NASHVILLE (AP) - Southern Baptist leader Richard Land will be the next president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary, in Charlotte, N.C.

Land has led the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy arm for a quarter century and is one of the denomination's most prominent spokesmen.

In a video on the school's website, Land says he intends to strengthen the school's reputation for teaching Christian apologetics.

Land says his goal to make the school's graduates "the green berets and paratroopers of God's army."

Land has said he will retire as president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission in October.

That announcement came after Land was admonished by the commission's board for insensitive remarks about the Trayvon Martin case and plagiarism on his talk radio show Richard Land Live! The board also cancelled the show.