A STUDY OF FACTORS THAT PREDICT THE SUCCESS OF CHRIST-CENTERED HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS: A MIXED METHOD STUDY Timothy Lee Smith, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2015 Chair: Dr. Michael S. Wilder Many faith-based academic institutions began to deteriorate in the twentieth century as the institutions wandered toward a secular educational platform. Because of this transition, there is a renewed call for faith-based institutions to move beyond an environment of piety by creating a climate of faith and learning as the foundational synergistic roots in preparing graduates to embrace the cause of Christ. To address this concern, a sequential transformative mixed methods study was implemented to describe the factors, as expressed by presidents of Christian institutions, which predict the missional success of Southern Baptist Convention liberal arts educational institutions. In addition, this study argued that presidents of Christian institutions can clearly describe the factors of missional success of Christian institutions and a self- assessment model of institutional success can be established from the learned factors. In stage 1 of the study, 24 presidents of CCCU institutions, but not leaders of SBC schools, agreed to provide factors through an e-Delphi approach that predicted the success of Christ-centered institutions. Ninety factors were gathered during the initial phase of the study. With the completion of two additional rounds of surveys with the same presidents, a group of 56 factors were found important or very important in achieving the success of a Christ-centered institution. These factors were then examined through a factor analysis statistical process that established 6 clusters. In the second stage of the study, presidents of SBC institutions ranked the factors in each cluster. The results revealed that the most important cluster that included 5 factors addressed the importance of right Christian persons and explained 66 percent of model. The second cluster contained 19 factors about operational principles of the institution. Both of these clusters explained nearly 80 percent of the model of success. Results illustrated that presidents can express the factors that predict the success of Christ-centered higher educational institutions. The significance of these findings is the opportunity to examine the historical cases where Christian institutions wandered from their Christian faith and to look forward in using this model in promoting the success of a Christian higher educational institution.

In 1965, the Cuban government arrested two Southern Baptist missionaries and several Cuban Baptists and charged them with multiple crimes, including espionage. Almost immediately, a backlash to the arrests swept across Baptists in the United States. During the four years between the missionaries’ imprisonment and their release, W.A. Criswell, conservative pastor of the massive First Baptist Church of Dallas, incorporated the missionaries’ testimonies into his own agenda. This thesis examines Herbert Caudill’s experiences as a part of rising conservatism in the Southern Baptist Convention in the late nineteen sixties and explains the role of anti-communism and the Cold War as a subject of Baptist debate. It also places the U.S. South in a global context by examining the transnational nature of the Cuban Baptist mission and in Herbert Caudill’s identity. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Thesis (D. Min.)--Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NC, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-185).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-140).

Listening is a critical skill for those who lead. Research indicates that leaders significantly influence followers through their listening practices; however the relationship between leadership styles and listening is assumed but not conclusively proven (Kouzes and Posner 2002). The purpose of this current study was to determine if a relationship exists between leadership style and listening practices of International Mission Board (IMB) overseas team leaders (Burns 1978, Bass 2004). The population for this research was overseas team leaders of the IMB serving in this position for more than six months with a team of four or more team members. A total of 145 of 391 team leaders participated in this study with a response rate of 37%. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used to measure transformational, transactional, and passive/avoidant leadership style and the Listening Practices Feedback Report-360 (LPFR) assessed listening practices of attention, empathy, memory, open mind, respect, and response. A correlational analysis using Pearson r was conducted between leadership styles and listening practices. Further analysis was conducted to determine which leadership style was most significantly correlated with each of the six listening practice subscales. The subscale of open mind was not significantly correlated with any leadership style. The findings indicated that transformational leadership had a statistically significant and moderately positive correlation with the total LPFR score and on five of the six listening practices subscales. Transactional leaders also had a moderately positive correlation with total LPFR score and significant correlations on empathy, memory, and response subscales. Passive/avoidant leadership style had a significantly moderate negative correlation with LPFR and with empathy, memory, respect, and response subscales. Transformational leadership scored highest on the LPFR total listening score. Passive/avoidant leaders' showed the lowest total listening scores and were rated ineffective listeners. This study shows that transformational and transactional leadership styles have a statistically significant and moderately positive relationship with listening dimension scores as measured by the LPFR and supports transformational leadership theory.

This thesis looks at the missiological implications of church planting in global cities. Chapter 1 introduces the main argument for this thesis: that all evangelism strategies should hold church planting as the end goal and that the most strategic places to implement these strategies are our global cities as evidenced by what has happened in New York City. The chapter will begin with a look at the significant movement that has happened in Manhattan over a twenty year period (1990- 2010) with the evangelical population of the city growing from less than one percent evangelical to now more than three percent. An introduction to the definition of global cities will segue into a look at the imperative for church planting initiatives in these cities. Chapter 2 will offer a deeper study of the characteristics of a global city and the missiological significance of such cities. It will explore world urbanization in light of the fact that over 50 percent of the world now lives in cities. The strategic nature of the cities will be analyzed given the influence that global cities have on the culture of the rest of the world. Finally, New York City will be shown as a global city and its significance on the missiological landscape will be highlighted. Chapter 3 provides a history of some of the major New York City church planting initiatives. Specifically, it will review the church planting history of Concerts of Prayer and the Church Multiplication Alliance, Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church and Jim Cymbala and The Brooklyn Tabernacle. Lastly this chapter will reveal methodologies used by other prominent ministries to reach the city context. Chapter 4 will look at implications learned from New York City on how a global city church planting strategy could impact the Southern Baptist Convention. A look at the history of SBC church planting in New York City will be looked at with special attention being paid to the effectiveness of these strategies. Chapter 5 will conclude this thesis with a look at the lessons learned during this research process. It will also look at three areas of further study that are needed. This work contends that the priority of all missions strategies should be a focused approach on global city church planting. This will prove to be an effective use of people and financial resources that ultimately has an impact on the whole world.

Project (D. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2008. / Abstract and vita. Includes final project proposal. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 165-170, 64-69).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 183-188).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Covenant Theological Seminary, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-137).

Thesis (D.W.S.)--Institute for Worship Studies, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 177-179).