New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

NOBTS's Chapel

NOBTS courtyard

The Southern Baptist Convention founded the institution as the Baptist Bible Institute during the 1917 convention meeting in New Orleans.[4] New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, or NOBTS for short, was the first institution created as a direct act of the Southern Baptist Convention. The institutes's purpose was centered on missionary work, and initially established as gateway to Central America. The Seminary started as the Baptist Bible Institute in the Garden District and later relocated to the current location in the heart of Gentilly.

On May 17, 1946, the SBC revised the institutes' charter to enable it to become a seminary, and the name was changed to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.[5] Missions and evangelism have remained the core focus of the seminary.

In 1953, it relocated from Washington Avenue in the Garden District to a more spacious campus in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans. [6]The school purchased a 75-acre (300,000 m²) pecan orchard and transformed it into what is now a bustling campus over 100 buildings, including academic buildings, faculty and staff housing, and student housing. The new campus was designed by noted Louisiana architect A. Hays Town.

In 1995, a campus was established at the Louisiana State Penitentiary following an invitation from the prison warden, Burl Cain. [7] The school has contributed to a significant reduction in the rate of violence in the prison.[8]

By 2022, it had opened 6 campuses in prisons in different states.[9]

For the year 2021-2022, it had 2,004 students. [10]

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina forced the seminary to evacuate its staff and students. Within a few days, temporary offices were established in Decatur, Georgia. The NOBTS board of trustees overwhelmingly voted to keep the seminary in New Orleans and begin the necessary cleanup and repairs.

The Southern Baptist Executive Committee provided 6.2 million dollars from the Southern Baptist Convention's Cooperative Program to the seminary following Hurricane Katrina. The money helped meet the budgetary requirements of the seminary and aided in the restoration effort. Many churches provided support clean-up and construction teams to assist the seminary in recovering.

Following Katrina, the faculty resumed classes at extension centers and online through the Blackboard Learning System. 85% of the students attending NOBTS continued taking classes during the 2005-2006 academic year. In August 2006 classes fully resumed, and much of the repair had been completed on the campus including the restoration of the Providence Guest House and Leavell Chapel.

Since the completion of main campus buildings, much of the repair is now concentrated on restoring faculty housing and construction of additional buildings. Most, if not all, of the student housing has been restored but at limited capacity. Many of the states housing (housing facilities named after the states in the United States) were demolished with no plans at this time to rebuild them. In addition to repairing facilities damaged or destroyed by hurricane Katrina, the seminary has decided to completely rebuild some buildings to facilitate today's demands. One such building which has been completed is the new Operations Department building which is located at the back of the NOBTS campus.

NOBTS has had nine presidents since its founding:

NOBTS currently offers a wide range of degree options for ministerial training. Leavell College houses the seminary's undergraduate degree program, and offers associates and bachelor's degrees in ministry as well as certificate and diploma programs intended to give concentrated training in a specific area (e.g., children's ministry). The graduate programs are quite varied as well. The faculty is divided into five working divisions: biblical studies, theological & historical studies, pastoral ministries, Christian Education ministries, and church music ministries.

The primary degree offered is the Master of Divinity but the seminary also offers the Master of Arts and Master of Theology degrees as an alternative. For music students, the primary degree is the Master of Church Music. Doctoral degrees are divided between research doctoral degree programs and professional doctoral degree programs. Most departments on campus offer a Doctor of Philosophy program. The Division of Church Music offers the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. The Seminary also offers the highly flexible Doctor of Ministry degree as an alternative professional doctorate. Newly instituted is the Doctor of Educational Ministry degree, which focuses on majors within the Division of Christian Education.

"We believe that the Bible is the Word of God in the highest and fullest sense, and is the unrivalled authority in determining the faith and practice of God’s people; that the sixty-six books of the Bible are divinely and uniquely inspired, and that they have come down to us substantially as they were under inspiration written. These Scriptures reveal all that is necessary for us to know of God’s plan of redemption and human duty. We deny the inspiration of other books, ancient or modern, and exalt the Bible to an unchallenged throne in our confidence. These Scriptures do not require the authorized interpretation of any church, or council, but are divinely intended for personal study and interpretation, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit."[14]

This facsimile copy of the Codex Sinaiticus utilizes high-resolution, full color photographs of each page of the original document. The quality reproduction is used as a research tool at the Haggard Center for New Testament Textual Studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Other research centers include:

• Baptist Center for Theology and Ministry
• Caskey Center for Church Excellence
• Cecil B. Day Center for Church Planting & The Nehemiah Project
• Center for Discipleship & Spiritual Formation
• Global Mission Center
• H. Milton Haggard Center for New Testament Textual Studies
• Institute for Faith & the Public Square
• Landrum P. Leavell II Center for Evangelism & Church Health
• Moskau Institute of Archaeology/Center for Archaeological Research
• Perry R. Sanders Center for Ministry Excellence
• Youth Ministry Institute

In addition to the academics provided at NOBTS, the seminary also offers activities for students and their children.

• Dead Preachers Society
• Fellowship of Black Seminarians
• International Student Fellowship
• Thrive
• Together

Life Songs Radio

• The front quadrant of campus was designed by notable New Orleans architect, A. Hays Town. This includes the iconic Leavell Chapel.

David Platt - former president of the International Mission Board, American Pastor and author of Radical

Adrian Rogers, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church

David A. Sampson, former United States Deputy Secretary of Commerce, president and CEO of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI).

• William Leon Clark, deputy chief of chaplains of the United States Air Force 1966-1968.
• Grady C. Cothen, author, university and seminary president, pastor, state convention executive secretary-director of the Southern Baptist Convention
• Raleigh Kirby Godsey, president of Mercer University (1979–2006)
• G. Earl Guinn, president Louisiana College from 1951 to 1975[21]
• Richard Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary outside Charlotte, North Carolina
• Russell D. Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention
• J. Randall O'Brien, president of Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee
• Paige Patterson, former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
• David Platt, president of the International Mission Board (2014-); pastor-teacher of McLean Bible Church (2017-); pastor of The Church at Brook Hills (2006-2014); author of Radical
• Adrian Rogers, president of the Southern Baptist Convention (1979–1980 and 1986–1988); pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church (1972-2005); founder of Love Worth Finding
• Argile Smith, former J. D. Grey professor of preaching at NOBTS
• Jerry Vines, president of the Southern Baptist Convention (1989–1990); pastor of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville (1982-2006).

• John T. Christian, a Baptist preacher, author and educator
• Benjamin Harlan, internationally-known arranger and composer of choral and keyboard works
• George L. Kelm - discovered and excavated ancient Timnah between 1977 and 1979 while at NOBTS
• Clark Pinnock, Christian theologian, apologist and author. He was Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at McMaster Divinity College.
• Frank Stagg, theologian

• Media related to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website