FORT WORTH, Texas — Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees have elected two of their own board members as deans.
During their April 6 meeting, trustees elected their chairman, David Allen, as dean of the theology school and Denny Autrey, chairman of the trustees’ academic affairs committee, as dean of the J. Dalton Havard School for Theological Studies in Houston. Both positions are effective Aug. 1.
Allen, pastor of MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church in Irving and professor of expository preaching at Criswell College in Dallas, has been a seminary trustee since 1992.
The board voted to create the Southwestern Center for Expository Preaching and charged Allen with developing the new center. At Criswell College, he directed the Jerry Vines Institute for Biblical Preaching.
Allen is a graduate of Criswell College, and he earned a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Seminary and a doctor of philosophy in humanities degree from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Autrey, a seminary trustee since 1999, was chairman of the search committee that called Paige Patterson as seminary president. Autrey, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lindale since 1996, will serve as chief resident officer for the seminary’s theological center in Houston. He is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University and holds both master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from Southwestern.
Southwestern trustees also approved in principle the establishment of Southwestern Baptist Theological College, an undergraduate institution located on the Fort Worth campus. Patterson said the undergraduate school will offer a Christ-centered, biblical education for those who later want to pursue vocational ministry and a master’s degree at the seminary.
Patterson established an undergraduate school at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., during his tenure there. When the college is formed at Southwestern, it will be the fifth such institution created by Southern Baptist seminaries.
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