The Board of Governors of B. H. Carroll Theological Institute voted October 22 to elect Dr. Gene Wilkes as the Institute’s new president.
Dr. Wilkes follows Dr. Bruce Corley, who has served as president since the Institution began in 2004. Dr. Corley will continue his role as a Senior Fellow, overseeing students and programs in the Scripture and Witness cluster. Dr. Wilkes has been a long-time friend and supporter of Carroll, serving as a Resident Fellow, Governor, and most recently as Vice President of Advancement for the Institute since June of this year. Prior to that appointment, he served for 26 years as Senior Pastor of Legacy Church, Plano, TX. The election of Wilkes, part of a strategic plan that has been in place for two years, will expand and bring continuity to the administrative team.
The chairman of the Board of Governors, Dr. Leon Leach, Executive Vice President of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, led the presidential search committee. Leach stated, “Today is a significant moment in the history of the B. H. Carroll Theological Institute. Dr. Bruce Corley has handed the mantle of leadership over to Dr. Gene Wilkes. Over the last ten years, Dr. Corley has led Carroll’s development from a God-inspired dream to a fully accredited theological institute with students throughout the United States and across the globe. Dr. Wilkes is totally committed to continuing Carroll’s transformational ministry of “…reinventing theological education in innovative, creative ways that make ministerial training more relevant, practical, effective, as well as affordable and accessible to all Christian workers.”
“Dr. Wilkes comes into this role well-prepared and led by the Lord,” Corley observed. “I have known him more than thirty years and hold him in the highest regard. I add my joy to the excitement created by his coming to lead Carroll. He is devoted to our mission and will play a key role in the next phase, energizing and expanding programs that reach far beyond a traditional residential campus.”
During its ten-year history, the school has embraced fast-moving and innovative changes in higher education, developing a distributed learning model with teaching churches and electronic resources. The phenomenal growth of the school is reflected in its expanding programs and student body that now reaches twenty-six states and twelve foreign nations.
Dr. Wilkes commented, “I am humbled and honored to follow Dr. Corley, who is a mentor and friend. The first decade of Carroll’s work has been sustained by God’s grace and provision, and I know the second decade will be more of the same. I am grateful to the Senior Fellows and those who have gone before me to provide the firm foundation upon which we will continue to build the global Nexus of Carroll.”
The Carroll family of governors, faculty, and friends gathered at the Colonial Country Club in Ft. Worth on Tuesday evening, October 22nd, for a celebration dinner. Inauguration of the new President is set for Friday evening, February 28, 2014, in the worship center of First Baptist Church, Arlington, TX.
Dr. Bruce Corley, Dr. Gene Wilkes, and Dr. Leon Leach
