Bible Faculty Leadership Summit 2010 to be held at Maranatha
2010 Summit Theme - Christology:
The Person and Work of Christ
That in all things he might have the preeminence. Colossians 1:18
July 28 - July 30
on the campus of
Maranatha Baptist Bible College and Seminary
Join the discusion about the doctrine of Christ as it relates to the challenges of our contemporary milieu.
Moritz to join seminary faculty
Fred Moritz admits he will miss his long-time ministry.
But he won’t miss the airports.
“I know for sure I traveled 65,000 miles on Northwest Airlines last year,” Moritz said. “I haven’t yet added in Air India, Air Vietnam, Thai Airways and Kingfisher in India. At my age (66), I think I’ve taken (the travel) very well. But I am not upset about changing pace.”
The Executive Director of Baptist World Mission will join the Maranatha Baptist Seminary faculty when the seminary opens this fall. He will be teaching several theology classes.
“I love the systematic theology courses,” Moritz said. “I also get to teach Isaiah, one of my very favorite books. It will be one of my great delights.”
Moritz became assistant to Dr. Monroe Parker at BWM in 1981 and became Executive Director in 1985. He oversees 350 total missionaries (husbands and wives) and is also field administrator for Eastern Europe and Canada.
Moritz first met Maranatha President Dr. Charles Phelps in 1981, when Moritz was preaching at Grace Baptist Church in Owatonna, Minnesota, and Phelps was the youth pastor.
“Fred Moritz brings a wealth of experience to the classroom,” Phelps said. “He has been on dozens of mission fields, preached in hundreds of churches, taught numerous classes and has a passion to pass along a separatist Baptist position to a new generation of leaders.
“He continues to find time to be engaged in the learning process. His encyclopedic mind is matched by a tender heart and a desire to produce biblically trained, practically burdened ministers of the Gospel. We’re fortunate to have him joining our team of mentors at Maranatha Baptist Seminary.”
Moritz previously pastored at four different churches and was a full-time evangelist from 1979-85. He graduated from Pillsbury Baptist Bible College with a bachelor’s degree in 1963, and earned his MDiv from Central Baptist Theological Seminary four years later. He also earned a DMin degree from Bob Jones University in 1992. Moritz had previously been given honorary doctorates from Indiana Baptist College (1980) and Maranatha (2001). He is the author of two books.
The Peoria, Illinois, native first began teaching graduate modules in 1994 and has taught both graduate and undergraduate classes at Maranatha, Faith Baptist Bible College, Northland Baptist Bible College, Bob Jones University and Baptist College of Ministry.
“I love the classroom, and I enjoy the classroom experience and the privilege of working with young people,” Moritz said.
His duties at BWM, Moritz said, include working with missionaries on topics ranging from “fellowship to counsel to budgets to policy issues.” The BWM headquarters are in Decatur, Alabama. Moritz said he intends to remain with BWM during the transition to a new Executive Director, yet to be named.
Moritz said he is confident of the wisdom of his next step, in part, because he is confident in Maranatha.
“The heart and spirit of Maranatha is what it has always been—a Baptist school that is fundamental, separated, and evangelical in its emphasis,” Moritz said. “The No. 1 thing right now, in addition to Maranatha’s long history, is the privilege of working under Dr. Phelps’ leadership. He embodies the best of Christian leadership qualities.”
When Moritz begins teaching theology, he will definitely be doing so from a dispensational standpoint.
“For a number of years, reformed theology has had a great appeal in the evangelical world,” Moritz said. “It has a certain amount of appeal in the fundamental world as well. But I do believe the Scriptures are unequivocally clear that there is a distinction between Israel and the church. Dispensational theology is not imposed on Scripture, but is a system we get out of Scripture.”
Moritz will speak at Maranatha’s chapel sessions March 12 and 13. He and wife Judith, married 46 years, plan to relocate to Watertown during the summer. They are the parents of two adult daughters, Elisabeth (Wertz) and Christin (Dupee), and a son, James, who died in 1969.
“To leave a ministry we’ve been in so long, working with missionaries we love, is getting more difficult by the day,” Moritz admitted. “We are also confident that the Lord is in it, and that this is His next ordered step.”
--Posted by Andrew Call, 1-19-09
Hudson added to Seminary faculty
If you happen to be a student in one of Dr. Andrew Hudson’s classes at Maranatha Baptist Seminary next fall, don’t be afraid to raise your hand.
“What I’ve found during my years of teaching is, the subject matter doesn’t excite me nearly as much as the students,” said Hudson, who has signed a contract to join the seminary faculty when it opens in the fall of 2009. “Classes of students who just sit there don’t excite me. If there is a class that is interactive, that asks a lot of questions, I like that. I tell my students how much I appreciate the fact that they pay money to ask questions so that I can learn.”
Hudson was chair of the Biblical Studies Division at Pillsbury Baptist Bible College from 1996 through May of 2008. He has submitted his dissertation for a ThD at Central Baptist Theological Seminary and expects to complete all degree work by May.
Maranatha students can expect to see Dr. Hudson in New Testament and Greek classes. He taught Greek Grammar, Greek Syntax and Matthew as an adjunct professor at Central Seminary from 1993-96.
“I really am attracted to the idea of training young men and women to serve in fundamental churches, particularly training future pastors,” Hudson said.
Being part of a new seminary can be challenging as well as exciting
“That was part of the appeal for me,” Hudson said. “I like the fact Maranatha is working to have the best program possible to train future leaders.”
Hudson’s first visit to Maranatha came in the fall of 1982. He was a fullback on the Pillsbury football team that played the Crusaders in the first-ever game between the Baptist colleges.
“I remember that I caught a touchdown pass that day, and that we lost the game,” Hudson said. “But the thing I remember most is, after the game, both teams knelt in the center of the field and sang ‘Victory in Jesus’ together. It was an incredible thing to me, and so foreign from my background in public high school.”
Hudson graduated Summa Cum Laude from Pillsbury, then Cum Laude while earning his MDiv at Central Seminary. He completed his ThM at Central Seminary in 1993.
The 45-year-old Hudson was ordained in 2003. He is married to the former Deb Goff. They have three children: Elizabeth, a high school freshman; Jason, an eighth-grader; and Seth, a fourth-grader. Dr. Hudson also teaches classes in a Bible institute at his home church in Albert Lea, Minnesota.
Expect Hudson’s classes to be among the most active at the Seminary.
“When I lecture, I try to create questions in the midst of the lecture,” Hudson said. “I try never to hinder a student from asking a question. In fact, I encourage it.”