting professor. But at the beginning of his journey to leadership, Rummage began as a student sitting in a classroom.

For Tara Dew — Southeastern alumna, author, speaker, and first lady of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) — pursuing theological education meant trusting God’s leadership in her life and preparing to serve him wherever he called.

“I began the Doctorate of Education program in 2012, as a young mom of two sets of twins,” Dew recalled. “People often asked me, ‘What will you use your degree for?’ Honestly, I wasn’t sure when I started. I just wanted to be faithful to follow the Lord and be equipped for whatever he had in store. Throughout the seven years of doctorate work, God helped me learn to trust him and his plan for my life. It is better than I ever could have imagined, and if I hadn’t been faithful to follow him in theological education, I would not be able to lead and teach like I do today.”

I just wanted to be faithful to follow the Lord and be equipped for whatever he had in store.

Leadership opportunities often start small, but whether Southeastern alumni are leading church Bible studies or charting the course of an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), certain things that remain the same.

At Southeastern Seminary we exist to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ — and we do this by equipping students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission.

When our students graduate, they are equipped to lead with servant-hearts and missional vision that is grounded in the truth of God’s word, not for their own glory but for the glory of Jesus Christ.

The Mission at the Heart of Everything

“As I look back at my time at Southeastern and where I grew, it’s not just in what I learned, but it’s in setting myself up to learn for the rest of my life,” shared Trevin Wax.

“I always knew when I finished my master’s that I was going to do a PhD, not because I necessarily wanted to teach for the rest of my life, but because I knew I wanted to be stretched. I wanted my ability to do research and writing to be at a higher level.”

Wax completed his PhD at Southeastern in 2015, and today he serves as the vice president of resources and marketing at the North American Mission Board (NAMB).

However, during Wax’s time at Southeastern, he did not learn simply for learning’s sake. Throughout his PhD work, Wax gained a deeper understanding of God’s heart for the lost and how his love motivates all things missional.

“That was very shaping for me,” Wax remembered. “I was studying with a cohort of colleagues and under professors who were gripped by that reality, so that was something that formed and gripped my heart as well.”

This missional focus is not unique to Wax’s experience. For decades now, the Great Commission has remained at the heart of every Southeastern classroom.

“At Southeastern, theological education was never just about gaining knowledge. There was always an evangelistic purpose at the heart of what I learned,” shared Evan Lenow, two-time alumnus of Southeastern and president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the SBC. Lenow graduated from Southeastern with his MDiv in 2004 and his PhD in 2010.

At Southeastern, theological education was never just about gaining knowledge. There was always an evangelistic purpose at the heart of what I learned.

“In my role at the ERLC, I hope to articulate the Great Commission component in the work that we do. If we become the type of people God has created us to be and live the lives he has called us to live, then we will point others to our Savior,” Lenow said.

Similarly, for Tara Dew, this missional focus shaped not only her education but also how she approaches ministry alongside her husband, Jamie Dew, president of NOBTS and a fellow Southeastern alum.

“I love the emphasis that Southeastern places on the Great Commission,” Tara Dew said. “After 19 total years of being at Southeastern, it became part of our DNA too. God loves the nations and so should we! And moving to New Orleans has allowed us to apply the Great Commission learning to our everyday context. Our city has over 80 languages spoken and over 100 nationalities. This DNA shapes how Jamie and I lead, teach, and disciple our students at NOBTS!”

“We Stand on God’s Word”

Back in North Carolina, this Great Commission DNA shapes the leadership of another Southeastern alumnus, serving local churches as Executive Director-Treasurer of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. For Todd Unzicker, mission, vision, and leadership go hand-in-hand.

“Southeastern prepared me for leading organizations by keeping the mission first,” Unzicker explained. “As Baptists, we stand on God’s word, believing that every church is ruled by Jesus, led by pastors, and congregationally accountable. These churches have one mission: the advancement of the Great Commission. Everything a leader should be doing is equipping the saints for the work of this ministry.”

But this equipping for the work of ministry doesn’t simply begin with good intentions or general instruction.

“Proverbs 29:18 says that without vision, the people perish. The greatest leadership lessons that Southeastern taught me centered solely on the Great Commission and leading with vision toward Revelation 5,” shared Unzicker. “All discipleship, ecclesiology, theology, and eschatology are shaped by the Great Commission.”

The greatest leadership lessons that Southeastern taught me centered solely on the Great Commission and leading with vision toward Revelation 5.

As Unzicker demonstrates, such missional vision must remain grounded in the authoritative word of God. This reliance on Scripture serves as a defining element of Southeastern’s education and one that Brian Autry, executive director of the SBC of Virginia, experienced firsthand while studying at Southeastern during his MDiv and PhD.

“My education gave me biblical and theological grounding, as well as practical skills in areas like preaching, pastoring, and leadership. The Lord gives us wisdom to lead as we study the Scriptures. The experience of attending Southeastern helped me to recognize that I am part of a wonderful family of fellow ministers seeking to learn more,” Autry said.

For Southeastern students and alumni, this foundation in the word of God remains central to good leadership and, in Rummage’s experience, prevents that leadership from drifting.

“My time at Southeastern, first as a student and then later as a faculty member, helped me to ground my leadership in the truth of Scripture rather than trends or personalities,” shared Rummage. “Southeastern showed me that leadership begins with faithfulness to God’s word and that leadership must ultimately be convictional rather than merely pragmatic.”

The Stewardship of Servant Leadership

This emphasis on the centrality and authority of God’s word remains essential to Southeastern President Scott Pace and his vision of success for the institution. It grounds Southeastern’s mission to equip students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission.

“As the inerrant, inspired, authoritative, and sufficient word of God, the Bible serves as the ultimate guide for life and ministry,” Pace shared, “and our graduates leave Southeastern prepared to share its timeless truths with confidence.”

Graduating from Southeastern with his MDiv in 2002 and his PhD in 2007, Pace’s own journey into ministry and leadership looks similar to many of his fellow alumni.

His decision to go to seminary called for a significant step of faith as he left behind his career as an accountant and trusted God’s call on his life. Following graduation, he spent over 20 years serving the local church in a variety of capacities while teaching in higher education for 17 of those years. Pace returned to Southeastern in 2018 where God continued to place him into new roles of leadership.

“You don’t anticipate any of that,” Pace said, reflecting on the ministry journey of the past two decades. “You’re just faithful along the way, and that goes back to that stewardship that was the original part of the calling. Are you being faithful with what God has entrusted to you? And as you are more faithful with those things, as he says, he entrusts you with more.”

Are you being faithful with what God has entrusted to you?

“I tell students all the time, God knows where you are. He knows where you come from. He knows who and how you are, and when it’s time to take you to the next place, he’ll come get you. He’ll lead you from where you are.”

Presidency was not something Pace originally aspired to, and yet God knew what lay ahead and equipped him for the calling he placed on Pace’s heart.

For Pace and his fellow Southeastern alumni, the call to ministry is a call to leadership. And the call to leadership is ultimately a call to stewardship and humility.

“Christian leadership is servant leadership,” Pace expressed. “It does not operate for personal gain; it’s willing to sacrifice for the sake of others. In addition, our leadership must be conducted with honesty and honor. We cannot compromise our integrity in an effort to accomplish our mission.”

For the Glory of Jesus Christ

For many of Southeastern’s alumni serving in ministry and in positions of leadership, these roles have drawn them closer to God and to the person of Jesus as they seek to emulate him in all that they do.

“God is faithful! He will never call you to follow him unless it is for your good and his glory,” Dew shared as she reflected on years past and what leadership has taught her about God. “Trust the Lord as you follow him into leadership. Then serve others the way he modeled (Phil 2:1-11). And never forget who you were before God saved you and called you!”

For Lenow, God’s leadership defines how he leads others.

“No matter the leadership role, I am merely a steward of something God has entrusted to me,” Lenow shared. “He is the one who sets the direction. It is my responsibility to follow where he leads and lead others where he has called them to go.”

This nearness to and dependence on Jesus, Rummage says, is the distinguishing characteristic of faithful leaders and the everyday value of seminary.

“Southeastern helped me form habits of personal Bible study, prayer, and a commitment to never stop learning,” he said. “These disciplines have deepened my conviction that leadership in God’s kingdom comes not from position, credentials, or even skills, but through character, calling, and the favor of God upon the leader’s life. Real leaders are those who have learned to follow Jesus closely. More than anything else, churches and ministries need to know their leader walks with God.”

“Now,” Rummage said, “after three decades of ministry leadership in all kinds of contexts, I feel more dependent on God than ever before. Leadership has continually reminded me that apart from Christ I can do nothing, but if I abide in him, he will use me for his glory.”

To learn how you can be equipped as a Great Commission leader, visit sebts.edu.