Southeastern Seminary and Judson College Celebrate Fall 2026 Convocation

During his message, Pace preached from Colossians 1:1-8, encouraging his listeners to remember God’s work in their lives and the truth of the gospel as they consider how they are called to go.

Breaking the passage down into three layers, Pace examined the following reminders of the text:

• We have reasons to be glad (vv. 1-2)
• We have reasons to be grateful (vv. 3-5)
• We have reasons to be going (vv. 5-8)

As believers, Pace explained, we find gladness in our personal calling and in our spiritual community.

“God has uniquely gifted you,” Pace said. “He converted you. He has called you, and he has a purpose for you. This is all part of God’s plan, and we should celebrate this.”

“Southeastern family, we can be glad this morning because we can celebrate that God is still calling individuals to serve him,” he said. “While you’re here, our goal is to help you discern your personal call.”

Considering the community before him, Pace shared, “It’s an honor and a privilege for me to serve our school, our students, our staff, and our Savior as your new president, and I truly am glad to do it.”

In addition to gladness, Pace encouraged his listeners from verses 3-5 towards gratitude for their saving faith and love for one another. He noted the number of times that Paul references faith in the first two chapters of Colossians.

“But understand, the emphasis is not on our faith,” Pace said. “It’s on the object of that faith. It’s on Christ Jesus. He’s not just a spiritual icon. He is our glorious, resurrected King.”

“In our lives and at Southeastern, he is the one we seek to honor and glorify in everything we do. We should never get over the sacred gift of our salvation through faith in him. But this saving faith becomes a serving faith as we continue to live by faith in Christ Jesus.”

Moving towards the final verses of the text, Pace explained that gladness and gratitude should not simply stop there. They should motivate action and a different way of living.

“As members of God’s family and members of the Southeastern family, we have reasons to be going,” Pace said. “You see, Paul recognized that you can’t divorce who we are from what we do. What he begins to explain to them now is: Now that you’re part of the family, you have a responsibility because the truth that saves us also sends us.”

“The truth of God is the gospel message. But as he explains and calls them back to that, that truth then becomes the impetus for the reasons to go, because the truth of God is not only the gospel message,” said Pace. “The truth of God is a global message.”

The truth of God is not only the gospel message. The truth of God is a global message.

Pace closed out his sermon with a reflection on a trip that he and his daughter took this summer where they visited with Southeastern alumni serving with the International Mission Board. Through tears, he shared how one young man placed his faith in Christ after years of rejection.

Pace recalled how “the 17-year-old young man laid his head on my chest and just wept for what Christ had done for him.”

“If the gospel has changed our lives,” Pace said, “we have the responsibility, we must be compelled, to go. Not simply because we’re broken-hearted for the people, but because we believe the truth of the gospel. It is the greatest motivation for the mission.”

Speaking to and for the Southeastern community, he urged, “We must maintain our focus on fulfilling the Great Commission. We believe that we’re going to advance the global church by serving the local church, sending missionaries, taking mission trips, while also partnering with churches who are planting churches and raising up members to live on mission and to go on mission. But it begins with you and with me. Are you praying with a global perspective and living with a gospel passion? This is God’s call to us.”

During convocation, the Southeastern community celebrated the achievements of more than 200 Judson students who were named to the Dean’s List. Recipients achieved a semester GPA of 3.75 while taking at least 12 credit hours, maintaining an overall GPA of 3.0, and remaining in good standing with the college.

The community also celebrated the election of Associate Professor of Counseling Nate Brooks to the Southeastern and Judson faculty, witnessing him sign The Abstract of Principles and The Baptist Faith and Message 2000.

 

Join the Southeastern community for chapel this fall, Tuesdays and Thursdays, on campus or through livestream at sebts.edu/chapel.