The NEW (for 2014-15) BMA Theological Seminary in Arkansas

[Updated 06/10/2014]

The Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary (BMATS) is devoted to serving Christ in the expansion of His Kingdom by providing biblically faithful theological training to its denominational leaders, as well as to aspiring ministry leaders from the larger Christian community.  Here are some of the updated ways we are accomplishing this goal:

·       State of the Art Facilities. Thanks to Central Baptist College, our undergraduate sister institution and campus host, we have access to brand new facilities featuring cutting edge technologies on the forefront of theological education: smart boards, a digital and traditional library including cyber café, multi-campus satellite technologies, fully online and traditional program options, etc.

  

·       Cutting Edge Education. Modern and traditional educational models provide options for traditional and seminar style courses, hybrid in-class/online options, extensive online course offerings with some programs fully available online for distance education learners, etc.  Both Arkansas and Texas campuses offer all courses for M.Div. (Master of Divinity), M.A. (Religion, fully online as well as in-class), and M.A.C.M. (Master of Arts in Church Ministries) programs, depending on the ministry goals of the student; the Texas campus offers a unique/rare opportunity for bachelor level students to enroll in a B.A. in religion program in a seminary, and in the same courses as graduate level seminary students; certificate and other options are also available

·       Faculty.  Access to specialists with both academic and ministry expertise on the frontlines of where Christianity and the culture meet, including church planters, pastors, counselors, theologians, Bible language specialists, and other experts in the traditional divisions of a theological curriculum; our multi-site seminary allows for independent full time faculties for each campus, while providing the student access to the larger BMATS faculty at both locations (Changes/Additions for 2014: Professor R. Brian Rickett will serve not only as Professor of Biblical Studies, but as BMATS Arkansas Administrator; we have added a new Professor of Theological-Historical Studies, Dr. Andrew V. Snider (Th.D. Systematic Theology); a new Director of Seminary Wives and Women’s Studies, Janet L. Rickett (B.S.E., M.A. Biblical Counseling), new recruiter/administrative support specialist, Zach Nance (M.Div., Th.M. Philosophy of Religion/Presuppositional Apologetics), a new Professor of Biblical Studies, Dr. Gary O'Neal (Ph.D. New Testament), new Professor of Church Ministries, Dr. Scott Attebery (D.Min. Outreach and Discipleship), and more (the names of these other faculty members will continue to be divulged every 2 weeks throughout the summer on our Facebook page!  Stay tuned for more exciting announcements). 

·       Specialized Learning.  Our seminary offers a variety of out-of-class learning opportunities.  We provide additional, free biblical language seminars/courses for qualified students, endowed lectureship series (Brand Lectures, Fall Semester & Darby- Beal lectures, Spring Semester, both on Tex. campus), discipleship programs, etc.  For example, we regularly offer seminars such as an Advanced Summer Hebrew Reading Seminar (Ark. campus) free of charge to qualified students, we have a women’s ministry/seminary wives fellowship (Ark. campus) led by women with academic and church ministry credentials and experience, we host Spring and Fall lectureships (Tex. campus) which have featured noted lecturers such as R. Albert Mohler and Tom Nettles, and have brought in other specialists such as John D. Street, Chairman of the Biblical Counseling program from The Master’s College and Seminary (Ark. campus)

·       Theological Distinctives.  Informed, scholarly, conservative, Baptist theological and biblical convictions.  The seminary faculty seeks to train aspiring ministry leaders to faithfully and skillfully navigate the contemporary challenges not only facing the BMAA, but evangelicalism generally; we are characterized by progressive pedagogical models while maintaining fidelity to our doctrinal statement and denominational confession (New Hampshire Confession of Faith)

·       Accreditation.  Both BMATS campuses are accredited featuring both regional (SACS) and ATS accreditation.  We are a leader in this area and have been featured as an important voice in the discussion of the future of theological education (See here).

·       Cost.  In view of the above benefits, one might reasonably expect the costs of our programs to be high.  However, we are so committed to making theological training available to aspiring Christian leaders, once accepted, all students regardless of denominational or church affiliation pay the same low price of $160 per unit/credit hour ($480 per course), which may be the lowest cost of any fully accredited US seminary.  This is possible thanks to generous denominational and donor support.  See the DTS seminary price comparison calculator here to compare with other institutions (Note: All costs are per credit hour unless specified other; observe that our tuition is around half of the lowest tuition listed, also notice that our institution is not referenced for price comparison)