OPINION

TRUSTEES: 15th anniv. of GGBTS' Ariz. campus celebrated

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MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BP)--Trustees of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary celebrated the 15th anniversary of the seminary's Arizona campus and received progress reports and dealt with routine business during their fall meeting in Mill Valley, Calif.

Ninety-one students have graduated since the Arizona campus opened in Phoenix in 1995.

"We are grateful for our partnership with Arizona Southern Baptists and the significant difference we are making training leaders in their state and from their state for missions around the world," GGBTS President Jeff Iorg declared as he presented recognitions to donors, supporters and Arizona Baptist leaders.

Trustees heard progress reports on such matters as responding to national Cooperative Program giving patterns by Southern Baptists, accreditation process completion, changes in academic programs, financial status and projections, and faculty changes.

"Leading Golden Gate Seminary is like installing wings on an airplane while it soars at 37,000 feet," Iorg said in his report to the trustees during their Oct. 11-12 sessions. "We continually confront problems -- some we anticipate, others coming at us out of the blue -- retool our strategies and action plans, and then level off, ready to take a new set of challenges the next day. It's never boring being on the cutting edge of Kingdom advance."

The board was informed the master of missiology degree was successfully launched this fall, with the master of intercultural ministry degree planned for a fall 2011 launch. In addition, the master of divinity revision has been completed, with the new M.Div. also to be inaugurated in the fall of 2011.

Trustees also heard reports from each regional campus, as well as presentations from two professors from the Arizona campus: Leslie Dodrill, associate professor of educational leadership, and Harry Hahne, associate professor of New Testament studies.

Golden Gate Seminary (www.ggbts.edu) operates five fully accredited campuses located in Northern California, Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, Arizona and Colorado.

Phyllis Evans is director of communications at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.

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