When it comes to being a seminary professor, I enjoy not just the teaching but also the watching. That is, I enjoy watching to see how God will use each of our grads in ministry over the years. It is a reminder that our labor has not been in vain.
On that score, it is particularly satisfying to see former students turn out to be professors themselves. And even more than that, it is encouraging when they actually return to RTS and become professors in the institution that taught them.
In recent years, this has become a bit of a trend here at RTS Charlotte. While we have seen many students go onto Ph.D. work over the years, recently a number of them have returned as professors somewhere in the RTS system. Though this list is not exhaustive, here are a few examples:
Blair Smith: Graduating from Charlotte in the class of 2003, Blair currently serves as Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology here at the Charlotte campus. He will soon be wrapping up his Ph.D. in historical theology (patristics, more specifically) at Durham University in England under Professor Lewis Ayres, one of the world’s leading patristic scholars.
Mark McDowell: Graduating from Charlotte in the class of 2005, Mark currently serves as the Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at the RTS Dallas campus. He completed his Ph.D. under John Webster at King’s College, University of Aberdeen.
Greg Lanier: Graduating from Charlotte in the class of 2013, Greg currently serves as Assistant Professor of New Testament at the RTS Orlando campus. He recently completed his Ph.D. under Simon Gathercole at Cambridge University and his thesis has recently been published with T&T Clark.
Let me also mention that there are several other Charlotte grads who have obtained their Ph.D. and serve as guest lecturers in the RTS system. Carlton Wynne (Ph.D. Westminster) is a guest lecturer at RTS Houston, Peter Yoder (Ph.D. University of Iowa) is a guest lecturer at RTS Dallas, and Drew Goodman (Ph.D. Westminster) and Mantle Nance (Ph.D. Aberdeen) are both guest lecturers at RTS Charlotte.
I should also note that there are a number of men who have graduated from other RTS campuses and are also professors somewhere in the RTS system: Bob Cara, Scott Red, Guy Richard, Mike McKelvey, and Nick Reed, to name a few.
Thanks be to God for the great blessing these men are to both the academy and the church. May we see many more like them in the future!