INDIANAPOLIS (BP)–Bill Crews, chancellor of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, introduced the seminary’s president-elect, Jeff Iorg, to messengers during the GGBTS report at the Southern Baptist Convention June 15-16 in Indianapolis.
Iorg, in response, thanked the Southern Baptist Convention for its influence in his life.
“I come … as president of Golden Gate in a few weeks, but I also come as a debtor to Southern Baptists,” he said.
“I did not grow up in a Southern Baptist church, but a Southern Baptist youth minister reached me, Southern Baptists provided my college and seminary. Then Southern Baptists sent me to Portland, Ore., as a church planter. My life is a result of your investment in my life.
“At Golden Gate, the Kingdom of God is our purpose, the Great Commission is our passion, the Bible is our standard, and the future is our commitment,” Iorg said. “We are committed to shaping leaders for the churches of tomorrow to see the West won to Christ. May God give us grace for this great work.”
Iorg will assume office Aug. 1. He currently is the executive director of the Northwest Baptist Convention in Oregon and Portland.
Crews recounted the dream of Baptist pastor Harvey Gilbert for a seminary in the West, which Gilbert began by training pastors in Northern California in 1859. “The vision that God gave that pastor to train ministers is continuing through Golden Gate,” Crews said.
“Although Golden Gate was founded 60 years ago, it has been continuing in Gilbert’s 145-year-old dream,” Crews said. “This dream is being fulfilled by Golden Gate through its five campuses and 50 Contextualized Leadership Development centers teaching in eight different languages across the West.”
Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary is a Cooperative Program ministry of the Southern Baptist Convention and operates five campuses in Northern California, Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, Arizona and Colorado.
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