KANSAS CITY (BP) – Jason Allen, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, challenged graduates during the school’s 63rd commencement to “guard their personal holiness and doctrinal faithfulness.”
Midwestern Seminary’s academic year concluded with much pomp and circumstance on May 4 as graduates, families and friends gathered together in the Daniel Lee Chapel for the school’s commencement exercises–launching theologically-trained gospel ministers into service.
In comprising the school’s largest graduating class, 199 students graduated, including 28 undergraduate certificate recipients and one diploma from the Midwestern Women’s Institute. Forty undergraduate, 96 graduate, and 32 doctoral degrees were conferred as well.
Additionally, three students were among the first to complete Midwestern Seminary’s Accelerate Program, in which they earned both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the same time in less than five years. Allen also presented Rodney Harrison with the institution’s Professor of the Year award.
In beginning his expository message from 1 Timothy 4:16, Allen asked of the audience, “What does it mean to be faithful?”
In answering, he urged students to live a life of personal holiness and to guard their doctrine.
“Brothers and sisters, we are stewards – not only of our own diplomas, our education, and all of the practical commitments we’ve made to ministry,” he said. “But we are also stewards to the glory of God and the glory of the church, and the Gospel of Christ. If we do not guard our lives, we are rolling the dice on the calamity that may come.”
Allen concluded his message by saying, “Remember this day – for the joy that shall be yours momentarily as you walk across this stage, but also for the charge that is yours to be faithful to these things.”
To view the 2018 commencement service in its entirety, visit mbts.edu.