Todd Still
This year marks Truett Seminary’s 30th anniversary and is a meaningful time to consider the institution’s impact. Todd Still serves as the Charles J. and Eleanor McLerran DeLancey Dean and holder of the William M. Hinson Chair of Christian Scriptures. In this Baylor Connections, he recalls Truett's founding and examines how the seminary has grown, and will continue to grow, in advancing its mission to equip individuals for ministry.
Transcript
Derek Smith:
Hello and welcome to Baylor Connection's conversation series with the people shaping our future. Each week we go in depth with Baylor leaders, professors, and more, discussing important topics in higher education, research and student life. I'm Derek Smith, and today we are celebrating a meaningful milestone and looking back at three decades of service at Baylor.
In 2024, Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary celebrates its 30th anniversary. In that time, the seminary has grown in size and scope to advance a global mission to equip God called people for gospel ministry in and alongside Christ's Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Visiting today with Dr. Todd Still. Dr. Still serves as the Charles Day and Eleanor McLaren Delancey Dean and holder of the William M. Henson chair of Christian Scriptures. He joined the Truett Seminary faculty in 2003 and assumed the role of Dean in 2015. Well, it's an exciting time. A lot of great things going on at Truett. Dr. Still, thanks so much for taking the time to join us today.
Todd Still:
Derek, thanks for having me. It's a joy to be with you.
Derek Smith:
Well, we've got a lot of exciting things we can talk about in our time together, going back and looking forward. So let's start off with just, I hope, a simple fill in the blank question that we can expand on during this time. So the experiences surrounding Truett's 30th anniversary, this time of celebration have been what, what have this meant to you and your colleagues?
Todd Still:
Life giving. As we look upon the past, we're grateful. As we look to the future, we're hopeful. As we find ourselves in the present, we're mindful. Mindful that we're called to be faithful stewards for a season. Samuel Palmer Brooks' immortal message continues to resound in our ears, "Have a care for her."
Derek Smith:
Well, you look at 2024, it is an exciting time, and the 30th anniversary is just a part of it. So I'm curious, aside from that, why is 2024 a special time in Truett Seminary's life, especially maybe as you think back to the seminary's founding and where it's come?
Todd Still:
Well, as we look back, it also encourages us to look forward, and it means so much to us because of those who've made it possible. And a number of the things that we're doing this year, Derek, is we have had a special opening convocation at First Baptist Church Waco where Truett's Seminary began. And in late August, as the school year commenced, hundreds of people descended upon First Waco. And then after, we went to the Heard Center for lunch and fellowship together where we announced the inaugural holder of the Russell H. Dilday chair in Baptist Life and Leadership, the visiting professor Alan LaFever. As we think about the spring where we'll have another convocation exercise, and one of the things that you and I talked about prior to coming on the air was this special edition of the court. And so we've had occasion to just lift this up as our 30th anniversary, and it's given reason to celebrate together.
Derek Smith:
Plenty of exciting things taking place. And Dr. still, we think we should just acknowledge right now that as we talk about the past, present, and future, I'm putting you in a tough spot because there is absolutely no way that you can give full deserved credit to all the names and individuals and people who have played an important role in Truett's growth over the years. So I know if we could, it would probably take well more than the 23 minutes to do so.
Todd Still:
Yeah, kind of like John's gospel, if we were to record all that might have taken place, the world's books could not contain it.
Derek Smith:
That's a good way to put it as we visit with Dr. Todd Still, a Dean at Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary, and Dr. Still, I read the mission statement of Truett Seminary briefly at the beginning of the program. Could you unpack that a little more for us, if you would? What does that come to mean for everyone who's been a part of the last 30 years at Truett?
Todd Still:
Thanks, Derek. So not long after I had become Dean, I asked faculty colleagues if they would join with me and seek best we were able to reduce that which Truett stands for to a statement. Of course, this is no mean feat. And so we said together that the mission of Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary is to equip God called men and women for gospel ministry in and alongside Christ's church by the power of the Holy Spirit. So God called folks. If we were in the calling business, then we could equip a lot more people, but we're not. We're in the equipping business. So those who apply to Truett Seminary need to be able to articulate how it is that God has grasped them for ministry. As they come to us then, we want to prepare them for ministry in the church. So Truett understands herself to be an integral part of Baylor's Pro Ecclesia, and we are of, by and for the church.
We're also aware that any number of organizations and institutions come alongside the church to support it, to strengthen it. We have students in those areas as well. So although a majority of our students serve in churches, some are chaplains, some are in 501 C3, some are in NGOs. And so that's why we say for ministry in and alongside the church, and not just ministry in general, but gospel ministry in particular. So we are committed to the good news that God in Christ is reconciling the world to himself. And so we're asking ourselves the question, how can we be an answer to the model prayer, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Derek Smith:
Visiting with Dr. Todd still here on Baylor Connections. And Dr. Still, let's pivot a little bit and look back. Baylor's Christian mission goes back to the very, very beginning, over 170 years now, but you think to the early 1990s, as Truett was being formed, why was that the right time to establish a seminary at Baylor?
Todd Still:
One of the things, Derek, that people do not tend to know is that Truett is actually Baylor's second seminary. In the late 1800s, then pastor of First Baptist Church B.H. Carroll was educating ministers in his office at the first Baptist Church of Waco. In due time, 1905, this gave rise to the formation of Baylor Seminary. Then President Samuel Palmer Brooks was concerned that Baylor University would become a Bible school and was resistant to the advent of the seminary. This led then for the renaming of the seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, that then moved to Fort Worth in 1910.
Derek Smith:
I did not know that.
Todd Still:
So 1994 was when it was launched, but back in 1990 when Baylor herself was thinking about the relationship that it would have with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, and Dr. Herbert H. Reynolds' leadership to move Baylor from a kind of relationship that was formal to a kind of relationship that was ultimately based upon volunteerism. So we have an agreement to agree with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Our partnership is rich. It's reciprocal, but it is not legal.
Around that time, I think that as there was discord, there was division in broader southern Baptist life. Although Baylor is not a southern Baptist school, never has been, has been a Texas Baptist school since its inception. I think that some of the dynamics in broader southern Baptist life led Dr. Reynolds and the trustees at the time to ask the question, might this be an opportune time for Baylor to launch a seminary? Additionally, Derek, I think as Dr. Reynolds and others looked around and said, if there are other institutions of higher education, Duke, for example, that have divinity schools, why might not Baylor have a seminary? So I think denominational dynamics on the one hand, and institutional aspirations on the other hand, launched Truett Seminary into existence in 1994.
Derek Smith:
You mentioned long time Baylor President, Dr. Herbert Reynolds, who were some other seminal figures at the beginning of really getting this off the ground?
Todd Still:
Dr. Reynolds, of course, was the architect. He also worked with very significant and influential regents. John Ball's name comes to mind. In addition, Robert Brian Sloan was the first dean, later became Baylor's president, Brad Creed, J. Bradley Creed, presently president of Campbell, was Truett's second dean and was Truett's initial associate dean. Then you have these foundational faculty members, AJ Chip Conyers, Ruth Ann Foster, and then not long thereafter, David E. Garland, Roger E. Olson, Li Ling Non, these become essential foundational figures as Truett is launched. So also Bill Treadwell, and just as you said, Derek, there's no way to begin to list and say everyone.
Derek Smith:
Yeah, unfair question in some regards, but certainly appropriate to honor those that we can as we visit with Dr. Todd still on Baylor Connections. Dr. still serves as the Charles J. Eleanor McLaren de Lancie Dean and holder of the William M. Henson chair of Christian Scriptures. And we're discussing Truett Seminary in this it's 30th anniversary year. And so Dr. still, when you think back to the founding of the seminary, what are some of the distinctions that you recognize as distinctly Truett, that if someone from 1994 came back to now or vice versa, instantly recognize that that's Truett?
Todd Still:
Derek, you know that Baylor in general, and Truett in particular, is in a season of strategic planning. Baylor has just launched Baylor in Deeds. Truett is now in a strategic plan called One Truett. As we were doing that strategic planning, we invited an outside agency to come in and to ask the question, what makes Truett Truett? And the answers that were given by faculty, students, alumni, and friends, was five things constitute Truett. Rigorous academic instruction, intentional spiritual formation, in the context of a caring confessional community, marked by intellectual curiosity, hopefully humility, and ultimately for leadership and service. So as Truett began, those were distinctives. As Truett continues, those are distinctives.
I would say also, smaller classrooms that are done in seminar style and this spiritual formation where there are covenant groups that students meet in small bands for support, encouragement, enrichment in the faith. And then the other thing that I think that I would say, Derek, is from the beginning, up until now, Truett has intentionally and joyfully trained both men and women for the church's ministry.
Derek Smith:
Probably another unfair question because there's probably a lot of these, but what are some new programs, new elements of Truett that if someone came back from the founding, they would say, all right, that's new, but I see why this is here a part of Truett.
Todd Still:
On January the 11th, 1994, soon to be Dean, in fact, was already named as such, Robert Sloan wrote to Don Shmeltikoff, then Provost of Baylor, to say, here is how preparations are going. And this is now famously called among us the Shmeltikoff letter. And in the Shmeltikoff letter, Dr. Sloan is talking about how Truett is on course to launch in August of 1994 with the Masters of Divinity degree, a singular degree. Since then, it has been stunning to see the number of additional degrees that we have. We now have seven masters degrees, two doctoral degrees, and additional degrees are on the way, and that's in concert with these dual degrees that we have with law and business and social work and music and education. So I would say, the proliferation of degrees, not simply to have additional degrees, but to meet the needs of students and churches. That's a real difference from inception.
Then we have any number of programs, any number of centers that have come up over the years. We now have a Wesley House of Studies. We describe as an Orthodox evangelical, multi-denominational school in the historic Baptist tradition. And part of this is to have launched a Wesley House. We also have the Kyle Lake Center for Effective Preaching, the Institute for Our Faith in Sports. We have a program for the Future Church, and I could go on and on, including now our two additional instructional sites in Houston and in San Antonio. So as you have rightly noted, Derek, Baylor from her inception was thought to be a university fully susceptible to enlargement and development to meet the needs of the ages to come. And I think that we've leaned into that dream along with our university.
Derek Smith:
Visiting with Dr. Todd Still. And you've painted that picture of how Truett has grown, much like the university has in its own way, some parallels there. And I'm curious meeting the needs of the ages to come. When you look to the environment in which we live now in 2024 and beyond, are there needs that you and your colleagues see Truett as being particularly well suited to address and to partner to make a difference?
Todd Still:
I think that, Derek, what we have to continue to do is we have to continue to be all in with churches. And I think that we need to continue to have accessible, affordable degrees that are achievable and are of the highest quality so that we can prepare ministers for the 21st century church in world. Ultimately, we have to continue to invest in our students. It is they, the now some 2000 alumni serving in 46 states and 22 foreign countries, that we have to continue to invest in. And this is the reason that the work that we've done in philanthropy, in development, advancement, in gaining now 360 endowed student scholarships that allow us to drive down the price point of tuition that makes a Truett Seminary education more accessible for more people.
Derek Smith:
That's great. Well, Dr. Still, as we head into the final few minutes of the program, I want to ask you, let's imagine that you could convene a meeting of those who were sitting around the table in 1994, and those who are here now in 2024. Are there questions or thoughts that you just imagine that you would enjoy seeing that opportunity spark?
Todd Still:
Yes. I mean, I think that they would be asking one another these kinds of questions. What has been your experience in the classroom? I think that they would be asking the kinds of questions like, why is it that you came to Truett and what is it that you anticipate doing beyond graduation? I also think they would say one to another, how did Truett prepare you for the work in which you are presently engaged? As well as, for what did you feel under prepared? These are the kinds of things that I think students would be asking one another.
Derek Smith:
Well, and as you sit here as the dean in 2024, it's not that you can speak for everyone who has come through or all the leaders before you, but I think if you could share Truett's heart to every founder or graduate through the first three decades, what is it that you would tell them?
Todd Still:
First thing, Derek, is, thank you. Thank you for your investment. Thank you for your belief. Thank you for your willingness to dream and to launch something. It's a heavy lift, so thank you. I would want them to know, we want to be good stewards. We want to be aware of the sacred trust that is ours. I would say, would you please continue to pray for us? Would you continue to point people to us, and would you continue to support us so that we can offer this high quality theological education at an affordable price?
Derek Smith:
Well, Dr. Still, thank you so much for your time. And my last question for you is, and I realize this question could spark a whole nother program, and we'll probably talk to you again and certainly many of your colleagues, but the next 30 years, what are you excited about? You sit on the cusp of this milestone, what excites you as you look towards the next 30 years for Truett?
Todd Still:
This semester, we are engaged in strategic planning that is emanating from the launch of Baylor in Deeds. We're having listening sessions with faculty, with staff, with current students, with alumni, with our Board of Advocates. We are interested in what they're hoping for, what they're seeing. As I see it Derek. I'm not a prophet or a son of a prophet, but I sense that we will continue to have additional degrees. Two are already in the pipeline. It would not surprise me if we had additional sites. It would not surprise me if we had additional houses of studies. And I think that we will continue to lean into our commitments and to our identity. And so as we do that, I think that Truett will continue to flourish.
Derek Smith:
Dr. Still, happy anniversary, happy 30th anniversary to Truett Seminary, to you and all your colleagues and everyone who's been a part. Thanks for taking the time to share with us. It's hard to pack 30 years into 20 minutes or so, but I appreciate you doing that.
Todd Still:
Thanks for giving us a chance.
Derek Smith:
Dr. Todd Still, the Charles J. and Eleanor McLaren DeLancey Dean and Holder of the William M. Henson Chair of Christian Scriptures in Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary, our guest today on Baylor Connections. I'm Derek Smith. A reminder you can hear this and other programs online at baylor.edu/connections, and you can subscribe on iTunes. Thanks for joining us here on Baylor Connections.