At both Duke and Gordon-Conwell, Pratt was a fellow student with Mark Dever, senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. A Southern alumnus and former chairman of the school’s board of trustees, Dever noted he is praying that Pratt and Southern Seminary will be “well used in growing Gospel obedience.”

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary announced that Zane Pratt will become dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism, August 2011.

Pratt comes to the deanship at Southern from serving overseas as a missionary from 1991 to 2011. He oversaw missions work across Central Asia from 2001 to 2011. Pratt will replace former dean Chuck Lawless who became vice president for global theological advance at the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, June 1.

In addition to his role as dean, Pratt will serve as associate professor of missions.

“I am absolutely thrilled with the appointment of Zane Pratt as dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism,” said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary. “Zane is one of the world’s premier missiologists and most effective missionaries. His missions leadership Board has been stellar, and his experience leading a missionary movement in one of the world’s most challenging regions is invaluable.

“I have had the opportunity to visit with Zane on the field and to see him at work. I have long admired his vision, his tenacity and his faithfulness. I cannot wait for the students of Southern Seminary to know him as dean, teacher and friend. I am convinced that he will be an epic leader of the Billy Graham School, and I am further convinced that his leadership here will mean that many, many new missionaries will go out in service of the Great Commission.”

Pratt earned his bachelor’s degree from Duke University in Durham, N.C., and his master of divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass.

At both Duke and Gordon-Conwell, Pratt was a fellow student with Mark Dever, senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. A Southern alumnus and former chairman of the school’s board of trustees, Dever noted he is praying that Pratt and Southern Seminary will be “well used in growing Gospel obedience.”

“I’ve known Zane Pratt for more than 30 years. Few people have been more used of God in my life – and I know in the lives of so many others,” he said.

“Zane is a great combination of biblical reflection and personal action. He’s lived it out. I’m thankful for the opportunity [for him] to continue to work to fulfill the Great Commission, only for this next chapter, as a stateside teacher. I’ll be interested to see how God uses his combination of biblical, theological, historical and missiological insight among the faculty and students of the school.”

Prior to moving overseas, Pratt was a church planter in Massachusetts as well as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve.

“Zane Pratt will keep the focus of the Billy Graham School and Southern Seminary on the global task of the Great Commission. He is a respected missionary practitioner who thinks deeply and strategically about reaching Muslim populations with the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” said Russell D. Moore, dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration at Southern Seminary, concerning Pratt’s appointment.

“Pratt is a renowned leader who will fit well with the kind of energy that is present now in the Billy Graham School. He understands that theology is not an academic discipline that ought to be separated from the Great Commission but the Great Commission is fueled by theology and theology is informed by the Great Commission.”

Pratt is married to Catherine with whom he has two teenage children, Charlotte and Greg.