[1]MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BP) — Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary will soon complete one of the most significant relocations of any seminary in American history.
We are moving our primary campus 400 miles to the Southern California city of Ontario. We are also building a new Bay Area campus in Fremont, Calif. We are doing all this while remaining fully operational. About 2,000 students are in class this semester somewhere in the Golden Gate system, which also includes campuses in Denver, Phoenix and the Pacific Northwest.
The employees and students who have worked together to make all this happen are the heroes in the story. Our employees — faculty and staff — have worked tirelessly. They are doing two jobs simultaneously — moving a seminary and running a seminary. Our students also are showing amazing focus, continuing their studies while making moving plans and preparing to relocate early this summer.
Our community has done all this with minimal disruption and even less division. Our unity is profound. We have demonstrated commitment to our mission of shaping leaders while, at the same time, laying the foundation for long-term future success.
Throughout this process, we have talked openly about the stress and grief we are feeling. We are now less than 45 days from the official move and these feelings are intensifying. We are unified around our mission, but the process is tough. It’s like we are having 100 weddings at the same time.
Weddings are stressful — although in a good way. There’s intense build-up, a lot of tension along the way, frayed nerves putting people on edge, all culminating in a big celebration. Every family at Golden Gate is living through this right now. Just imagine 100 families in your church all having major weddings in the same week! That’s what it feels like.
[2]Pray for us. Pray for families who are still looking for housing to find it soon. Pray for students who are relocating to find jobs, houses and churches. Pray for new employees — about 50 of them — to learn their jobs and establish new working relationships quickly. Pray for our executive leaders to have patience and wisdom as we make hundreds of rapid-fire decisions in these final weeks prior to the move.
Thanks for standing with us! The big move is coming and the entire Golden Gate family will soon celebrate a most remarkable achievement.