7th Annual IACE Conference Flourishes Amid Impacts of Winter Storm Fern
FORT WORTH (January 30, 2026) -- History-making Winter Storm Fern posed serious challenges to the 7th annual IACE conference, but successful pre-conference and conference sessions went on as scheduled at the Riley Conference Center on the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
IACE president David S. Dockery said this year’s conference registrations set a new record with 190 participants from 90 different entities, but some travelers had to cancel their plans to attend in person amid hundreds of winter storm warnings across a 2,300-mile path between west Texas and New England that brought sleet, freezing rain and snow to 35 states.
Many travelers arrived in Fort Worth after delayed flights, and many faced icy local roads as they approached the seminary campus. Two presenters faced weather-related trouble. One presentation was recorded and shown as a video, while another was read from a manuscript to the pre-conference audience.
Online connections served 28 registrants unable to travel.
The inclement weather also prevented D. Bruce Lockerbie from accepting in person an IACE Service Award. Lockerbie is well-known for his work with Christian K-12 programs across the country. Dockery said 91-year-old Lockerbie’s company, Paideia Incorporated, remains a leading consultant for Christian educators.
A second IACE Service Award, also presented in absentia, went to Donald A. Carson, a leading New Testament scholar, author, co-founder of The Gospel Coalition, and retired faculty member at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
“He has been one of the finest New Testament scholars in the world in the last 50 years,” Dockery said.
The IACE Service Award, initiated in 2025, highlights those who make significant contributions in the field of Christian education.
In Lockerbie and Carson, “we honor two giants in our field,” Dockery said.
During the Thursday night session, a new video debuted examining the concepts of time and eternity. It is one of 15 releases in the IACE Video Project announced at the 2025 Annual Meeting. Eventually, there will be 40 videos in the series, each made available to IACE campuses.
“These are conversation starters about how to bring faith to bear on every aspect of life and learning,” Dockery said. “I think they will be good for faculty, staff, and students.”
The 2026 pre-conference focused on the 50th anniversary of a Newsweek magazine cover story proclaiming 1976 “the year of the evangelical.”
Four presentations examined developments in evangelicalism in that 50-year period.
Nathan Finn, executive director of the Institute for Faith and Culture at North Greenville University, started the discussion with a paper examining the influence of Carl F. H. Henry on the stirring debate about biblical inerrancy among Christian groups in the 1970s and 1980s.
Finn said Henry framed his strong defense of inerrancy on the authority of scripture. But he recognized people could disagree with him and still be evangelicals. Henry saw it as a matter of consistency.
“Unbalanced preoccupation with inerrancy can be a costly diversion,” Henry said.
Malcolm Yarnell III, research professor of theology at Southwestern Seminary, examined “Evangelicalism Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.”
Yarnell traced the history of evangelicalism through the Puritans and Pietists, noting that the issue of slavery divided pastors in the mid-19th century. He also cited statistics showing today’s evangelicals are divided on matters such as the role of the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, and the exclusivity of the Gospel.
Yarnell called on today’s evangelicals to proclaim the Gospel with integrity.
“The Bible and Evangelicalism” marked the third pre-conference presentation from Gregg R. Allison, professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Allison observed that some seminaries distanced themselves from a strong inerrancy stand in the early 1970s. Those drifts were confronted with the 1978 “Chicago Statement” and the 1982 “Nine Specifications” from scholar Paul Feinberg.
“While many attacks have been launched in the past 50 years,” Allison said, “proponents of inerrancy and canonicity, authority, clarity, and sufficiency/necessity of scripture
continue to emerge and flourish.”
Houston Christian University president Robert B. Sloan focused on the implications of evangelicalism on higher education.
Sloan listed 11 theses for preservation of colleges and universities as evangelical entities. Among them, professional development, a grasp of the ethics of scripture, and acknowledgement that hiring practices matter.
“The faculty and staff carry the claims of the institution,” Sloan said, “not glossy recruiting materials and fundraising newsletters.”
Pre-conference sponsor Southwestern Center for Global Evangelical Theology will publish the presentations in an upcoming issue of the Southwestern Journal of Theology.
The annual conference, which began Wednesday, January 28, featured four workshop presentations, eight plenary addresses, and a panel discussion.
Perry Glanzer, professor of educational foundations at Baylor University, looked at “Faithfulness in Christian Higher Education.” Glanzer’s research finds that about 100 formerly protestant institutions have secularized in recent years. Mission drift, Glanzer said, often begins with faculty hiring practices and curricular requirements.
He noted that important questions in hiring new faculty members could be “what are you going to contribute to Christian work?” and “Tell me about your involvement in the local church.”
P. Jesse Rine, executive director of the Center for Academic Faithfulness and Flourishing, presented a videotaped address examining authentically Christian higher education.
He cited 2023 research results focused on about 60 IACE institutions. He urged member schools not to be shy about applying Christian principles to every academic course description and classroom discussion. He said students and parents in the market for a Christ-centered education quickly spot schools that are hesitant about Christian worldview.
“They are looking for institutions they can trust,” Rine said. “Authenticity is the key to connecting with these families.”
Jennifer Marshall Patterson, director of the Institute for Theology in Public Life at Reformed Theological Seminary, urged IACE schools to “form students who can sustain the future of religious freedom.”
She said the pursuit of religious freedom dates back more than 400 years in the United States. She noted that IACE is made up of schools from a variety of faith traditions, and although there are differences in some matters, the key beliefs overlap.
“We want to equip educators, pastors, lay people with theological accounts of religious freedom,” Patterson said.
Josh Moody, senior pastor of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, addressed both IACE and the entire Southwestern Seminary community with his presentation “Unframed” in MacGorman Chapel.
Moody discussed his book Unframed, which will be released later this year. In it, he interviewed people who had become disillusioned with Christianity in light of issues such as church corruption or widespread suffering. He said it was time for Christians to rediscover the authority of scripture and the renewal of closer communities.
“This isn’t scheduling a few more potluck dinners. It will require a commitment to expanding community,” Moody said.
Hannah Stolze, William E. Crenshaw Chair of Supply Chain Management at Baylor University, presented “Wisdom and Key Performance Indicators: Measuring What Matters.”
She said educators have carefully documented areas like job placement, starting salaries, and GPAs. But she cited the description of an excellent wife in Proverbs 31 as an example of achievement occurring within a life that exhibits love and caring.
Stolze said her teenaged daughter recently underwent emergency brain surgery. An elite student before the surgery, she emerged from anesthesia not asking questions, but rather thanking nurses, doctors, and even custodians for their work around her.
“Somewhere along the way, my daughter also learned purpose, belonging, compassion, and justice,” Stolze said. “The measure of education is not success, it is love.”
Michael Graham, program director at the Keller Cultural Center for Apologetics, discussed the ongoing developments and concerns about Artificial Intelligence.
He noted that most of us no longer research from primary sources.
“These days, we are acquiring our knowledge from secondary sources almost all the time,” Graham said. “Silicon Valley has become a high priest of knowledge.”
He urged educators to develop policies for AI use on campus, noting that changes are coming in the next few years that will further advance the technology, but also present new problems.
He said the question “what problems do we want to avoid?” should drive AI policy decisions.
“No technology comes to you as morally neutral,” Graham said.
Greg Baylor, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, brought important legal updates that pertain to Christian education in the marketplace.
TG Three is a consulting firm providing strategic support. They presented “Builder, Fixer, Optimizer: Leadership in Christian Higher Education,” which is also the title of a new book they recently released.
TG Three is a consulting firm providing strategic support. They presented “Builder, Fixer, Optimizer: Leadership in Christian Higher Education,” which is also the title of a new book they recently released.
The book classifies all leaders in one of those three categories. It also points out that institutions go through different “seasons” in which fixing is vital, or building is needed, or long-term optimization is crucial.
“A capable candidate who specializes in a season you’re not experiencing can be a bad hire,” said Ryan Dougherty.
The book comes with a website where leaders can take a free diagnostic test to determine to which of the three categories they belong.
“One (season) is where you thrive, one is where you survive, and one is where you nosedive,” Ryan Westervelt said.
IACE hosted a panel discussion focused on K-12 education, with representatives from both private schools and classical academies discussing important issues.
Moderator Nathan Finn asked panelists to respond to the question “what excites you about the future?”
“Parents are being more thoughtful and there are more options for students. That balances the decline in public education that we’ve seen,” said Mike Goddard, superintendent of the Prestonwood Christian Schools in the Dallas area.
“I spend as much time educating parents as I do kids,” Goddard said.
Panelist Hutz Herzberg came with several dozen gap-year students in the Turning Point Education program housed at Southwestern Seminary. The organization’s goal, in addition to providing gap-year studies, is to establish 5,000 schools that will be Christian, classical, conservative, collaborative, and cost-affordable. He said the final of his “5 Cs” is urgent.
“Our number one problem is cost, Herzberg said. “Tuition to maintain an excellent education is high and it prices people out.”
The conference’s platinum sponsor is Impact 360, and gold sponsor is Thomas Nelson.
Silver sponsors: TG Three, Logos, Guidestone, Clark Higher Ed., Crossway, and Bill and Judy Bradish.
Bronze sponsors: B&H Publishing, City on a Hill, Guardian, International Mission Board, Center for Academic Faithfulness and Flourishing, Lifeline Children’s Services, NXT.PG, Pioneer Catering, The Timothy Group, SafeWell, and Stand For Life.
Partners: Alliance Defending Freedom, Caylor Solutions, Joni and Friends, NACCAP, and Southwestern Center of Global Evangelical Theology.
Dockery announced IACE’s sixth annual Faculty Development Conference is set for May 20-22 at the Riley Conference Center, with online registration and schedules coming soon.
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