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FORT WORTH?Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees broke ground on a new 3,500-seat chapel, added the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy and the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood to the seminary’s policy manual, approved the appointment of a new dean of the College at Southwestern and renamed the school of educational ministries during their Oct. 21 fall meeting.
With 85 percent of the total cost of chapel construction pledged, the trustees unanimously authorized groundbreaking to begin, hosting leading contributors Harold and Dottie Riley of Houston at an afternoon ceremony. Harold Riley’s father, a Texas oil field foreman, studied at Southwestern after God called him into ministry.
“I’ve found that as we live our lives, they’re for other people,” Riley said. “… And that’s what all of this is about right here?leading other people to follow Christ. We wish all of you well in the development of this project, and we are pleased that we have the privilege of participating in this.”
The 106,000-square-foot facility will be constructed for $30.2 million and will provide significantly more space than the Truett Auditorium, which seats 1,000 people. Half of the cost will come from the Riley’s contribution and $3.7 million is drawn from an endowment for new construction that was begun in 1967. The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention contributed $300,000 toward the fund from surplus funds in earlier years.
Currently, the seminary is unable to seat all of its student body for a single chapel service or hold graduation on campus. The new chapel will be one of the largest indoor event facilities in Fort Worth, providing a premier auditorium to serve the campus family for its gatherings and celebrations as well as the city of Fort Worth and surrounding communities.
With steel and construction costs plummeting amid current economic times, local city projects have taken advantage of the opportunity to build for less. Southwestern anticipates a savings of at least $10 million.
CHICAGO & DANVERS STATEMENTS
In other actions, trustees approved the inclusion of the Chicago and Danvers statements to Southwestern’s policy manual.
“The statement of faith which everyone signs is, by definition, reasonably brief and doesn’t have a great deal of explanation,” Patterson said. “These two items continue to come up, with people asking what you mean by the Bible being literally true.”
“We do not require the signing of these two documents. They are merely there to give perspective,” Patterson said. “When we make contact initially with a potential faculty member, the first thing he does is pull up our website and [ask] who are these people, what am I going to have to adhere to, and what direction are they going? More than anything else it will establish the general posture of the school.”
Trustees passed a resolution supporting Patterson’s position with regard to the two statements, understanding them to be used as “a model with reference to biblical ecclesiology.” Recognizing that modern culture has migrated away from these ideals, they concluded that “the training of future churchmen and women is well served by including these statements in the development and implementation of processes that lead to this end.”
Of the 37 trustees present to vote, only one objected to the addition of the policies as guides in the hiring and evaluation processes at the seminary. “We’re bringing this as support of our president in the administration of Southwestern Seminary and not your individual churches,” noted Mike Boyd of Tennessee, in presenting the recommendation from the Executive Committee.
Patterson was involved in the formulation of both statements. In 1978, he served on the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, which was a collection of highly respected conservative theologians who formulated the Chicago Statement. The Chicago Statement was signed by nearly 300 noted evangelical scholars, including Southern Baptists such as Patterson, Carl F.H. Henry and Harold Lindsell, and other evangelicals such as James Montgomery Boice, Norman L. Geisler, John Gerstner, Kenneth Kantzer, John Warwick Montgomery, Roger Nicole, J. I. Packer, Robert Preus, Earl Radmacher, Francis Schaeffer, R.C. Sproul, and John Wenham.
The Chicago Statement
