Russell D. Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, announced David S. Dockery as recipient of the 2013 Richard D. Land Distinguished Service Award during a recent ERLC board meeting for his exemplary service to the kingdom of God.
Dockery, president of Union University since 1995, built Union into a first-rate school of the Christian intellectual tradition, faithful to its Baptist roots and committed to scriptural fidelity. He announced in January that he will transition to chancellor of the university by July 2014.
“David Dockery has given his life to a distinctively Christian life of the mind, Moore said. As a scholar, he is one of the most significant intellectual forces in the conservative Baptist and evangelical worlds. He also is an institution builder, having led, miraculously, the growth of Union University as a global leader in Christian higher education. In so doing, he has assembled a faculty, in ethics and in every discipline, that applies Christianity to all of life, he said.
The award, given by the ERLC for the 48th consecutive year, is presented to individuals for their outstanding contributions to Southern Baptists, the nation and mankind in the interest of world peace, racial justice and Christian citizenship. The ERLC board of trustees voted to name Dockery as the recipient of the award Sept. 11.
Throughout his presidency, Dockery has multiplied enrollment, boosted graduation rates, led the school in building programs and expanded academic programs in all levels. He also developed an annual scholarship banquet and a Union Forum luncheon lecture series, bringing some of the brightest minds in fields such as journalism and government to speak at the school.
Union has been in U.S. News & World Reports top tier of schools in the South for 17 straight years, moving up to the 13th spot among regional universities in the South this year.
Dockery is also the author of multiple books on theology and Southern Baptist life.
He is one of my personal heroes, and is a model for generations to come of leading and thinking like a Christian,” Moore said.
[i]The Southern Baptist Convention is Americas largest non-Catholic denomination with more than 15.8 million members in over 46,000 churches nationwide. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is the SBCs ethics, religious liberty and public policy agency with offices in Nashville, Tenn. and Washington, D.C.[/i]
