Southern Baptist Theological Seminary continues to be “healthy by every measure … by God’s grace,” President Albert Mohler told messengers to the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Dallas.
In his June 11 report, Mohler described a recent trip to Europe, where he visited several cities and sites with historical ties to the Protestant Reformation. Mohler lamented the lack of “faith on the ground” in those cities today. That’s why Southern Baptist commitment is so important, he suggested.

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“It is our responsibility and it is our stewardship to make certain that wherever … the reach of the Southern Baptist Convention is found, there is gospel Christianity there, there is biblical preaching there, there is the faith once for all delivered to the saints there,” Mohler said. “We at Southern take that as our first priority — to turn out preachers of the gospel.”
Mohler said “it touches his heart” to say the seminary’s May commencement included graduates from virtually every state in the United States and 26 other countries. Those students — “trained for the gospel and to preach” — highlight the seminary’s global reach, he said, and Southern Baptists “undergirded it all.”
“Brothers and sisters, let us look at where Christianity once was and is now very thin on the ground and be determined that we’re going to do everything we can to make certain that gospel Christianity is thick on the ground where Southern Baptists are found.”
In response to a request from Paul Cooper, a messenger from Marshall Baptist Church in Marshall, Illinois, Mohler closed his report by leading a prayer for the family and friends of Jennifer Lyell, who died June 7 after a series of strokes. Lyell was a key figure in the SBC’s response to sexual abuse allegations.