Samford University’s board of trustees approved the formation of an endowed chair in its Beeson Divinity School to honor long-time trustee and retired Baptist pastor Charles T. Carter.
The purpose of the new chair is to ensure the faithful teaching of the rising generation of ministers.
Carter, a native of Birmingham, knew from an early age that he was called to preach and became pastor of West End Baptist Church, Birmingham, at 16 years old. He graduated from Samford University in 1956.
He was pastor of Whitesburg Baptist Church, Huntsville, from 1966 to 1972 and then served as pastor of Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Vestavia Hills, for 26 years. Church membership grew from 2,000 to almost 6,900 under his leadership.
Since his retirement from Shades Mountain Baptist he has served as an interim pastor in numerous churches in Alabama and Mississippi.
Carter also has held several leadership roles in the Southern Baptist Convention. He served two terms as president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention and nine years on the trustee board of the International Mission Board.
Carter has been a member of the Samford board of trustees for 20 years and in 1999 was named the James H. Chapman Fellow of Pastoral Ministry at Beeson.
“Charles Carter’s positive influence at Samford University through the Beeson Divinity School is seen across the world in the meaningful work of our graduates. We are grateful that he has invested so much of his life and ministry here,” Samford President Andrew Westmoreland said. “It is entirely fitting that students for decades in the future will know his name as they see it associated with those who will hold this treasured position.”
The chair will be filled after the funds to endow it have been raised.
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