Scandal-Riddled and Cash-Strapped SBC Seminary Has Moved From ‘Instability to Stability, says President
Two years ago, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) President Adam Greenway was canned for being terrible at his job. Marked by a desire to reshape the seminary’s ethos in his image, at least 45 faculty left under Greenways’ watch, either retiring, resigning, or plain out being fired, such as the canning of the much-loved top professors David Allen and Robert Lopez. With morale at an all-time low, Greenway dragged the seminary into massive debt, ensuring his vocational coil was swiftly snuffed out (see endnotes.)
With full-time equivalent enrollment at SWBTS down nearly 30% and the seminary desperate for cash, the city of Fort Worth purchased 140 dorm units on 15 acres of land from the school for $11M in early 2023, throwing a financial lifeline and infusion as they battled to stabilize the ship.
The seminary’s efforts and competence have appeared to pay off.
Current SWBTS President David S. Dockery told those gathered at a board of trustees meeting earlier this week that enrollment was up and the seminary had moved “from instability to stability, from a time of crisis and challenge to a time of hopefulness … only because of God’s goodness and grace to this institution.” A Baptist Press report explains:
“We started 2024 in a good place,” Dockery told trustees in his report to the board, noting key financial areas of improvement from 2022 to 2024, such as increases in total tuition, unrestricted gifts, and operating revenue while lowering operating expenses and eliminating short-term debt.
Cash reserves increased from $1.7 million in 2022 with a short-term debt of $4.2 million, to more than $12 million cash on hand with no short-term debt in 2024, he said.“Ultimately our report today, Mr. Chairman, concludes with four words that summarize the heart of the Southwestern campus: thanks be to God,” Dockery said.
Editor’s note:
In 2022, Summary of Findings released by the Southwestern Seminary Board of Trustees Task Force into the behavior of Greenway and the institutional failings at SWBTS was devastating, with their report noting:
The task force concluded that Adam Greenway engaged in a pattern of spending that the task force believes did not reflect proper stewardship of seminary resources. This pattern of spending occurred without deference to financial controls and seminary financial policies.
Between 2019 and 2022, over $1.5 million was spent on renovations, furnishings, and related expenses to the President’s home. These expenditures were made at a time when the seminary was making significant budget cuts, including the reduction of faculty personnel and positions. Examples of expenses for the President’s home include $59,865.79 for Christmas decorations, more than $25,000 for artwork, and $11,123.49 for an espresso machine and accessories. Despite extensive renovations completed early in his tenure, further optional work was done on the President’s home in late 2021 when more than $180,000 was spent on HVAC work… $4,850.51 for the framing of personal diplomas.
Greenway then sued for defamation. While initially he threatened to sue the school he once ruled for $5,000,000, arguing that accusations of financial mismanagement caused him to be humiliated and also significantly harmed any future job prospects, his actual suite was much more modest, demanding not millions, but At LEAST $75,000 following the school’s initial refusal to pay up.
This suite ultimately came to nothing and was eventually dropped.
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Southwestern is still in a world of hurt, and they have far more issues to deal with than Greenway’s overspending. They couldn’t have made a better choice for president than Dockery, though.