Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

New Orleans has long been a faith-based
community. With other cultures migrating to
the city, so did their faith traditions. Baptists
began moving to the city and starting churches
in the early 1800s. At the turn of the twentieth
century, Baptists leaders decided to start a
ministry school to support these churches and
help expand the Baptist cause in New Orleans.
In 1917, seventeen hundred faithful
Baptists gathered in New Orleans for the
Southern Baptist Convention meeting, and
voted to establish the Baptist Bible Institute
(BBI), later known as New Orleans Seminary.
The first organizational meeting followed on
July 10th, laying the groundwork for the institution.
It adopted its current name in 1946.
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
(NOBTS) is owned and supported by the
Southern Baptist Convention. Its mission is to
equip leaders to fulfill the Great Commission
and the Great Commandments through the
local church and its ministries.
P. I. Lipsey of Mississippi was a key figure in
establishing the school. He repeatedly encouraged
the Southern Baptist Convention to start a
Bible institute in New Orleans. Later, he became
chairman of the (BBI/NOBTS.) Dr. Byron
Hoover DeMent became the first president.
The school moved quickly to open with the
first day of classes held on October 1, 1918,
despite the fact classes suspended for more
than a month in 1918 due to a Spanish
influenza epidemic in the city. The first commencement
exercises were held May 30, 1919.
By the end of the first year of classes, 118
students were enrolled at BBI and the school
grew rapidly during the past century. By 1956,
enrollment exceeded 1,000 students, 2,000 by
1991, and 3,000 in 2001. Today,
enrollment is more than 3,800 with
approximately 1,300 attending the
main campus. Approximately 450
study online. NOBTS faculty totals
seventy with 200 staff members.
The remaining students attend
one of the twenty extension centers
in Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
Louisiana, and Mississippi.
New Orleans Baptist Theological
Seminary offers associate, baccalaureate,
masters and doctoral degrees
in biblical studies, theology, pastoral ministry,
church history, Christian education, counseling
and music. Most of the seminary’s graduates
serve as pastors or ministers in local churches
or serve as missionaries.
The seminary is located at 3939 Gentilly
Boulevard. The original location of the seminary
was 1220 Washington Avenue in the
Garden District from 1918-1953. BBI purchased
the Washington Avenue campus from
Sophie Newcomb College after Newcomb
moved to the Tulane University campus.
As NOBTS celebrates 100 years of ministry
in 2017-2018, it is launching the Second
Century Initiative, a $50 million fundraising
campaign to ensure its financial health and to
continue its mission of equipping pastors, ministers,
and counselors for local church ministry.
NEW ORLEANS
BAPTIST
THEOLOGICAL
SEMINARY
Top: Students from New Orleans Baptist
Theological Seminary (known as Baptist
Bible Institute at the time) gather by a bus
in front of the school’s original Washington
Avenue campus in the 1920s. Buses like this
one carried students to locations throughout
the city to preach the Bible and participate
in ministry activities.
Below: Students walk through the Chapel
Quad on the current New Orleans Baptist
Theological Seminary campus in Gentilly.
With the enrollment growing, NOBTS sold
its Washington and Avenue campus in the
1950s and constructed to a new, seventyfive-acre
campus designed by noted
Louisiana architect A. Hays Town.
QUALITY OF LIFE
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