The Nature and Scope of the Witness One:Seven Program

Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary seeks to train for effective service those whom God has called. Therefore, evangelism at home and cross-culturally is the Seminary’s theme and mission. Witness One:Seven (practical missions work) is the demonstration of what the student learns in the classroom. Students are expected to fulfill the biblical command to witness and thus are required to meet mission assignments each week, share their faith, and report on the work completed. This linking of the classroom and the practical aspects of ministry and evangelistic zeal is one of the unique identities of Mid-America.

Chapel services are held two days per week (Tuesday and Thursday), and a portion of Tuesday's service is devoted to personal witnessing testimonies by faculty and students. During this period, the Witness One:Seven director and various professors report on their evangelistic witness for the week. Following these reports, the students share the fruit of their witnessing. Students are involved in hands-on missions work throughout the Memphis-metro and outlying areas. Each year students witness to thousands through their Witness One:Seven activities and their personal evangelism, and each year students lead thousands to profess faith in Christ.

Witness One:Seven Assignments

Each full-time student (9 or more hours per semester) must complete two mission hours per week during the semester. Each part-time student (6 or fewer credit hours a semester; includes non-degree seeking) must complete one mission hour per week during the semester. Witness One:Seven ministry time should provide the student with the opportunity to present the type of witness described in this section. The total number of Witness One:Seven assignments that a student may complete during any given week is computed on this basis.

All students are required to participate in one of the different types of Witness One:Seven opportunities. These opportunities include work with the prison ministries, urban outreach, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Campus Crusade, hospital ministries, rescue mission ministries, and church survey work. These activities are designed to orient the beginning students to evangelistic ministries inside and outside the local church. A list of these requirements and opportunities can be found in the Witness One:Seven handbook.

The Witness One:Seven director may grant special permission in unusual circumstances to do a specialized evangelistic ministry.

Personal Witnessing

All enrolled students (including non-degree seeking) must witness to an average of at least one person per week during the semester. To constitute a personal witness, the interview is to include a presentation of the plan of salvation to a person believed to be unsaved and an invitation for that person to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The essential elements of the Gospel—faith in Jesus Christ alone and repentance of sin—are what the Seminary holds to be necessary for salvation. In order to fulfill the personal witnessing requirement, no other element should be involved in the Gospel witness (i.e., baptism, church membership, etc.). Each student is required to report his or her Witness One:Seven activities at the end of the semester.

Chapel

Each student (including non-degree seeking) is required to attend chapel in its entirety every Tuesday and Thursday.  A student is not allowed more than six absences from chapel during a semester. Online students participate via video available at the MABTS website.

A residential student unable to attend chapel on a regular basis as the result of a schedule conflict with essential outside responsibilities may petition the director of Witness One:Seven to watch online. Requests are submitted to the Witness One:Seven office and must be renewed each semester (August and January). Note: Notification from an employer must be on company letterhead showing that the student’s work schedule prevents chapel attendance.

Minimal Requirements for the Witness One:Seven Program

In order to meet the minimal requirements for the Witness One:Seven program each semester, students must satisfy three criteria:

1. Full-time students must complete an average of two Witness One:Seven hours per week, and part-time students must complete an average of one Witness One:Seven hour per week. Full-time students must complete at least 75 percent of the practical missions required that semester from the Witness One:Seven mission they list. The remaining 25 percent of the Witness One:Seven hours due for that semester may be from Witness One:Seven activities other than those for which the student registered.
2. Students must witness to an average of at least one person per week during the semester.
3. Students must not have more than six absences from chapel and report hour during the semester.

Students must fulfill the requirements of chapel attendance and the Witness One:Seven hours and witnesses. Failure to fulfill these requirements will result in a failure of all classes taken within the semester when the Witness One:Seven requirements were not met.

Relationship of the Witness One:Seven Program to the Academic Programs of the Seminary

The Witness One:Seven program is an integral part of the training for every student enrolled at Mid-America. No academic credit is given for Witness One:Seven requirements. However, no academic credit is given to any student for the semester if he or she does not satisfy the minimal requirements for the Witness One:Seven program for that semester. No student is permitted to graduate from the Seminary without completing the Witness One:Seven requirements for each semester enrolled.

Students failing to complete the requirements for the Witness One:Seven program are subject to academic probation or dismissal by action of the faculty upon recommendation of the Graduate Programs Committee. The semesters of dismissal, as well as possible readmission at a later time, are the same as those noted under Disciplinary Regulations in this catalog.

Witness One:Seven Probation

Students who do not fulfill and report requirements correctly and on time for each semester are subject to a probationary period. If students fulfill their Witness One:Seven requirements in the following semester, they are removed from probationary status. However, if students persist in delinquency during the probationary period, they may be suspended from classes for one semester by action of the faculty. Students failing to complete their total Witness One:Seven requirements by 4:30 p.m. on the third business day after the last exam day of a semester may not receive academic credit for that semester.