NASHVILLE — Raymond M. (Ray) Rigdon, who led the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) seminary extension ministry 1969–1988, died Jan. 16 in Nashville after a lengthy illness. He was 84.
Rigdon led seminary extension during some of its greatest years of expansion.
Seminary extension, founded in 1951, is a ministry of the SBC’s six seminaries, offering 100-plus diploma-level courses by correspondence, on CD ROM, the Internet and in more than 400 extension centers across the country. While not a degree program, seminary extension does award lay certificates and diplomas.
Under Rigdon’s 18 years of seminary extension leadership, the ministry gained accreditation with the National Home Study Council (now the Distance Education and Training Council) in 1972 and became a member of the National University Extension Association (now the National University Continuing Education Association) the following year.
Prior to his seminary extension work, Rigdon served as editor in chief for the Training Union Department of the Baptist Sunday School Board (now LifeWay Christian Resources) 1953–1969. He joined the board’s staff in 1949 as young people’s editor in the Sunday School department, in addition to duties as associate editor of a teacher’s guide.
After graduating from Mercer University in 1939, he earned a bachelor of divinity degree and a doctor of theology degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
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