Leavell College at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is announcing a new degree pathway that includes a brand-new Bachelor of Science degree and a new major within the Bachelor of Arts degree.
Known as the “Tentmaker Degree Pathway,” the new program is designed to prepare students called to ministry by providing both theological education and vocational training.
This new degree pathway was created to help train the next generation of students for a bi-vocational or co-vocational ministry context. It allows students to take newly offered business and leadership classes at the seminary or transfer up to 45 credit hours of accredited vocational study.
Approved by NOBTS trustees Oct. 7, the pathway includes:
NOBTS President Jamie Dew said the new degree pathway answers a specific request he constantly gets in conversations with churches, local associations and state conventions.
“I am asked on a regular basis what we as the seminaries are going to do to equip, prepare and train the next generation of servants for a bi-vocational ministry context,” Dew said.
“A lot of churches in the Southern Baptist Convention, specifically in the south, are going to need somebody that is co-vocational or bi-vocational to pastor their church. Most of our church planters have to get secular jobs to support their ministry work, and even the International Mission Board places people all over the world in a context in which they will need a job or platform to enter. The needs of ministry today are such that ministers need not just the theological education that we can give them, but also vocational training as well.”
Dew said the Tentmaker Degree Pathway was created to prepare students for both ministry and the marketplace.
“By partnering with community colleges and other schools, these degree programs allow students to come to Leavell College and get theological and ministry training as well as a wide variety of vocational training,” Dew said.
“Through transfer credits that now can serve as part of your curriculum at Leavell College, you can get both theological education and vocational certifications of various kinds in four years. These students are going to be perfect candidates for bi-vocational church ministry, church planting and IMB missions.”
Greg Wilton, dean of Leavell College, said the degree pathway draws on the example of Paul in the New Testament.
“These tentmaking degrees are inspired by the example of the apostle Paul in Acts 18 when he visits Corinth and works alongside Aquila and Priscilla, who also worked as tentmakers,” Wilton said. “Just as God called Paul to labor for the gospel while being a tentmaker, we believe God is raising up others to advance the gospel in a similar way.
“We want to provide a degree where students can receive theological, ministerial and vocational training within four years. These tentmaker degrees help students who want to serve God in this manner.
“What excites me the most about these tentmaker degrees is that students who are aiming for bi-vocational ministry, church planting and cross-cultural missionary service can harness this degree to establish legitimate platforms for the places that God will take them. This will help us, by God's grace, to expand God's kingdom work like never before.”
NOBTS administration has already had conversations with local community colleges about future partnerships via these degrees, but the goal for the degree is that any college student could transfer vocational credits from any other accredited institution into Leavell College.
“This is a very innovative way to meet the needs of the day while staying in the lane of our mission as a seminary,” Dew said. “We are very excited about this, and if you have a student that feels so inclined to this calling, send them our way. They can be called to ministry and prepared for the marketplace.”
More information about the Tentmaker Degree Pathway can be found here.
