Around the State: UMHB announces record planned gift

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor announced the largest planned gift in the university’s history. The future estate gift from a Central Texas family who wish to remain anonymous will be unrestricted and currently is valued at $50 million. “The magnitude of this planned gift to UMHB is overwhelming. We are grateful to God for how he continues to bless Mary Hardin-Baylor through friends like this family who love the university and believe so passionately in Christian higher education on our campus,” said UMHB President Randy O’Rear. “I’ve never met more humble people, and I thank God for their unbelievable generosity. This family wants to ensure that our university’s future is strong, and this transformational gift will unquestionably impact UMHB students for generations to come.”

The board of governors of B.H. Carroll Theological Institute approved a statement on diversity for the institution, which is slated to be embedded within East Texas Baptist University as B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary. In part, the statement declares each human being to be “a unique creation of God regardless of gender, ethnicity, level of wealth, religious creed, nationality, or physical or mental disability.” Since the faculty and staff of the institution do not share “a single, uniform opinion on the role of women” in pastoral ministry, the statement says, “Those differences of understanding the scriptural qualifications for pastor are purposefully excluded as barriers to fellowship with churches of differing perspectives.” The statement says the school “abides solely by the biblical witness with respect to its understandings of human sexuality and marriage as reflections of biblical cosmology and biblical morality, as well as the historic witness of the church faithfully teaching both.” It declares marriage as “a God-ordained institution solely between one man and one woman.” President Gene Wilkes said the statement was necessary to satisfy the requirements of the Association of Theological Schools, the institution’s accrediting body. ATS requires the statement to be readily accessible to students, staff, faculty and members of the general public as part of its standards on institutional integrity. B.H. Carroll’s diversity statement was adopted by the seminary’s academic council after a lengthy drafting and editing process. It then was disseminated to a larger group of faculty, staff and students from diverse ethnic backgrounds and genders for review and comment.

Dallas Baptist University named Jonathan Fechner as executive director of The Institute for Global Engagement. In addition to his administration of the institute’s lecture series and digital resources, Fechner also will assist President Adam C. Wright as the university’s chief of staff. Prior to his new leadership roles at DBU, Fechner served nearly five years as the executive director of BridgeBuilders, where he will continue as president. BridgeBuilders is a nonprofit organization that provides after-school programming, career development and transitional housing for South Dallas. He holds a Master of Arts degree in international studies from DBU and currently is working on his Ph.D. in leadership studies at DBU. He and his wife Casea have one daughter, Collins.