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The birthday 50 of the Golden Gate Theological Seminary Baptist (the Valley of Mill, California) celebrated this last party of Spring, 2009, advanced in the memories and the celebration of a Return to the home on the Valley of Mill, the Campus. Two essential ones of the May 28 and 29, 2009 days included opening a capsule witness and a return to the home by the elder graduates that appeared in Dresses in now.

In a public declaration, the seminary notices: "This place declares the Glory of God to all the nations," said the President Jeff Iorg as it was held before the capsule witness open, speaking with the former students, the students, the faculty and the personnel. "Is there another explanation for the success of Seminary otherwise that the strength of God and glory"?

The president Iorg delayed and filled with wonder itself to the remarkably items well preserved that had sat in the can can to gauged shoes of copper, huddled in the angular rock of the building of administration since 1959. The items included the orders of Seminary, the Faith and the Message Baptists, the pages of the minutes of SBC of 1950 actions of demonstration of the Convention accepting the Golden Gate as a south Baptist seminary, a copies of the first and 15th problems of birthday of the magazine of former students The Door, The photos of the three presidents of Seminary (Isam B. Hodges 1944-1946, the Herring of O. of Junior 1946-1952, and Harold K. The graves 1952-1977), the first and the 1959 academic catalogs of classes, the directory of edtudiant-faculted and the faculty groups the photo.

In a discussion by the e-mail, Dr. Rodrick Durst, replied questions as the party of a restrospective in this moment of the Birthday 50. Dr. Durst used the faculty and administration to the Golden Gate since 1991. It served also eleven years as the vice President of Academic Matters and, before that, three years as the Director of the Campus of California of the south.

The seminary says professor, "Dr. Durst likes the class room. It sign theology and the history of a perspective of formation of direction. His passion is to develop in a manner life changes to communicate and the educational Christian truth for the transformation, the retention and the quick reproduction".

His remark:

To how the changed campus in his history, a wide question. A wide response is good.

In my association of year of thirty-five with the Golden Gate, I saw the change of in a manner spectacular campus from the viewpoint of the color, the methods of group of supporters and delivery. His color of demographic student was Caucasian of more than 90% in the 1970 and is 50% today caucasian one, with the other half is African American, More korean, More chinese, and more hispanic-american. The Korean students discovered the Golden Gate in the years eighty because of his location of Sector of Bay, the reasonable tuition and biblical conservatism. They were a significant presence for the last quarter of a century.

The first President of seminary was influenced by the seminary roots. "That will open the west seminary"? These words of Theological old Seminary the president L. R. Scarborough Baptist of the southwest in a chapel speech in 1924 were engraved forever in the spirit of Isam B. Hodges, then a student to southwest.

In an announcement the grades of Seminary: "The golden Gate Theological Seminary Baptist opened the doors to his campus of California of the north in the Valley of Mill fifty years ago, in the month of September 1959, after six years of planning and of construction. The of 148 half-hectares of former earth laitiašte called the Point of Strawberry became to the house to the first seminary Baptist of the south in the west, and today the system of five campus is known as the tenth one bigger seminary to the United States".

Continue our retrospective one, Dr. Durst replied to a question second by the e-mail.

We to say, please, the how many churches Baptists are there in the west.

There were few churches Baptists in the west in 1959 when the campus of Valley of Mill opened. Now there are more than 2,000 churches Baptists of the south in only California. This group of supporters of the west began reflecting quickly the west after the big migrations of the south of stopped aprašs-guerre in the first years sixty. Today our churches of constituent one reflect the west, so not the Peaceful Edge, and not the so-called states of the Deeply Protestant souths. In 1959, the Valley of Mill was only the campus of Golden Gate, that was and is rendered obligatory by the Convention Baptist of the south (SBC) to furnish the ministerial direction to the churches of SBC in the half of the west of the United States for more better to attain this mandate, the campus of California of the north intentionally multiplied and sacrificed resources to open campus Phoenix, AZ (1995) and Denver, CO (1996).

The seminary catalog says readers: "The mission of the golden Gate forms effective Christian leaders to accelerate the accomplishment of the Big Commission by the churches of the West and the world. To the Golden Gate, the students occasions without parallel of the actions to participate manual in the true world of ministry and of mission in North America and through the globe".

The amplest declarations on the seminary goal for this retrospective one add: "To join the means of family of Golden Gate become the party of a community of engaged people to divide the message of Jesus Christ in the creative manners, practice and life transforming.

"Every year, we induce more than 1,900 men and the women to our five campus and the centers of Development of Direction of multiple Contextualized through the West. We pray that Seminary of Golden Gate can become your partner as you try to fill the call of God in your life". The seminary President says as the party of his declaration of goal of his catalog.

A current remarks of student of his time to the seminary: "I was drawn to the Golden Gate because of my desire to have a bigger witty impact on other lives. I am fascinated to attain lost people and I believe that the training of the Golden Gate will help me to become a better minister. The golden Gate does not induce just of the bosses of a church, but the effective leaders for Christ". (Site internet of seminary).

Another studying woman says site internet of seminary: "My seminary experience was anything not except life changes. I learn to search deeply in the Ecritures, fight with the comprehension them for that my proclamation is precise and shrewd and, the most important, most given strength by Holy Spirit. I learn also to fight with this thing let us call us the faith community - learning to like my brothers and my sisters in Christ as I like myself. I learn to like those outside the Kingdom with the grace and the truth, the magnet in the family. Does more not import what, the seminary enriches my own walk with Jesus and helping is for me more as him".

Here a taste of the direction of current direction and here student training. Certainly, the seminary is centered on Jesus Christ. These characteristics are taught as the party of Formation and the Christian Education:

The characteristics of direction linked to is favoring JESUS:

1. Following Jesus -- A Christian leader understands that foundations more biblical, more theological, more historic, more personal and empirical of is favoring Jesus.

2. Witty disciplines -- A Christian leader practices the witty disciplines of is favoring Jesus.

3. Christ Engagement -- A Christian leader shows the engagement to live as a favoring Jesus by to know God by Jesus and oneself knowing.

4. Integrity -- A Christian leader shows integrity, the meaning or she applies uniformly biblical

The principles in the character and the actions.

5. Wisdom -- A Christian leader shows wisdom, the meaning or she follows Spirit to God to apply biblical principles to the positions of complex life.

The golden Gate Theological Seminary Baptist is part of the movement of emerging Church. Dr. Durst notes in discussion e-mail:

In the same line of history, which aspect of the movement of emerging Church is now current in the teaching and the philosophy of the Seminary on his birthday (50 years)?

Without losing the home on the grace and the Christian truth, the classes now are taught with a distinct conscience of cultural variety, of imagination generative, and of witty authenticity. The courses and the chapels challenge students to move itself of is spectators to the participants in their erudition experience. All five direction and the styles of erudition of multiple are employed for that the students can engage of their force instead of are forced in a model or an erudition method. The computers of rooms of class and faculty are telegraphed for Internet. A lot of faculties is on Facebook or the other social networks and uses these to remain in contact with their students.

Notably changed a lot in the 50 years of life of seminary, and as one to look at in the back

An essential one festivities honored the Seminary "the Gilded Graduates" during the beginning May 29. Twenty-eight of those that has measuring of the campus of Berkeley and Oakland of 1949-1959, put gilded dresses and walked with the Class of 2009."

During this time of retrospective one, we asked Dr. Durst to give us the perspective on the life of current seminary. It did this in the discussion by the e-mail in two parties:

We heard the "Postmodernity" of so many time term. Will you comment on?

If we can call the emerging culture "Postmodernity," then this culture moves away from the antrhopocentric one towards an ecological centricity, far nationalism towards a global/local conscience, and far confidence in the truths expressed propositionally towards the transmitted truth in the histories, especially the histories in the graphic formats. To emerge it postmoderne is rather allergic to the denominative structures but correctly are fascinated by spirituality. The witty formation is now basic in the program and studying them of this generation savors the challenge discipline old witty bring to their internal authenticity.

As a retrospective one, will do indicates you to a major evolution in this sector for the ministry, the seminary and the Church.

The ministers and the ministry will need to continue to move itself of a home on the execution excellence to the authenticity relationelle. The people become less trusting the "the sage on the step" and opens more to the "the guide to the side" that is on the pedlerinage with them. The Seminary will need to be old and future. Old in the direction of is rooted in the reliability of the gospel and of future in the direction of knowledge and do the space to hear the question people ask in the 21st century. The classes, that wants to amuse the questions more hard today with the impartial biblical response, will be better able to prepare its students to have the joy and the effectiveness in the ministry.

The churches must move themselves building and structure organisationnelle centrique to the people and centered relationellement. The churches will need to continue to move itself of is converged to the interior to be converged in appearance, going counts that the need postmoderne to see that Christianity fact good in the community before they care for to hear the message of pardon and of restoration relationelle. In the this of pass was said then the spectacle, and now his spectacle says then. And often it will mean inviting the interested in the demonstration to create the occasion to say proud.

As an end grade to this retrospective item, Dr. Durst comments on in his discussion by the e-mail on the Trinity and his "place" in the seminary context:

Will you say something of the Trinity in the doctrine of biblical Seminary in a manner that a civil person will be interested, therefore also to illuminate as a reflection your years with the students in this past decade of experience?

In about 1997, I used Young Jung The 1996 The Trinity in Asian Perspective as an example of a global theology. While I am not agreed with to impose it work norms cultural on the biblical texts, I appreciated the in a manner looked at It the New orders of different Wills of the divine one three names. It called the Father, the Son, the Spirit orders the patriarchal order and the Spirit, the Father, the order of Son "matriarchal". I was used to the quoted order to my own baptism of the swelling, "in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son and in the name of Holy Spirit". I took this order as the biblical norm. I heard any inconsciemment reference to the divine names in this order. Nevertheless, I was charmed and was intrigued by the blessing celebrates in 2 Corinthian ones 13:13, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the comradeship of Holy Spirit is with you all". To the book of The, I neglected simply such a order of jarring Trinitarian also so rare as to be the "the exception that proved the rule.

Little by little, I began lending an attention all special one to the reference order to the persons in the divine triad and how many times these orders were not in the Father, the Son, the Spirit the order of baptism. It is that well more than thirty examples of Trinitarian arrive in the New Testament, that uses an order otherwise that the Father, the Son and the Spirit. In the class, I tried an experience. I showed the students that, while the please the disciple must be at God as Father in the name of the Son, the taken New Testament in this manner with the astonishing variety. Would the students want to pray to God in any order of Trinitarian did most of direction to them this night? I did not foresee the exit. A female student divided that she had had a difficult relation with his father and had never felt consequently comfortable to pray to the Father. Until this class, she always had prayed to only Jesus. She said that while praying to the Son and then the Spirit, then she was for the first time able to pray to the Father by the name. I meditated the meaning of this experience and the works out in a book provisionally authorized," The Matrix of Trinitarian of the New Testament". I wondered also if one of the reasons the looks of church and feels narrow had objections is because it neglected the variety of the manners God is named and is loved in the New Testament.

-- Peter Menkin, Jump 2009 (the Valley of Mill, CALIFORNIA WORE)