WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP) — Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) leaders say their debt of gratitude runs deep to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s (SEBTS) Danny Akin. This week the seminary president announced his plans to retire from leading the seminary effective July 31, 2026.

“Danny Akin has done a remarkable job leading Southeastern to prioritize the Great Commission as the driving force in their mission to train leaders,” said SBC Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg, “He has modeled integrity and innovation, family and community, academic discipline and ministerial passion.”

Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS), told Baptist Press (BP) that Akin came to SEBTS in 2004 after providing key leadership to SBTS.

“I am so incredibly indebted for Danny Akin. He came to Southern Seminary and joined me as Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice President for Academic Administration at a time when we desperately needed him,” Mohler said.

“He brought the totality of who he is — conviction, passion, kindness, and, of course, he also brought Charlotte, which explains just about everything good about Danny.”

Akin and his wife, Charlotte, made the announcement this week during Southeastern’s fall trustees’ meeting.

International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood called Akin, who joined the faculty at SBTS in 1996, a “chief architect” of the change that happened at Southern Seminary in the 1990s.

He said he was a firsthand witness of how Mohler and Akin partnered in the work in Louisville.

“Between arriving on campus myself as a student in 1992 and beginning doctoral studies in 1998, Southern Seminary became a very different institution,” Chitwood told BP. 

“The inerrancy of God’s Word was no longer in question, biblical theology was embraced, and local church ministry was championed as the goal for every student and graduate,” Chitwood said.

North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell had a different relationship with the Akins as they served in Louisville. Ezell was the Akins’ pastor at Highview Baptist Church.

“He and his family are some of my favorite people on this earth,” Ezell said. “Lynette and I love them and cherish their friendship.”

Akin’s love for his family is a sentiment shared by many of his colleagues.

“I deeply respect the way he and Charlotte have raised their sons and cultivated a strong, faithful family amid the demands of ministry,” GuideStone President Hance Dilbeck said.

Dilbeck said Akin’s legacy on the seminary campus and in his home “reflects a life that honors the Lord.”

Akin’s influence on the next generation is evident in his family and through many young leaders in the SBC.

The convention’s newest seminary president, Gateway’s Adam Groza, says Southern Baptists have been blessed by Akin because he has been “gospel-centered, missions-focused and Christlike in his character.”

“I am grateful for the thousands of students who are now serving Jesus around the world because of how the Lord has used him during his time at Southeastern,” Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Interim President Gary Hollingsworth told Baptist Press.

David Dockery, longtime friend and current president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, is grateful for Akin’s long-term leadership inside and outside the classroom.

“His commendable emphases on the Great Commission, global missions, faithful Baptist and evangelical theology and quality classroom teaching have given Southeastern a clear identity as well as direction for the future,” Dockery said.

He says Akin has created a “warm-hearted context that has helped to shape a distinctive community for Southeastern students, staff and faculty.”

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s President Jason Allen agrees with Dockery and says he’s been most impacted by Akin’s consistency and kindness.

“I’m grateful for Dr. Akin’s lifelong commitment to the Great Commission and his cheerful, steady leadership of Southeastern Seminary,” he told Baptist Press.

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Jamie Dew says he would not be where he is today without Akin.

“He made a lasting impact on Southern Baptists through the conservative resurgence as well as his emphasis on expository preaching and global missions,” Dew said.

Dew served as the vice president of undergraduate studies and distance learning and associate professor of philosophy and the history of ideas at Southeastern before moving to the Crescent City in 2019.

“I’ll always be thankful for the opportunities and support he gave me during my early years of administration at both Southeastern Seminary and New Orleans Seminary.”

When he retires, Akin will have served Southeastern for 22 years, leading the institution to years of record enrollment and charitable giving as well as growing its reputation as the Great Commission seminary of the SBC.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Brandon Porter serves as vice president for communications at the SBC Executive Committee.)