Voddie Baucham's Seminary Announces Next Steps After Death of Prominent Minister
Founders Seminary, the newly launched Christian institution in Florida led by Voddie Baucham until his death, announced that Dr. Tom Ascol, its chancellor, would also serve as acting president.
Baucham, a Baptist minister who had only recently been appointed as president of Founders Seminary, died on Sept. 25 at the age of 56 after suffering a medical emergency.
The board of Founders Ministries selected Ascol, a close friend of Baucham’s, to function as president in addition to chancellor of the institution.
“Founders Seminary remains steadfast in its purpose to train men for ministry with sharp minds, warm hearts, and steel spines,” an announcement from the school said.
On October 7, 2025, the Board of Directors of Founders Ministries named Dr. Thomas K. Ascol as the acting President of Founders Seminary in the wake of the loss of founding President Dr. Voddie T. Bauchum, Jr. (1969-2025).
Read the whole announcement here:… pic.twitter.com/5IcvEJGIPW
— Founders Seminary (@FoundersSem) October 14, 2025
“This appointment reflects the Board of Directors’ confidence in Dr. Ascol’s leadership and commitment to the mission of Founders Seminary.”
The announcement added that the board continues to pray for Baucham’s wife, Bridget, as well as their nine children and three grandchildren.
“Last month when we celebrated the first convocation of the newly established Founders Seminary, I could not have anticipated that our Lord would so quickly call my brother, friend, colleague, and our founding President, Voddie Baucham, to his heavenly reward,” Ascol reflected.
“As I said when I introduced Dr. Baucham on that occasion, he was the only man that I wanted to be at the helm when this seminary launched. In God’s kind providence, that happened.”
Ascol expressed faith that God had sovereignly and rightly called Baucham into glory at the proper time.
We are saddened to inform friends that our dear brother, Voddie Baucham, Jr., has left the land of the dying and entered the land of the living. Earlier today, after suffering an emergency medical incident, he entered into his rest and the immediate presence of the Savior whom he… pic.twitter.com/mwVSAS55E8
— Founders Seminary (@FoundersSem) September 25, 2025
“He and I looked forward to working together for years to come with him in that position,” Ascol continued. “But the same God who kindly lent Voddie to this great work has called him home. And I bow to Him with sorrow, faith, and hope and with full confidence in His sovereignty, wisdom, and goodness.”
Beyond his recent appointment as president of Founders Seminary, Baucham had served as dean of theology at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia.
He was raised by a non-Christian single mother and came to faith in college.
Baucham pastored Grace Family Baptist Church in Texas, before taking his family to Zambia.
In recent years, he was a fixture at Reformed evangelical conferences, focusing especially on cultural apologetics and education.
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