Andrew Westmoreland said there’s “nothing more dangerous than a college president walking around with an open mic on a Tuesday morning.”
As the Samford University president walked the aisles at the state convention annual meeting — “going rogue,” as he said — he joked with messengers before introducing someone specific.
Jeff Leonard, assistant professor of religion at Samford, stepped into the aisle at Westmoreland’s invitation.
“Alabama Baptists, meet the future of the department of religion at Samford University,” Westmoreland said.
Leonard, who grew up at First Baptist Church, Pleasant Grove, and gave his life to Jesus at Vacation Bible School, said he was “snatched by the neck by God” in 1980. In the same week, he said he met his wife and felt the call to ministry.
Fighting tears, he told messengers he had walked across Samford’s campus in Birmingham many times while doing Ph.D. research at the university library.
“I would say, ‘Dear God, please — this (teaching at Samford) is what I want to do,’” Leonard said. “It finally happened. I really am the happiest man around.”
Westmoreland said throughout Leonard’s time as a teacher at Briarwood Christian School and his first year of teaching at Samford, he “never had a single negative comment” on student evaluations of him.
“My heart is to help students find the answers they are looking for,” said Leonard, a member of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, Birmingham. “This is an age group that is vitally interested (in faith-related conversations) because they are on the cusp of losing their faith.”
Leonard said college students are in a place where they need solid answers to their faith questions, and Samford can help with that.
The breadth of influence Samford has is only expanding, according to the Book of Reports. The university set a fall enrollment record with 4,758 students, pushing Samford to a 9 percent total increase in the student body in the past decade. It’s on track to set another enrollment record this year.
It’s a student body interested in missions, according to the Book of Reports. Dozens of students contributed personally to missions efforts in Alabama, 10 other states and at least 30 other nations.
The university invested more than $4.8 million in Cooperative Program dollars in scholarships last year. It also celebrated the 90th anniversary of the founding of its Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing and the 50th anniversary of Cumberland School of Law’s move to Alabama to unite with Samford.
The university also received a number of accolades last academic year. Kiplinger named it one of the 100 best values in four-year universities. USA Today, Princeton Review and Forbes also recognized Samford for affordable value. And U.S. News & World Report ranked it in the top tier of its peer group, according to the Book of Reports.
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