Ministry education fund named for Lolleys

By Steve DeVane

BR Managing Editor

Randall Lolley shares a laugh with friends after a celebration dinner.

Photo by Steve DeVane

Biblical Recorder

A fund named after former Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary president Randall Lolley will help students studying for the ministry.

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina (CBF-NC) announced the start of the Lolley Fund for Theological Education at a celebration dinner at First Baptist Church in Raleigh April 10. The fund is named for Lolley and his wife, Lou.

Randall Lolley was president at Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest 1974 to 1988. He resigned when trustees pushed for a strong conservative shift at the school.

The scholarship is already funded with more than $250,000, CBF-NC officials said.

Jack Glasgow, pastor of Zebulon Baptist Church, and a Southeastern Seminary graduate during Lolley's tenure, said the fund provides a way for N.C. Baptists to help prepare men and women for ministry.

"We cannot be slow to focus our eyes on this opportunity," he said.

Ministers should not have to carry as much debt as attorneys and other professionals when they graduate, Glasgow said.

"It's time for us to see clearly that God has shared abundant resources to equip the saints," he said.

Glasgow said there is hope in every calling from God.

"We need to be transformed by a vision of the future," he said.

Lolley said that 14 new theological training schools have started in the last 20 years. He said people with vision can help keep young ministers from graduating deeply in debt.

"The cause is worth it, so let's do it together and let's do it now," Lolley said.