March Madness or Miracle?
BSK HAS ARRIVED AT GEORGETOWN COLLEGE! We moved in on Thursday, August 5 and Friday, August 6. I have been reflecting on the process in which the Seminary worked with the College in considering the possibility of relocating to their campus. Although we are in the month of August, I recall that two of the key moments occurred in March 2009 and March 2010.
On March 9, 2009 the Seminary’s Board of Trustees formally voted to contact Georgetown College about the potential of moving to the College’s campus. The ensuing dialog between representatives of both schools was always favorable, yet frank. Over a year’s time the conversations went forward with the idea that the Seminary would likely move to the College in time to offer classes in August 2011, not August 2010.
However, on March 4, 2010 Georgetown College President Dr. Bill Crouch, H. K. Kingkade. Dr. Steve Hadden and I met at the College. Early in the meeting Dr. Crouch asked, “What would it take for the Seminary to move to campus this summer?” I told him that I had been wondering if this time frame were possible (“great minds” and all that), but I was too hesitant to voice it. One of Dr. Crouch’s strengths is casting a vision. We then began to discuss what would need to happen for the Seminary to move to the College in a few months and offer classes there in the fall of 2010.
Was this March Madness or would it be a March Miracle? In the spring of each year the NCAA concludes the basketball season with the media calls/what is known as March Madness. In the Commonwealth of Kentucky and in many other places, emotions do not run higher than during March Madness, the time for the NCAA basketball tournament. Even the Kentucky Derby can’t compare. One can witness fans at their best and at their worse. Entertaining basketball, loyal fans cheering for their teams, sometimes high drama with a March miracle. And yes, March madness!
When we began to process the idea, all of the challenges of the Seminary’s move to Georgetown College led me to think the idea was madness. The necessary discussions on major and minute details that ultimately allowed a signed Letter of Intent covering both schools in the transition time. The staggering logistics were worked out with capable guidance of Debbie Moody. And packing up boxes and boxes and boxes was time-consuming.
BSK used our own “professional movers” – volunteers John Richardson and Bill Katz. They are Faith Baptist, Georgetown members who have engineered every BSK move including the ones down the hall at Lexington Theological. Joining them were a good crew consisting of BSK students, alums, friends and one of our trustees. When I promised John and Bill that this was our last move, they said, “Yeah, we’ve heard that before.” The moving crew was great though not without some madness (I don’t mean tempers).
Upon arrival, we have been warmly welcomed and assisted by College personnel. They genuinely seek a relationship of collaboration while the Seminary remains a free-standing school with its own self-perpetuating Board of Trustees, its own faculty, its own curriculum and its own degree. We will think together with Georgetown College about our joint Baptist identity, about issues of Christian leadership, about how ministry can be shaped for churches and Christian organizations in the 21st century. I believe we will continue a good partnership with Georgetown College.
I believe that Baptist Seminary of Kentucky has sensed the guidance of the Holy Spirit in finding a new home. From the initial contact with the College in March 2009, to a decision in March 2010 to offer classes on campus this fall, to moving into almost completed office suites in August 2010 – this in the miracle category. We are delighted to have a new home. In the process we have experienced madness. But we also have witnessed a miracle! Thanks be to God!