Seven years after J.D. Payne brought renown to Samford’s newly formed Department of Christian Ministry, the prolific author and speaker enters fall semester in line for another distinction—becoming the Thomas Welby Bozeman Endowed Chair.
It’s an honor Payne calls “a great opportunity to broaden my research, scholarship and publications and to improve in my overall training of students.”
The endowment is a $1.4 million gift from the late Jeanine Bozeman in memory of her husband, who graduated from Samford in 1951 before embarking upon a career as a pastor and seminary professor.
“The resources will extend the quality of what we're doing in the Department of Christian Ministry at Samford and beyond,” said Payne, who joined the Samford faculty in 2018.
Payne taught as an adjunct professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Beeson Divinity School. A pastor of 19 years in Kentucky, Indiana, and Alabama, he trained church planting teams for U. S. and international contexts. Payne served for 10 years as associate professor of church planting and evangelism at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. For nine of those years, he was a national missionary with the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board and directed the Center for North American Missions and Church Planting.
“I've always tried to keep one foot in the classroom and one foot in the field involved in local church ministry, because they complement one another,” he said. “What I do in the field, in the church, it makes me a better professor with my students. Teaching in the classroom, working my students, that guides my research and causes me to think differently and move in fresh, new ways.”
Payne is on the cusp of publishing Understanding Evangelism, his 16th book, which is a comprehensive work aimed at students and church leaders. Scheduled for September release, it examines biblical foundations and historical developments in evangelism, while dealing with contemporary issues.
“J.D. is exceptional,” said Scott Guffin, executive director of Christian Ministry within Samford’s School of the Arts. “I think his book is going to be the book on evangelism for the next 10 to 15 years in seminaries. It's just a monster of a book, and I think it's going to further cement J.D. as a major voice in the area of evangelism and missions.”
Guffin helped bring Payne to Samford the same semester that the program launched with six students. That number had grown to 90 students at the end of the 2024-25 academic year.
“In total faith, J.D. just stepped in and said he’d be a part of that new program. And every day since, I’ve been amazed that we have him,” Guffin said.
Payne also hosts a missions-related podcast, “Strike the Match,” which has produced 113 episodes since 2015.
“The Bozeman family has bestowed upon Samford an extraordinary gift and opportunity. This gift will profoundly impact our students and the Christian Ministry program, while amplifying J.D.’s work,” said Lance Beaumont, dean of School of the Arts. “I believe the full impact of this gift will be immeasurable in our lifetime, as it will shape generations of Christian Ministry students and local church pastors through J.D.'s influential work and teaching.”
In Memory of the Bozemans
Thomas Welby Bozeman served as pastor of churches in Alabama from 1950-1967, including New Hope Baptist Church, Dozier Baptist Church and Westside Baptist Church in Elba. In Louisiana, he served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Chalmette and Tangipahoa Baptist Church in Tangipahoa. He later spent 18 years as professor of New Testament and Religious Education at Louisiana College. After retirement from academia in 2000, he served as interim pastor for numerous churches in Louisiana until his passing in 2008.
Bozeman’s wife Jeanine, a native of Dozier, Alabama, taught 35 years at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, alongside her husband. Before she passed away in 2022 at age 93, a series of providential connections traced back to her husband’s alma mater, where the Christian Ministry department was led by longtime pastors.
Wallace Davis ’71 was a young pastor at Searight Baptist Church—Welby Bozeman’s home church—when he met the Bozemans in the early 1970s. Their friendship lasted a half-century, with Davis entrusted to manage their estate.
“They didn’t have children, but they were mentors and parents to many people who came their way. I was just fortunate to be one of those,” Davis said.
“They were compassionate caring people who changed the course of my life. Establishing this chair at Samford seemed like an appropriate way to complete Welby’s dream.”
