Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President David Dockery said the institution has experienced a “wonderful year,” recommitting itself to “theological education that is grace-filled, Christ-centered, scripturally grounded, confessionally guided, student-focused and globally engaged.”
In his June 11 report to messengers at the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Dallas, Dockery said the Southwestern community is dedicated to restoring a “sense of institutional stability” after facing financial issues from previous campus leadership that resulted in debt and accreditation concerns.
For more stories at your doorstep, subscribe to The Baptist Paper.
Looking for more SBC Annual Meeting coverage? Here you go.
Dockery said reductions to Southwestern’s annual operations budget have helped pay down debt, while net assets have increased by more than $20 million. At the same time, more students have enrolled, he added.
May’s graduating class was the largest since 2002, he said, and included Southwestern’s 50,000th graduate. Southwestern affiliated with the SBC in 1925, the same year the Cooperative Program was adopted, and was the first entity to formally affirm the first Baptist Faith and Message. A new book, “Shapers of the Southwestern Theological Tradition,” includes essays on the lives of significant figures in the seminary’s history, Dockery said.
Other recent milestones include the 20th anniversary of its partnership with German seminary Bibelseminar Bonn, establishment of the Prestonwood Pregnancy Center on campus, a revised student-focused curriculum approved unanimously by Southwestern trustees and implementation of stronger financial controls, Dockery said. All point to positive changes taking place as the seminary looks to the future, he added.
“Southwestern Seminary is in a very different place than it was 33 months ago,” Dockery said. “The board, faculty, staff and students are unanimous in their sense of joyful hopefulness.”
