The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s executive board passed a resolution during its summer meeting Aug. 12 that expresses its desire to be a part of the solution to an ongoing discussion about the future of Criswell College in Dallas.

The school is the convention’s only affiliated four-year college. Criswell maintains ties with First Baptist Church of Dallas, which founded the school and still appoints the majority of its trustees.

The resolution notes the importance of “positive ministry relationships” with Criswell College and First Baptist Church of Dallas. By approving the statement, the SBTC board is offering what SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards called “simply another plan on the table.”

The church leaders and the school have been at odds recently over plans for the college’s future, resulting in the resignation of Jerry Johnson as Criswell president on Aug. 5.

The resolution states “the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention desires to see Criswell College become an even greater educational institution” and the “SBTC is willing to elect up to 50% of the trustees of Criswell College to help ensure doctrinal fidelity and to consider increasing the percentage of in-state Cooperative Program budget receipts allocated to Criswell College and to consider providing a one-time grant for transition, understanding that these steps will allow Criswell College to attain independent status.”

In closing, the resolution states: “That we pray for God’s perfect will to be done for all involved in the final decisions that are reached concerning Criswell College.”

Criswell has more than 300 students pursuing bachelor’s or master’s degrees in biblical and theological courses. The school owns and operates an FM radio station, KCBI. The college is independently incorporated, but the church appoints 12 of the 21 trustees and approves all trustee appointments.

Trustee chairman Michael Deahl cited “philosophical differences” between Johnson, Jeffress and the trustees as the cause of Johnson’s departure. Johnson, who came to Criswell in 2004 after serving as president of Boyce College at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., is a Texas native and Criswell College graduate.

Responding to a question from an SBTC board member during the meeting who asked if FBC Dallas would see the resolution as interfering in its business, Richards said the college is “at a crucial point” concerning its future and the convention only wished to state how important the relationship between the SBTC and the school is.

“My understanding of this resolution is, we’re simply offering another proposal,” Richards said. “There have been numerous plans on the table from both sides over the last nine months in this church-and-school controversy. Our proposal is simply another plan?’You can consider this.’

“One issue we heard raised was, ‘How can we ensure doctrinal fidelity of the school if it is no longer tied to First Baptist Church of Dallas?’ Humanly, there is never a way to guarantee the doctrinal fidelity of First Baptist Church, Dallas, or this convention, and we sure can’t guarantee the doctrinal fidelity of the college. But as best as humanly possible, I believe this offers a way to ensure doctrinal fidelity for the college.”

Mark Burroughs, an SBTC board member and also a FBC Dallas deacon, said his connections with all the parties involved?his wife has taught Jerry’s Johnson’s children piano, he said?put him in an awkward position. He noted in the SBTC board meeting his initial concern with the resolution appearing to instruct the church in the matter, but after reading it and hearing the discussion, Burroughs said he appreciated the tone of the board and the “prayerful thought” that went into the statement.

“I think, personally, the most important part of this resolution is it involves a commitment to prayer,” Burroughs said. “Ultimately, as the leadership of the church and leadership of the trustees of Criswell College come to a resolution on this, it has to be bathed in prayer.”

Johnson, in his final report to the SBTC board as Criswell president, challenged the convention to maintain a strong relationship with what he said is the only state Baptist college in the Southwest that has the word inerrancy in its doctrinal statement. Calling that “a signature issue” for the SBTC and for the late W.A. Criswell, “We have a niche there,” said Johnson, who dismissed the notion voiced by some that other schools already offer a similar educational experience.

Johnson said the college’s premillenial conviction about Christ’s return, requirement of both Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek, development of a “first-rate” theological journal, and being the only SACS-accredited school with a 100,000-watt radio station are hallmarks of a unique school.

“The college is positioned to go on with you to do greater things,” Johnson said.

During Johnson’s tenure the school graduated over 250 students, he noted.

“What you’re doing through the Cooperative Program in giving to Criswell College makes you a partner and I hope you don’t forget that. I hope you’ll stay at it and go to new heights and new levels,” he urged, anticipating a resolution that allows for the possibility of increased support if the school moves toward independence.

First Baptist Church of Dallas is dually affiliated with the SBTC and the Baptist General Convention of Texas, though its Cooperative Program giving is almost entirely through the SBTC. The church has been the largest dollar contributor through the SBTC to the Cooperative Program missions funding channel the last three years?something the SBTC board praised in its resolution.

Criswell College, with a campus just east of downtown Dallas on the former property of the now-closed Gaston Avenue Baptist Church, receives budgeted funds?$312,977 in the current
budget?from the SBTC as an affiliated ministry partner.

The other SBTC-affiliated school is two-year Jacksonville College in Jacksonville, Texas. Houston Baptist University has a fraternal relationship with the SBTC, meaning it receives no budgeted SBTC funds though it may receive surplus funding.

On April 10 the school’s trustees voted without dissent that the college would not become a part of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s undergraduate program in the future, an action several advocates have proposed. In May trustees announced they had “no intention of selling 90.9 KCBI,” and would not revisit the issue for five years, nor would they “take any action to separate the College and KCBI from the church at this time.”

The school’s trustees voted in 2005 to sell KCBI to a California company for $23 million pending the church’s approval, but the proposed sale was withdrawn after some indications of disapproval from the church. The campus property is reportedly worth around $15 million.

The late First Baptist Dallas pastor W.A. Criswell founded Criswell College in 1970 as a Bible institute. Criswell College has at times struggled financially, though it is currently $6 million in the black, Johnson told the SBTC board.

Criswell College Provost Lamar Cooper was named interim president on Aug. 13.

DALLAS–Criswell College President Jerry Johnson resigned Aug. 5 during a called meeting of the trustee’s executive committee, citing philosophical differences with the chancellor and the trustee board.

The Texas native and Criswell graduate resigned following a publicly aired disagreement over the school’s relationship with the Dallas church that W.A. Criswell pastored for 50 years.

According to a statement issued by Board Chairman Michael Deahl, “The resignation was due to philosophical differences the President had with the chancellor and trustee leadership about the future of Criswell College. Dr. Johnson will continue to serve as President until Aug. 15, 2008, which is the effective date of the resignation. After that date an interim president appointed by the Trustee Executive Committee will begin to serve.

“On a personal level and on behalf of the entire Board of Trustees, I want to express gratitude for the leadership Dr. Johnson has provided at Criswell College during the four years of his presidency and for all of the accomplishments that have been achieved at the College and KCBI under Dr. Johnson’s leadership, which are too numerous to mention,” Deahl stated in a release provided to the TEXAN. “I firmly believe that, due in no small part to Dr. Johnson’s contributions, the greatest days at Criswell College are yet to come.”

Deahl added, “I also want to encourage the entire Criswell College family–faculty, staff, students, trustees and supporters–to band together during this transition in leadership to ensure that we achieve to the fullest extent possible the vision that God has for Criswell College in the days that lie ahead.”

As the first entity to affiliate with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, Criswell College currently receives $312,977 in the 2008 budget, the largest line item in the SBTC’s allocations to facilitating ministries in Texas.

SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards responded to the news, stating: “Dr. Johnson is a personal friend and trusted co-laborer in the gospel. I am saddened by his resignation. He strengthened and expanded Criswell College’s partnership with the 2,000-plus churches of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. The college’s radio station, KCBI, has become a strong voice for biblical preaching. College faculty and administration strategized with the SBTC in evangelism, church planting and local church ministries at a higher level under Dr. Johnson’s leadership. While the Criswell College is a recipient of 3.25 percent of in-state SBTC Cooperative Program budget receipts, the relationship is mutually beneficial and synergistic for kingdom work.”

As recently as May 22, First Baptist Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress confirmed that the college trustees had voted to continue the relationship with First Baptist Dallas, adding, “We’re committed to continue to work together. There’s really no newsworthy action taken other than really just a desire to continue the relationship that we’re enjoying right now,” he stated following the meeting.

The relationship continued to deteriorate over the summer, boiling over in August after one board member publicly circulated a letter questioning the chancellor’s vision and intent regarding the future of the college. Pressed by the Dallas Morning News to comment on the accusation, Johnson agreed with the board member’s assessment.

Jeffress, who serves as chancellor of the college by virtue of his position as pastor of the church that elects the school’s trustees, denied the charges.

The board member letter also noted that the school had struggled financially throughout most of its history. It praised the school’s recent track record of success during the last three years, ending fiscal year 2007-2008 more than $7 million in the black.

The trustee board has sought to dispel rumors about the school’s future by passing resolutions during their meetings over the past few months. On April 10 they voted without dissent that the college would not become a part of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s undergraduate program in the future, an action several advocates have proposed. In May trustees announced they had “no intention of selling 90.9 KCBI,” and would not revisit the issue for a period of five years, nor would they “take any action to separate the College and KCBI from the church at this time.”

Deahl called the executive committee of the board to his law office Aug. 5 to address Johnson’s status and act on the president’s offer to resign. Terms of the agreement and any severance pay were not disclosed publicly, though Johnson’s tenure ended Aug. 15. He met privately with faculty and administrators the morning of Aug. 6 to announce his decision. No further statement was made available by the board chairman or the chancellor.

Criswell College is named after its founder, W.A. Criswell, who pastored First Baptist Church of Dallas for half a century. In 1969, Criswell presented to the church his vision for an institution that would provide biblical teaching that would be both intellectually and spiritually sound. In addition to training hundreds of Sunday School teachers at the Dallas church, Criswell sought to enroll Southern Baptist pastors who had not had the opportunity to finish college or even begin. His associate, James W. Bryant, studied the feasibility and directed the initial certificate program enthusiastically approved by the church a year later.

“Our church should establish an institute for intensive Bible study, based on conservative evangelical Christianity as preached and practiced in our church,” according to the report of the church committee. Former New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President H. Leo Eddleman came on board in 1972 as the first president, developing a diploma in biblical studies and serving for two years until his health forced him to cut back to professor status.

At the time of the school’s affiliation with the SBTC in 2002, then President Richard Wells described the institution as having maintained “an explicit and unapologetic Southern Baptist identity” with all professors and administrators required to hold membership in Southern Baptist churches and subscribe to the Baptist Faith & Message. “CCBS [Criswell College] played a significant role in the conservative resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention over the last generation, not only by giving leadership to the movement, but by training many key leaders,” Wells told the SBTC board. “While CCBS has never been a denominational school, it has been in the forefront of those whose convictional base is the evangelical faith of today’s Southern Baptist Convention,” he noted.

Johnson’s departure after four years repeats a pattern established in the administrations of the last three presidents–all of whom resigned before finishing the task they set out to pursue. Richard Wells left in 2003 to accept a pastorate in South Dakota where he planned to also advance opportunities for theological education in a pioneer area. He served as president for six and a half years as well as his prior tenure as a professor and dean. Richard R. Melick Jr. served as president less than four years, leaving in 1996 and later becoming a professor at Golden Gate Theological Seminary. Paige Patterson first led Criswell Bible Institute beginning in 1975 and then transitioning to Criswell College once accreditation was achieved in 1985, leaving in 1992 when he accepted the assignment as president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

While Patterson’s 17-year tenure was by far the longest, it was not without controversy during latter years when the board elected by First Baptist Dallas was divided over an attempt to fire the man most associated with the successful conservative resurgence in the SBC. At that same time, Criswell College alumnus Jerry Johnson was making headlines as one of the youngest trustees of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, questioning that administration’s confidence in a trustworthy Bible. Years later, Johnson was tapped by the next SBTS president to serve as a professor and dean of Boyce College.

Johnson has presided over 17 full-time faculty and a student body that includes over 400 students from more than 30 states and 30 countries. Accredited B.A. and master’s-level courses of study are offered with a biblical base.

Related to the ministry of Criswell college is Criswell Communications, which the school’s founder established as a means of outreach over the airwaves. In addition to the flagship KCBI-FM radio station, two other 100,000-watt stations operate in San Angelo and Frederick, Okla. The current president launched “Jerry Johnson Live” as a drive time call-in talk show addressing topics from a Christian worldview. The Criswell Theological Journal and Mishkan are two publications of the college, the latter published by the school’s Pasche Institute for Jewish Studies, which Johnson helped develop.

While Johnson assumed the college presidency when a financial shortfall threatened the school’s future, he ultimately raised endowment and calmed the anxieties of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which lifted probationary status last June. Earlier this year, Johnson announced the decision of counselor and author June Hunt to endow the Hope for the Heart Chair of Biblical Counseling to train ministers and laypeople to “renew minds, heal hearts and bring hope to the hurting.”

A year ago, Johnson praised a $3 million gift to establish an endowed scholarship program for outstanding collegians who sense a ministry calling. The lead gift, by donors Curtis and Shirley Baker of Lindale, for The Timothy Project was part of a plan to fund full scholarships and an annual mission trip for five exceptional students.

“Because of the vision given and foundation laid by Dr. Johnson, it may be possible that Criswell College can become an even greater educational institution,” Richards said. “It is my prayer that in God’s providence we can see Criswell College fulfill a larger mission.”

The annual Reach Texas Offering for state missions marked two milestones this year by surpassing $1 million for the first time and exceeding its goal of $1.1 million.

With the Reach Texas Offering week of prayer scheduled for Sept. 21-28 and a new offering year beginning Sept. 1, SBTC Missions Director Terry Coy said the expectations are high for 2008-09.

“We are very pleased with the Reach Texas giving this year, and we are anticipating another generous year as we seek to reach the unreached in Texas, which each year becomes a larger and more diverse proportion of the state’s population,” Coy said. “The challenge has never been greater in our state.”

In 2008-09, the promotional focus is on the Texas Borderlands, an area north of the Rio Grande and south of a line stretching from El Paso east to San Antonio and Corpus Christi.

Although the SBTC state missions offering supports ministry throughout Texas, the Borderlands focus is strategic, Coy explained.

“The Borderlands region of Texas is the most underevangelized area of the state and has the highest rate of unchurched people,” Coy said. “It also has the highest poverty levels and the highest population percentage of Hispanics.”

More than 4 million people live in the Borderlands, and more than 3 million are Hispanic.

Half of Reach Texas Offering gifts fund church planting, 25 percent goes to various missions endeavors, including disaster relief, missions mobilization, and church planter development, and 25 percent funds evangelism events and training.

For example, the SBTC disaster relief ministry this year mobilized trained “yellow cap” volunteers to the Rio Grande Valley following Hurricane Dolly. Reach Texas funds also bought Arabic Bibles for churches to use in reaching out to Muslims in two Texas cities.

Reach Texas helps fund the annual SENT missions conference, Empower Evangelism Conference, the Student Evangelism Conference, and numerous evangelism training events and resources.

Coy said the Reach Texas Offering’s focus on the Borderlands is motivated by the need to remind Texans of the mission field within the state.

“This is a region where the need for reaching people with the gospel is great,” Coy said. “We also wanted to place some emphasis on Hispanic church planting in general, and this goes hand in hand with that.”

The Reach Texas devotional booklet, available to churches for promoting the offering, covers eight days; each one includes a story of how Texans were touched through the ministry provided by the Reach Texas Offering plus a prayer point for each day. Day one, for instance, tells how SBTC disaster relief volunteers ministered to families in the Rosita Valley area of Eagle Pass near the Mexican border after a tornado struck in April 2007.

Day two tells of Jim and Marsha Wilson, planters of Esperanza del Rio Church in Del Rio. The couple met Ana, who like Lydia in Acts 16:13-15, responded to the gospel and then led her household to Christ.

Day five tells of Yorktown Baptist Church in Corpus Christi and their outreach to Muslims in their area following an SBTC People Groups Champion Project training.

The prayer point for day five states: “Pray that God will use your church to minister to the people groups in your area, and pray that the Lord will empower you to live a missional lifestyle reaching the nations right here in Texas.”

Reach Texas promotional resources, including a bulletin insert, are downloadable at sbtexas.com/reachtexas. For additional information, e-mail gharris@sbtexas.com or call the SBTC missions office at 877-953-7282.