Criswell College president resigns

DALLAS–Criswell College President Jerry Johnson resigned Aug. 5 during a called meeting of the trustee’s executive committee, citing philosophical differences with the chancellor and the trustee board.

The Texas native and Criswell graduate resigned following a publicly aired disagreement over the school’s relationship with the Dallas church that W.A. Criswell pastored for 50 years.

According to a statement issued by Board Chairman Michael Deahl, “The resignation was due to philosophical differences the President had with the chancellor and trustee leadership about the future of Criswell College. Dr. Johnson will continue to serve as President until Aug. 15, 2008, which is the effective date of the resignation. After that date an interim president appointed by the Trustee Executive Committee will begin to serve.

“On a personal level and on behalf of the entire Board of Trustees, I want to express gratitude for the leadership Dr. Johnson has provided at Criswell College during the four years of his presidency and for all of the accomplishments that have been achieved at the College and KCBI under Dr. Johnson’s leadership, which are too numerous to mention,” Deahl stated in a release provided to the TEXAN. “I firmly believe that, due in no small part to Dr. Johnson’s contributions, the greatest days at Criswell College are yet to come.”

Deahl added, “I also want to encourage the entire Criswell College family–faculty, staff, students, trustees and supporters–to band together during this transition in leadership to ensure that we achieve to the fullest extent possible the vision that God has for Criswell College in the days that lie ahead.”

As the first entity to affiliate with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, Criswell College currently receives $312,977 in the 2008 budget, the largest line item in the SBTC’s allocations to facilitating ministries in Texas.

SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards responded to the news, stating: “Dr. Johnson is a personal friend and trusted co-laborer in the gospel. I am saddened by his resignation. He strengthened and expanded Criswell College’s partnership with the 2,000-plus churches of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. The college’s radio station, KCBI, has become a strong voice for biblical preaching. College faculty and administration strategized with the SBTC in evangelism, church planting and local church ministries at a higher level under Dr. Johnson’s leadership. While the Criswell College is a recipient of 3.25 percent of in-state SBTC Cooperative Program budget receipts, the relationship is mutually beneficial and synergistic for kingdom work.”

As recently as May 22, First Baptist Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress confirmed that the college trustees had voted to continue the relationship with First Baptist Dallas, adding, “We’re committed to continue to work together. There’s really no newsworthy action taken other than really just a desire to continue the relationship that we’re enjoying right now,” he stated following the meeting.

The relationship continued to deteriorate over the summer, boiling over in August after one board member publicly circulated a letter questioning the chancellor’s vision and intent regarding the future of the college. Pressed by the Dallas Morning News to comment on the accusation, Johnson agreed with the board member’s assessment.

Jeffress, who serves as chancellor of the college by virtue of his position as pastor of the church that elects the school’s trustees, denied the charges.

The board member letter also noted that the school had struggled financially throughout most of its history. It praised the school’s recent track record of success during the last three years, ending fiscal year 2007-2008 more than $7 million in the black.

The trustee board has sought to dispel rumors about the school’s future by passing resolutions during their meetings over the past few months. On April 10 they voted without dissent that the college would not become a part of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s undergraduate program in the future, an action several advocates have proposed. In May trustees announced they had “no intention of selling 90.9 KCBI,” and would not revisit the issue for a period of five years, nor would they “take any action to separate the College and KCBI from the church at this time.”

Deahl called the executive committee of the board to his law office Aug. 5 to address Johnson’s status and act on the president’s offer to resign. Terms of the agreement and any severance pay were not disclosed publicly, though Johnson’s tenure ended Aug. 15. He met privately with faculty and administrators the morning of Aug. 6 to announce his decision. No further statement was made available by the board chairman or the chancellor.

Criswell College is named after its founder, W.A. Criswell, who pastored First Baptist Church of Dallas for half a century. In 1969, Criswell presented to the church his vision for an institution that would provide biblical teaching that would be both intellectually and spiritually sound. In addition to training hundreds of Sunday School teachers at the Dallas church, Criswell sought to enroll Southern Baptist pastors who had not had the opportunity to finish college or even begin. His associate, James W. Bryant, studied the feasibility and directed the initial certificate program enthusiastically approved by the church a year later.

“Our church should establish an institute for intensive Bible study, based on conservative evangelical Christianity as preached and practiced in our church,” according to the report of the church committee. Former New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President H. Leo Eddleman came on board in 1972 as the first president, developing a diploma in biblical studies and serving for two years until his health forced him to cut back to professor status.

At the time of the school’s affiliation with the SBTC in 2002, then President Richard Wells described the institution as having maintained “an explicit and unapologetic Southern Baptist identity” with all professors and administrators required to hold membership in Southern Baptist churches and subscribe to the Baptist Faith & Message. “CCBS [Criswell College] played a significant role in the conservative resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention over the last generation, not only by giving leadership to the movement, but by training many key leaders,” Wells told the SBTC board. “While CCBS has never been a denominational school, it has been in the forefront of those whose convictional base is the evangelical faith of today’s Southern Baptist Convention,” he noted.

Johnson’s departure after four years repeats a pattern established in the administrations of the last three presidents–all of whom resigned before finishing the task they set out to pursue. Richard Wells left in 2003 to accept a pastorate in South Dakota where he planned to also advance opportunities for theological education in a pioneer area. He served as president for six and a half years as well as his prior tenure as a professor and dean. Richard R. Melick Jr. served as president less than four years, leaving in 1996 and later becoming a professor at Golden Gate Theological Seminary. Paige Patterson first led Criswell Bible Institute beginning in 1975 and then transitioning to Criswell College once accreditation was achieved in 1985, leaving in 1992 when he accepted the assignment as president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

While Patterson’s 17-year tenure was by far the longest, it was not without controversy during latter years when the board elected by First Baptist Dallas was divided over an attempt to fire the man most associated with the successful conservative resurgence in the SBC. At that same time, Criswell College alumnus Jerry Johnson was making headlines as one of the youngest trustees of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, questioning that administration’s confidence in a trustworthy Bible. Years later, Johnson was tapped by the next SBTS president to serve as a professor and dean of Boyce College.

Johnson has presided over 17 full-time faculty and a student body that includes over 400 students from more than 30 states and 30 countries. Accredited B.A. and master’s-level courses of study are offered with a biblical base.

Related to the ministry of Criswell college is Criswell Communications, which the school’s founder established as a means of outreach over the airwaves. In addition to the flagship KCBI-FM radio station, two other 100,000-watt stations operate in San Angelo and Frederick, Okla. The current president launched “Jerry Johnson Live” as a drive time call-in talk show addressing topics from a Christian worldview. The Criswell Theological Journal and Mishkan are two publications of the college, the latter published by the school’s Pasche Institute for Jewish Studies, which Johnson helped develop.

While Johnson assumed the college presidency when a financial shortfall threatened the school’s future, he ultimately raised endowment and calmed the anxieties of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which lifted probationary status last June. Earlier this year, Johnson announced the decision of counselor and author June Hunt to endow the Hope for the Heart Chair of Biblical Counseling to train ministers and laypeople to “renew minds, heal hearts and bring hope to the hurting.”

A year ago, Johnson praised a $3 million gift to establish an endowed scholarship program for outstanding collegians who sense a ministry calling. The lead gift, by donors Curtis and Shirley Baker of Lindale, for The Timothy Project was part of a plan to fund full scholarships and an annual mission trip for five exceptional students.

“Because of the vision given and foundation laid by Dr. Johnson, it may be possible that Criswell College can become an even greater educational institution,” Richards said. “It is my prayer that in God’s providence we can see Criswell College fulfill a larger mission.”