My name is Danny Akin, and I have had the joy of being the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary since the year 2004. God brought his hand upon me all the way back to when I was 19 or 20 years old. I grew up in a Christian home. I was blessed to have Christian parents and came to Christ at the age of about 10. Unfortunately, like many teenagers, I kind of drifted away from the Lord. I was very involved in athletics. And, so the Lord kind of got kicked to the curb. However, the Bible says that God is a faithful father and he disciplines those that he loves. So, when I was 19 years old, the Lord really got up close and personal in my life in a very painful way, actually, it was by a serious accident while playing baseball that had put me on my back for 30 days. As a result of that, my career in baseball and college was put on hold. It was during that time that the Lord really spoke to me in a fresh, new way, and about the age of 19 or 20, I recommitted my life to Christ. I have often said that my rededication, in some ways, was more life changing than my conversion. I think the reason is I was 10 years old when I was converted versus 20 years old at this time. You just have a history and a knowledge base that’s different. It was then that I began to really walk with the Lord.
Now, in the summer of 1977, I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to an Indian reservation in Sells, Arizona. While I was on that mission trip, we had vacation bible school at the main city of Sells, Arizona. We also did backyard Bible clubs and conducted old-fashioned revival services every evening. It was during one of those old-fashioned revival services where the preacher gave an invitation to salvation. He also gave an invitation to those that were there to surrender whatever it was that God wanted to do in their lives. I had never in my life felt such conviction about the reality that God wanted me to be in full-time Christian service. Again, I did go through a brief period of time when I doubted my salvation. Thankfully, I dealt with that 40 years ago, but I have never once doubted my call to the ministry. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was calling me to walk away from what I had dreamed of doing, which was playing college baseball, getting a degree, and then going on to coach on the high school or maybe even the college level. It was like all of that just died right there on the spot. Suddenly, all I wanted to do was to obey the Lord and serve him in whatever capacity that he desired me to do.
A month later, I moved to Dallas, Texas, to attend Bible College and the rest of the story is where I am today about 40 years later. Now, I know everyone doesn’t have that kind of radical life-altering experience, but that’s what happened to me. To be honest, people have said, “well, you kind of had a paradigm for that.” No, I didn’t. I did not know how my pastor felt about being called to the ministry or any of the other men in our student ministry and how they felt called to the ministry. All I knew is that night there was a weight on the inside of me that I felt like was going to crush me. I just began to sense God wants me to be in full-time ministry. I thought it would be as a pastor. In fact, when God called me on that particular evening, I didn’t know seminaries existed. I went to my pastor when we got back to Forest Park, Georgia and I said, “God’s call me to the ministry. What do I do?” He began to lay out what it would look like for me to prepare to be a pastor. I really dreamed and envisioned that is what God would do.
However, God shifted things about seven, eight years later and I began to teach adjunctly at a Bible college then full time, and later at a seminary, and so on. Knowing that God called me on that particular evening has been a sustaining experience in my life. I sometimes have people ask me, “well, if you weren’t in the ministry, what would you do?” And my answer is always the same. I don’t know. I don’t want to do anything else. I’m not prepared to do anything else. I could not imagine doing anything other than preaching the gospel, making disciples, and trying to reach the nations with the good news of Jesus. In the end, that solidified who I would be. It has been an unalterable conviction and sustaining power for myself, well over 40 years into the ministry.
My ministry today, as it has always been, is a partnership with my wonderful wife, Charlotte. She’s been my wife now for more than 40 years. Charlotte is just a great compliment to me and a great helper. We do so much together. Most of the time when I leave internationally, she will go with me. As of the present time, training men and women to get the gospel to the nations, training men and women to plant churches across North America, training men to pastor great commission churches that are filled, hopefully, with great commission Christians. That is the heartbeat of my life right now. Again, the last words are meant to be lasting words. The final thing that Jesus said before He ascended back into heaven was “go and make disciples of all the nations.” Out of all the things He could have talked about that is what he said. If that is what was on his heart before he ascended to the father, I have to believe that should be on our hearts as well. This is what really drives me. I hope that I can maintain a focus at our particular school that is well known right now for being a great commission seminary, which is wonderful. However, it’s one thing to be known for that and it’s another thing to actually be doing that out. To make sure that our reputation and our actions really do match up. Currently, that is what drives me in terms of my own ministry.
I would just say this… if we’re going to endure faithfully to the end, we need to know that what we are doing is indeed God’s sovereign call upon our lives. If you don’t have that, I would really encourage you to go before the Lord and ask him to clarify it and say, “Lord, I really want to know for certain that this is what you want me to do, not just today, but for the rest of my life.” I believe God will honor that prayer and he will show you: Yes, this is what I want or maybe no. Perhaps, he has a different path for you. Even still, I want you to love me and serve me with your whole heart and your whole mind and all that you are. To know this brings great joy and great peace. The will of God as Romans 12:2 says, “it is good, acceptable, and it is perfect.” The perfect will of God is not always easy, but the perfect will of God is always best. So whatever that is, I would urge you with all of your heart, all of your strength, all of your mind, with all that you are to pursue that, and in the process, you’ll find that pleasure of God in your life.