When Jack Graham was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention in 2002, he issued a call for Southern Baptist churches to plant new schools that would educate students from a Christian worldview. The leader of the nation’s largest non-Catholic religious body, urged churches train up a new generation of leaders “who understand their faith, able to communicate their faith and to live their faith in whatever their career or calling.”

Graham’s call to establish kingdom schools reflects the Southern Baptist Convention’s “Empowering Kingdom Growth” or EKG initiative.

Prestonwood Baptist Church, where Graham pastors, is also home to Prestonwood Academy, a Christian school that houses about 1,059 students on its Plano, Texas campus.

And while the SBC president is an outspoken proponent of Christian secondary education, he says Christian higher education should be a major consideration for students.

Graham shared his thoughts about the state of Christian higher education during a recent interview. Following are excerpts from his remarks:

Christian higher education has experienced tremendous growth over the past few years. To what can you attribute these successes?

I am extremely encouraged to see a new kind of Christian university like Union where they are focusing on preparing the next generation for Christian leadership in the marketplace. If our churches are going to be effective in the marketplace of ideas and the community at-large, then the churches must produce Christian leaders and lay leaders. In our own church, so many of our most effective, dynamic church leaders have been trained in Christian universities. Christian universities like Union are indeed necessary.

There seems to be a greater demand for quality Christian education.

Parents and students are expecting, and rightly so, the highest quality, best education for their children. The bar has been raised for Christian colleges and universities. Many are meeting that standard. The cry of the new century demands that Christian universities step up to the plate and deliver. Christian institutions that are successful are those who can compete at the academic level and prepare students with excellence – not just giving students diplomas. There’s an increased awareness that Christians are providing excellence in education.

Is Christian higher education that important to the kingdom of God?

It is vitally important that we educate a generation of new young leaders with a Christian and biblical worldview. Union University is a great example of a university that has established a reputation for equipping students with the word of God and the testimony of Christ so they can make a difference in generations to come. It’s very encouraging at Union. If we are going to be salt and light and communicate with the people of this generation, we’re going to have to be equipped and prepared – like no other time in history.

Historically, though, some Christian institutions have abandoned their long-held religious heritage.

What makes a Christian school is what is being taught in the classroom. You can have the programming, the chapel services, but if the teacher or professor is not a Bible-believing Christian, whether they are teaching mathematics or agriculture, it’s no longer a Christian school. Administrations and boards must be constantly diligent to make sure that what is being said in the classroom is reflective of the values and vision of a Christian education. We all know lots of schools who have Christian in their name, but they are not. The nature of education is to drift. There must be constant attention given to what is being taught, said and led in the classroom.

What is your vision of a wellrounded education?

The education we give in Christian colleges and universities should be the best math, the best science. The worldview gives that discipline its shape and application for life. The Christian worldview, what Union does, impacts every subject.

What are some thoughts parents and students should consider when selecting a university?

Don’t compete with public universities. It’s the wrong approach. We need our public schools to do a good job educating, too. We need to be telling Christian parents to pray about where their child goes, consider the difference a Christian education will make. We need Christians prepared at Union University to get on school boards, to get involved in public education in order to reflect the Christian worldview in that setting.

Dr. Jack Graham is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. You may write to Dr. Graham at unionite@uu.edu.