History of the John Leland Center for Theological Studies

While attending a meeting of the Baptist World Alliance in Vancouver, Canada, in 1997, Baptist leaders from Northern Virginia were called to launch an evangelical seminary to prepare both women and men for leadership in ministry.  After returning home, they enlisted help of key ministers and lay leaders and developed the vision for a seminary. The seminary would focus on serving persons living in the D.C. area. Classes would be held mostly at night, allowing those with full-time day jobs to enroll. They also decided to seek the highest possible academic standard for seminaries—accreditation by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) — for its Master’s Degree programs. The leaders named the school after John Leland (1754-1841), a Virginia Baptist pastor for three reasons: His leadership as a pastor and evangelist, his opposition to the enslavement of people, and his work to establish religious freedom for all.

Dr. Randel Everett, one of the visionary founders of the school, became the first president, and Dr. Jeff Willetts became the first Academic Dean. Mrs. Sheila Everett became the first Dean of Students. To emphasize the need to be prepared for global ministry, the school recruited an international faculty. Their first hire was Dr. Daniel Carro, a Baptist leader from Argentina. Later Dr. Daniel Dapaah from Ghana, Dr. Tarmo Toom from Estonia, Dr. Andrey Shirin from Russia, and Dr. John Lee, a Korean-American, were hired.  Dr. John Lee eventually became the school’s second Academic Dean. Many excellent and diverse adjunct professors have also served the seminary throughout the years.

Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church first provided the space for the seminary from 1998 until 2002. Then Leland moved to The Church at Clarendon, located just two blocks from the Metro, where it is currently housed today.

Leland achieved full accreditation from ATS in 2006 for the Master of Divinity and Master of Theological Studies, allowing it to join the prestigious Washington Theological Consortium. Dr. Everett resigned shortly thereafter, believing he had helped birth the school and guided it through the crucial early years. In 2007, Trustees called Dr. Mark Olson to serve as the school’s second president until 2017. The Rev. J. Brent Walker served as interim president from 2017 until January 2019. In January 2019, Dr. William H. Smith became President and Michael Hines became Provost. Dr. Smith served until February 2022. In March 2022, Dr. Kenneth R. Pruitt became the President.

As gifted lay and pastoral leaders without an undergraduate degree sought out Leland to help prepare them for ministry, Leland developed its School of Ministry, featuring Diploma classes at the undergraduate level.  These courses are offered throughout the state. Leland offers classes in Arlington, Charlottesville, Culpeper, Newport News, Richmond, Roanoke, and Staunton.

Along with the Master of Divinity and Master of Theological Studies degrees, Leland began offering the Master of Christian Leadership degree in 2009 and obtained full accreditation approval for the degree in 2013.  Throughout the years, various Graduate Certificate Studies programs have been added (note: these are not Master’s Degree programs and thus, do not qualify for ATS accreditation). In 2020, Leland installed state-of-the-art web equipment to enable additional online course offerings where allowed by state law.

The vision of Leland’s founders lives on today as Leland builds for the future.