Restoring the professions: Tupelo cohort first in new Southern Seminary doctoral program

By Russell Roberts

Across our nation, believers must answer the same question — how does Sunday affect Monday? In other words, how should Christians understand their vocations, communities, and daily lives in light of the Gospel?

For generations, many Americans inherited assumptions shaped by a broadly Christian culture. However, decades of secularization have pressured Christians to remove the influence of their faith from the public square and push it to the periphery. For many Christians in medicine, law, business, education, ministry, and public life, faithfully integrating conviction and vocation has become increasingly difficult.

Why formation matters 

The effects of pushing faith to the margins are felt in a variety of ways. Physicians, attorneys, educators, business leaders, and other professionals are taught what they can do but rarely what they should do. When morals are introduced, they are often contrary to those of the biblical worldview.

Professionals have well-trained hands but unformed hearts. This situation leaves professionals feeling morally fractured. It should be no surprise that many report increasing levels of stress, depression, and burnout. What if it did not have to be this way? What if professionals could be trained to see their vocations in light of their Christian worldview? What if theological education could meet this need?

Out of this growing need, the Lord appears to be opening a new door through The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

The Southern opportunity

Over the past year, Southern Seminary has worked together with a group of Mississippi Baptists to develop a program specifically geared toward forming Christian leaders across the professions. Under its existing Doctor of Educational Ministry (D.Ed.Min.) program, Southern has launched the Professional Leadership concentration, which seeks to teach professionals “to apply a theological framework to contemporary ethical and practical issues unique to their vocation.” As a professional doctoral degree, the program was designed for working professionals who often cannot relocate and must balance demanding schedules, careers, and young families.

Earlier this year, the program was presented in Tupelo as part of a broader redemptive leadership initiative entitled Kintsugi, named after the Japanese art of restoring broken pottery with gold. The initiative seeks to encourage theological formation and faithful leadership across medicine, business, education, law, ministry, and public life.

What began as a local conversation among professionals, civic and business leaders, pastors, and other stakeholders has gradually expanded into a larger vision for cultivating leaders who can serve their vocations, institutions, and communities with distinctly Christian conviction. Leaders involved in the initiative also hope, over time, to establish additional programs and leadership positions that will sustain and expand this work for future generations.

The Tupelo cohort

Following the spring meeting, six professionals from Tupelo formed the initial cohort of the Professional Leadership program. In the words of ophthalmologist Dr. Lee Walker, “A desire to attend seminary had been growing in my heart for several years. I believe God placed it there. But I didn’t know how the details would be worked out. When the reality of the D.Ed.Min. program at Southern was shared with me, it was like God placed the answer right in front of me. He has a way of routinely working things out in manners much better than I anticipate.”

What began as a small local conversation has quickly grown into something larger. More professionals have applied to join the cohort in January, and through partnerships with the Christian Medical and Dental Associations (CMDA), the program has been promoted nationally.

At a recent CMDA event, 15 additional medical professionals requested more information about the program, while interest has also emerged among leaders in law, business, education, and ministry contexts. In total, more than 35 professionals across medicine, law, education, and business have expressed interest in theologically grounded professional formation.

Why this matters for Mississippi Baptists

Programs like this matter because professions are never spiritually neutral. The people shaping medicine, education, law, and public life inevitably shape the moral culture around them. Every profession carries influence among families, communities, institutions, and future generations.

Ponder the following questions: 

What kind of Mississippi do we want to live in? Do we want leaders making decisions consistent with our Christian commitments?

When our loved ones lie in hospital beds, do we want physicians who treat patients merely as machines, or doctors who care for both body and soul?

Do we want our children shaped by worldviews disconnected from biblical truth, or by teachers who see their disciplines as a pursuit of truth within God’s creation?

Do we want lawmakers who discard the weak, or leaders who protect them?

Invitation to pray and participate

Please pray that the Lord would continue to bestow His favor upon this movement and program. Pray that He would continue to invite people into deeper formation and that those called would have the courage to follow His lead. Pray that He would continue to use Mississippi Baptists to help shape leaders who will influence communities, institutions, and professions for generations. What began as a small cohort in Tupelo may, by God’s grace, become part of a much larger movement of faithful professional leadership.

Readers interested in learning more, supporting the initiative, or exploring future participation are encouraged to reach out. For information about the D.Ed.Min. in Professional Leadership, please visit https://www.sbts.edu/degree-programs/doctor-of-educational-ministry/doctor-of-educational-ministry-in-professional-leadership/. 

Roberts is a member of First Baptist Church, Tupelo, and a practicing radiation oncologist. For questions, email p.russell.roberts@gmail.com.