By Marilyn Stewart, NOBTS public relations NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- The creation of a new vice president position for enrollment was approved by the executive committee of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's trustees in a June 4 meeting. The vice president for enrollment, a position created to provide oversight for all departments essential for a healthy enrollment, will act as chief strategist and catalyst for enrollment-related matters for NOBTS and its Leavell College. A candidate for the position will be named at a later date. Student services related to recruitment, admissions, advisement, success, retention and completion as well as financial aid and the registrar's services will be included under the vice president for enrollment's oversight. In other action, the board approved the transition of the church history major in the Ph.D. program to a concentration within the theology major. The transition provides students the option of writing a dissertation in either theology or church history. Church history will continue to be offered as a minor and, if needed, can be revived later as a major. Two other majors in the Ph.D. program were "suspended" -- the missions major and the Great Commission studies major. … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer NEW ORLEANS (LBM) – Trustees of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary voted unanimously, June 5, to elect Jamie Dew as the ninth president of the school during a special called meeting on campus. An 11-person search committee recommended Dew, and that trustee panel included several Louisiana Baptists: Waylon Bailey, pastor, First Baptist Church, Covington; John Foster, member, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans; and, Jackie Myers, member, First Baptist Church, Sicily Island. Jack Bell, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Hornbeck also served on the committee but stepped aside for personal reasons in the spring, according to the seminary public relations department. Dew is succeeding Chuck Kelley, who retires July 31. ‘BEST OF EVERYTHING’ During an introductory press conference, Dew said New Orleans offers a unique opportunity for theological education and ministerial preparation. “In this city you have the best of everything - culture, challenge, opportunity for ministry, a religiously plural context that our students could learn in,” he said. “In short, if you can learn to share the Gospel here, if you could learn to minister to the poor, to the broken, to … [Read more...]