Scholarship on Fire

“Through the ‘Chair of Fire,’ evangelism has been recognized as an important academic discipline in Southern Baptist seminaries. It has personally impacted me and my leadership among Southern Baptists. Dr. Roy Fish (who occupied the chair) was my doctoral supervisor and preached my inauguration message as president of Gateway Seminary. This book tells the inspiring story of the progress of evangelism training among Southern Baptists. May God use it to refocus us on this priority in the coming generations.”


—Jeff Iorg, President, Gateway Seminary





“Beau Brewer has rightly identified the ‘Chair of Fire’ as the taproot of Southern Baptist theological education. With its focus on New Testament evangelism, the ‘Chair of Fire’ became the practical keel leading to the conservative doctrinal resurgence seven decades later. It is a must-read for all who would administer an Evangelical school of higher education to be a true Great Commission school.”


—Thomas P. Johnston, President, Evangelism Unlimited





“Beau Brewer’s account of the founding and development of the ‘Chair of Fire’ at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary offers both context for and confirmation of evangelism’s rightful place in the theological curriculum of Evangelical higher education. His research richly mines B. H. Carroll’s and L. R. Scarborough’s original model for seminary training in the theology and practice of evangelism to reach the world for Christ. I hope Brewer’s volume receives wide circulation.”


—Adam W. Greenway, President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary