Brewton-Parker's trustees accepted Smith's resignation during their regularly scheduled Jan. 20 meeting at the Mount Vernon, Ga., campus.
Under Smith's leadership at the four-year Christian college affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention, BPC celebrated its centennial in 2004; completed the Snooks Student Activities Center, the largest structure of its kind in Montgomery County; raised more than $55 million in capital, general fund and endowment gifts; received SACS reaffirmation; and restored its integrity after a financial aid crisis in the late 1990s, according to a statement by the college.
"It is a legacy for which anyone can be proud," Smith said, as he read his letter of resignation to the board with his wife Jackie present in the room.
"There comes a time when the mantle of leadership needs to be passed on. Brewton-Parker College needs and deserves new presidential leadership," Smith said, reporting that he has accepted the chairmanship of a master's degree program in Christian studies at Dallas Baptist University beginning April 1.
The board of trustees is formulating plans for a presidential search.
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"I believe this school has a great future," Smith told BPC faculty and staff during an afternoon assembly following the board meeting. "Thank you for the last 13 years. We will be in prayer with you, watching to see what good, great things God does."
Provost Ronald Melton, told the gathering, "The best thing we can do is go forward, doing our job.... None of us enjoy change; it is one of the most difficult things to deal with. We have been through this before, and we made it through then."
Adapted from a report from Brewton-Parker College.
Copyright (c) 2011 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press www.BPNews.net
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