Happy Birthday, 2026

29 03 2026
Anna with Timberley and Grandma Norma at Ridgecrest, NC.

Today would be Anna’s 27th birthday. Time sure does fly. Everyone was so young in the picture above. Anna was three. I won’t give the ages of the others, but they were younger then, too.

I don’t know whether I had thought about this before, but I think that all my memories of Anna now are good ones. It’s not that I had bad memories of her in the past, as if I was dwelling on her faults or shortcomings. Not that at all. Rather, in those times when I think of Anna now, I find that the act of remembering her is good. It is not painful in a way.

Let me try that again. Every semester at school, I take a section of class time to tell my students a few stories about our children, Sam and Anna. I tell them about the Great Devotion Rebellion that took place when we lived in Salatiga. I’m sure I’ve told that story here, but maybe I’ll tell it again sometime. I also bring Anna’s Bible to class with me to show the students some of the notes that Anna had made in the margins. There is a lesson there for adult believers who can hear the questions and comments that a seven-year-old follower of Jesus might make. Again, I’ll share that again here another time. My point right now is to say that I have told those same stories to my classes for, I think, 32 semesters. While it is emotional for me now to do so, it does not have the stabbing pain of the past. My feelings now are mostly gratitude that I was able to know this wonderful child.

And yet this morning at church, we sang In Christ Alone. I sang that song about Anna’s faith this morning. When I change the pronouns so that I am singing about Anna, I never make it through this verse near the end of the song without tearing up. Here are the lyrics with my change. (I know that it ruins the rhyming, but we can’t have everything.)

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in her
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands her destiny
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck her from His hand
‘Til He returns or calls her home
Here in the power of Christ she’ll stand

This song, when sung about Anna’s faith, reminds me that all of Anna’s days were in God’s hands from the time she was born, right up to the moment of her death. Not only that, however, but that same care that God had for her during her life continues even after that life was over, continuing to the present and into eternity. Also, the faith that Anna had in her lifetime with us still continues unabated now and into the future.

I want to take this opportunity to remind you, or to let you know for the first time if you are new here, that we have an endowed memorial scholarship fund established in Anna’s memory at Southeastern Seminary. The fund specifically aids international students. You can make tax-deductible donations here.

Related to that note, I want to let you know that our president, Danny Akin, will be retiring soon after more than 20 years of faithful service leading SEBTS. I arrived here in 2009, so our time has largely overlapped. In fact, it was mainly because of Dr. Akin that we were able to come here in 2009. He had met us at a meeting in Thailand the summer after Anna had passed, and he knew of our situation then. When an opening for an OT professor arose the following year, he recommended that I be contacted about the position. His kindness and concern changed the course of our lives in ways we would not have foreseen.

I realized a few weeks ago that Dr. Akin had never heard all of the stories that I share with my OT classes about Anna, nor had he seen her Bible. So this past week, Timberley and I were able to meet with Dr. Akin in his office so we could share a very sweet time with him. He has been a joy to work with over the years.

Anna C. Borger Memorial Scholarship Fund – Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary


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Celebrating Together

19 07 2025

Last night a group of 22 met at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to celebrate the first year of the Anna Borger Memorial Scholarship and to meet this year’s recipient, Amen Tariq.

We enjoyed a very nice meal prepared by the staff of the Magnolia Kitchen. Thank you to Chef Kenny and his staff for their work.

I wanted to be sure to thank all of those who donated to the fund. It was encouraging to see the outpouring of love from many different quarters. In addition to our family and close friends, people reached out to help from among the trustees of SEBTS, Todd’s former students, friends from the mission field, friends that Todd knows through the dobro community, and even new friends who found Anna’s story on the internet.

Also, I wanted to let you know how the funding process works with the scholarship. Our donations are placed in an endowed fund with the seminary, and scholarships are awarded from the earnings of that account. This will remain a permanent fund into the future. As the fund grows and more money is available in the fund, the award amounts can increase, or the number of scholarships can increase. I want you to understand that your gift now will be reaching students far into the future. To make a contribution please visit this website Anna C. Borger Memorial Scholarship Fund – Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, or contact the financial development office at the seminary directly.

Finally, last night we met Amen Tariq, our first award recipient. I met Amen about four years ago in January when she came into my Old Testament class. The other students were battling a mildly cold winter with jackets and an occasional scarf. Amen entered the room in a full parka, obviously struggling with the temperature. She informed me that she had just arrived from Pakistan and was not used to this cold weather at all. Last night, Amen told us of her struggles moving from Pakistan to the United States. In addition to the normal stress of being a student, she had language barriers and culture shock. It turns out that Pakistani and American culture are not the same! Who knew? Additionally, she experienced financial difficulties because of the immigration restrictions on working for those on student visas. She told us that the awarding of this scholarship came at a significant time for her. It was a great encouragement to her that other people were giving to this fund. She finished by saying that sometimes we offer “little helps” that turn out to be “big helps” to those who receive them. We don’t always know the impact of small things that we do.

We hope that you will consider giving to the scholarship fund.   Your gift makes a significant difference in the lives of scholarship recipients, advancing the gospel through their ministries, remembering our daughter, Anna, and glorifying Jesus Christ our Lord.  Thank you for partnering with us in this endeavor.

Blessings,

Todd and Timberley Borger


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The Anna C. Borger Memorial Scholarship Fund

7 05 2024

Today we are remembering the day we lost Anna in 2008. On this day, I will often write about some memory of Anna, or something Timberley and Sam and I have learned about the grieving process. But today, I am writing with good news.

In March, I announced the creation of the Anna C. Borger Memorial Scholarship Fund at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Since then, the fund has been approved by the trustees and is now active.

We created the fund to support international students enrolled at SEBTS. We thought this would be a good way to remember Anna, her love for other cultures, and her love for the gospel of Jesus.

This fund will be fully endowed, meaning that gifts you make will help students not only now, but perpetually into the future, until the Lord returns. You can make donations at https://www.sebts.edu/alumni/anna-c-borger-memorial-scholarship-fund/.

In my announcement in March, I described four kinds people that would want to donate to this fund. I am going to copy that part here:

  1. People that want to remember Anna. There are a number of occasions during the year when family and friends may want to give a gift as a way to honor Anna’s memory. Her birthday is on March 29. The day of her passing is May 7. You know about Christmas (it falls on December 25 this year). If at any point you wish to honor Anna’s memory, please consider contacting Southeastern Seminary to make a donation for this scholarship fund.
  2. People that love international students. International students are a unique group. They have so many obstacles to overcome when moving overseas for their education. They are learning a new culture. Often they are learning a new language. Sometimes they have new weather to deal with. (I’m thinking now of my two Pakistani students who moved to Wake Forest in January. Oh my!) But a big obstacle for them is financial. Not only do they have the normal problems related to work and school, but they also have governmental restrictions on their ability to work while they are in the country. This fund will be a tremendous aid to these students.
  3. People that love Southeastern Seminary. I have been teaching at SEBTS for fifteen years now. I love this school. We have a great faculty. We have a great campus. We have a great group of students. We have a great president with a vision for reaching the nations for Christ. If you know our school, then you know that this fund will help the mission of Southeastern to train students to serve the church and the world in the advancement of the kingdom of God.
  4. People that love the gospel of Jesus Christ. Coming out of the third point are those people who love the Lord and who love to see students trained to become pastors and missionaries. These international students will very often be returning to their home countries after graduation. Sometimes they are sent elsewhere with the International Mission Board. But however they serve, our international students are very often our students who are most passionate about sharing their faith with the lost world around them. They love the Lord.

Our hope and prayer is that this fund will provide much needed aid to a particular group of students that are in great need, that this fund will honor Anna’s memory as one who loved her Lord and loved others greatly, and finally will honor our Lord by preparing ministers of his gospel for the world.

Anna resurget.


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