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FORT WORTH—Because of the “love and affection” he and his church have for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, gave a $100,000 gift to the institution, seminary officials announced Monday.
Joined by Southwestern’s interim leadership team of O.S. Hawkins and David S. Dockery, Graham said a matching gift would be given by Second Baptist Church of Houston, he announced on behalf of the church’s pastor, Ed Young.
“We are so encouraged by this latest sign of God’s provision for our seminary during this time of transition and financial challenge,” said Hawkins, senior advisor and ambassador-at-large of the seminary. “I want to thank my dear friend, Jack Graham, and his wonderful congregation for this generous gift, as well as Ed Young and his congregation. We deeply appreciate gifts of all sizes from individuals and churches and other friends in our Southern Baptist family. Together, these gifts will ensure a strong future for our seminary to provide conservative theological education for God-called men and women.”
In a statement, Young said, “I’m delighted that my congregation is able to join my friend Jack Graham and Prestonwood in giving this special gift to Southwestern Seminary. Although I’m not a graduate, Southwestern has been a blessing to our congregation, and I know how important Southwestern is to our state and beyond in providing doctrinally sound theological education. With David Dockery and O.S. Hawkins leading Southwestern, I’m hopeful about the future of the school. I invite other churches to join us in this worthy cause.”
Dockery, interim president, also expressed his gratitude to Prestonwood and Second Baptist Church Houston.
“Southwestern Seminary is grateful for the confidence placed in our institution by these two great churches, the leadership of these pastors, and for their generous support during this time of special need,” he said. “We are working tirelessly to ensure that confidence is well placed. We also ask Southwesterners and other friends to join our faculty, students, and staff in prayer for the seminary with Psalm 90:17 as our theme for this year. We are hopeful about the future of Southwestern Seminary.”
Graham said Prestonwood wanted “to be a part of investing in the future of the seminary and to do something now that is just the beginning of what I believe is going to be an incredible recovery of stability and strength of our seminary going forward.” Graham grew up in Fort Worth with Hawkins as the two were teenagers at Sagamore Hill Baptist Church and mentored by the late Fred Swank.
Graham, Hawkins, and Dockery are all graduates of Southwestern Seminary.
Graham said he was “excited” to have Hawkins and Dockery in the interim leadership roles at Southwestern. “This is stability. This is strength. This is maturity,” he said of the longtime Southern Baptist leaders.
Graham encouraged other “pastors, regardless of the size of the church, to financially come along side Southwestern during these days supporting our seminary with surplus funds with which they may be blessed as they near the year’s end.” He noted he and his wife, Deb, “want to be a part of this personally as well.”
“It’s about building a new generation of young men and women who are going to serve Christ around the world,” he added. “And so, we’re investing in the seminary, but that means we’re investing in young men and women, really, men and women of all ages, who hear the call of God and want to get as prepared as possible to take the message of Jesus to the world.”
