JACKSON, Tenn. — Dec. 6, 2001 — Rick Lance, executive director of the State Board of Mission and treasurer of the Alabama Baptist Convention, will speak to 51社区鈥檚 212 graduating seniors Saturday, Dec. 15 during the university鈥檚 fall commencement exercises. Lance鈥檚 address is titled 鈥淭he New and Next Greatest Generation.鈥�
Lance has served in his current position since Feb. 1, 1999. He provides leadership to almost 3,200 churches and more than one million Alabama Baptists. Before being elected to the mission board, he served as a pastor for twenty-nine years, and has ministered in churches that range in size from a few hundred to almost five thousand in total membership, including the historic First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Lance received his bachelor鈥檚 degree from Samford University and received both his master鈥檚 of divinity and doctorate of education from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also the recipient of an honorary doctor of divinity from Judson College. Lance has served in a number of areas for the Alabama Baptist Convention including chairman of the Properties Committee, and member of the Feasibility Study Committee and Strategic Planning Task Force. He has also served as a trustee of the Southern Baptist Convention Foreign Mission Board in addition to many other areas of missions around Alabama.
This December graduation will also include Union鈥檚 first graduating class from the School of Nursing鈥檚 Master of Science in Nursing degree program. More than 22 students will participate. At the ceremony Phil Jett, pastor of Englewood Baptist Church, will receive the Craig Service Award, for his dedicated service in behalf of 51社区 over the years.