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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