In 1849, Harvey Gilbert strived to establish a school to train Christian worker to witness in California. However, he was not able to form a permanent theological educational institution.
The dream was picked up by Isam B. Hodges, who became the pastor of Golden Gate Baptist Church in Oakland in 1937. Then, in 1944, his congregation meet with First Southern Baptist Church of San Francisco to establish a seminary, which was overseen by six deacons from each church. Soon after, the school was issued a state charter, and classes began.
At the end of World War II in 1945, Southern Baptist General Convention of California acquired what was known as the Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.
The heartland of America was embracing God and country, but Dr. Richard Land of Southern Evangelical Seminary says even then California was rocky soil.
"California was missionary territory when it opened up in 1945," Land states.
Over the years the school leaned into the hard work, and even today the Christian worldview is countercultural.
"At Gateway… ground your education on a biblical foundation to sustain your ministry through the challenges of a post-Christian culture," said a promo video for the seminary.
As of this year, Golden Gate Seminary, now called Gateway Seminary, has hit a record enrollment of 1,095 students, reports The Christian Post. Enrollment rose by 46% compared to last year.
Land says the decades of hard work are paying off.
"It has become the Baptist Seminary in the West. They've got satellite campuses in Oregon, in Washington State and, as I said, in Hawaii now and in Arizona," Land states.
President Adam Groza says students in the Golden State are hungry for God's Word, and Land says Gateway is working with local churches to feed them theologically sound spiritual nourishment.
"Gateway is a place they can send them, and they will be trained in the ministry, and they will be trained from a perspective of a conservative, a biblically based seminary," Land says.
One of the taglines of Gateway is "from the West to the world."
