Global Ministries Boston

Rev. Michael E. Haynes

Dr. Michael E. Haynes to Receive Honorary Doctorate South Hamilton, MA
– Dr. Michael E. Haynes, Senior Minister of Boston’s Twelfth Baptist Church since 1964, will receive an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree at the commencement exercises of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary on Saturday, May 10, at 10 a.m. in the Bennett Center at Gordon College.Dr. Haynes, a member of the Gordon-Conwell Board of Trustees since 1976, has served three terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and 16 years on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Parole Board and Board of Pardons, and was one of five commissioners of the city’s Fair Housing Commission. He has also served in an advisory capacity to four governors, two mayors, two U.S. senators, and one United States president. He has given leadership to more than 40 social, welfare, recreational, criminal justice, governmental, educational and religious boards, including the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Vision New England, Christianity Today, Northeastern University, New England Baptist Hospital, and the Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Boston.Commencement speaker will be The Rev. Dr. Bruce Wall, senior pastor of Dorchester Temple Baptist Church and founder and president of Bruce Wall Ministries, an outreach to youth and their families in Boston’s inner city. Rev. Dr. Wall holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theology from Berkshire Christian College, a Master’s in Religious Education from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and honorary doctorates from New England School of Law and Gordon-Conwell. He serves as an adjunct member of the ministerial staff at Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts and as chaplain for the City of Boston Emergency Medical Services. His address is titled “Prepare God’s People for the Work of Service.”The student speaker will be Joyann B. Sparks, a Master of Arts in Religion graduate.The Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Board of Trustees will confer 245 Master’s degrees and 34 Doctor of Ministry degrees to graduates of the seminary’s South Hamilton and Boston campuses.For more than a century, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary has prepared students for leadership as pastors, teachers, missionaries, evangelists, and other Christian ministry positions. The multi-denominational, evangelical Protestant seminary serves more than 1,700 students on campuses in South Hamilton and Boston, Massachusetts, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Students on the three campuses represent 92 denominations and 34 foreign countries. The seminary ranks 6th in size among all seminaries accredited by the Association of Theological Schools of the United States and Canada. Gordon-Conwell offers 19 degrees at the master’s and doctoral levels and has gained an international reputation for leading faculty in the areas of Biblical Studies, Ministry and Theology.Attention Media: For further information on this or other news, please contact Anne Doll, Director of Public Relations, at (978) 646-4141.