LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--The 150th anniversary of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., will be celebrated with an array of events, learning opportunities and $6 million in campus improvements. The seminary's board of trustees voted April 22 to approve a sesquicentennial construction project that includes four major components:

-- A 14,000-square-foot pavilion to house a welcome desk, small theater with a looping video and offices for the admissions department. Campus security offices will be located on the lower level.

-- Development of the main campus entrance off Lexington Road that will include a gate house, tower and retaining walls.

-- Expansion of the Founders' Café dining area to two stories, tripling its size.

-- A new student, alumni and faculty area that will be named "Edgar's" in honor of Edgar Young Mullins, Southern's fourth president.

-- New and improved signage across campus.

"We wanted to do something very special in the anticipation of the seminary's 150th anniversary," said Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr.

"e want to meet the needs of the current student body and the visitors who come to campus and also to project into the future, because one of the issues we now face is the challenge of arranging people on this campus in a way that is comfortable and natural and makes the kind of statement we want to make," Mohler said.

Southern Seminary opened in 1859 in Greenville, S.C., and moved to Louisville in 1877. Southern will celebrate its 2009 sesquicentennial anniversary with a full array of programs and events, Mohler said. The Southern Baptist Convention will hold its annual meeting in Louisville in June 2009 to mark the seminary's beginning.

"The 150th anniversary is not just an opportunity for the profile of the institution, it's not just a birthday party, it is an opportunity for this organization to reclaim a tradition for a new generation," Mohler said.

"It is interesting how many people in the last few years have, in their own way, come home . We look up and we see people on this campus who are drawn here because of the experience they had on this campus and because they want to be back and we want to welcome them back," Mohler added. "We want them to understand what God is doing in this place and to rejoice in it."

Groundbreaking is set for mid-May with a target completion date of April 2, 2009.

Mohler also announced a new partnership between the Southern's school of leadership and church ministry and FamilyLife Ministries of Little Rock, Ark. The seminary and FamilyLife will team up to help local pastors and students conduct biblically faithful family ministry in local churches. Two FamilyLife staff members have moved to Louisville to work directly with the seminary.

"FamilyLife is deeply concerned about how they are reaching pastors," said Randy Stinson, dean of the school of leadership and church ministry. "What they have realized is that they need a deeper partnership with what is going on in the local church. It makes sense for them to partner with us so we can help them with what we are seeing, and they can help us in how we are training pastors to reach families.

"Ultimately, it will serve the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention for us to be able to change our curriculum as needed and to have the insight of other organizations that have spent a lot of time thinking about these things," Stinson said.

In other business, trustees:

-- adopted a budget of $36.3 million for the upcoming fiscal year.

-- granted tenure to Greg R. Allison, associate professor of Christian theology.

-- elected David Sills as the A.P. and Faye Stone professor of Christian missions and cultural anthropology. Sills formerly had served as associate professor of Christian missions and cultural anthropology.

-- promoted Eric Johnson to professor of pastoral theology, J.D. Payne to associate professor of church planting and evangelism and Brian Vickers to associate professor of New Testament interpretation.

Comment on this Story