STATE OF THE SEMINARY ADDRESS Dr. Jonathan V. Exiomo, President ALLIANCE GRADUATE SCHOOL Pearl Anniversary (30th Year) Max's Restaurant, Scout Tuazon, Quezon City December 14, 2007 jv_exiomo@yahoo.com

Alliance Graduate School celebrates its 30 th anniversary with the theme “Trenta: Panibagong Sigla.” These 30 years reflect the passion towards the aim of making the then, Alliance Biblical Seminary a theological institution excelling in theological education. By excellence, I refer to four variables, namely, recognized and accredited curricula, faculty members in their respective disciplines, updated library collections, and governance,

From its beginning until the early 2000s, ABS enjoyed the generous support of the Christian and Missionary Alliance-USA, giving about 70% of the school’s operational budget. The presence of expatriate academicians in the likes of Drs. Glen Shellrude, Gordon Smith, Julianne Vass, Floyd Grunau, Bryan Widbin, Jim Lanpher, Eunice Irwin, Jack Painter, Tim Undheim, Craig Smith, David & Cindy Strong, Rick Love, George Harper among others, left a public image among the member bodies of the academic communities in ASIA that ABS was one of the best seminaries outside the US.

During those years, CHED recognized 8 degree programs. Also, ABS initiated the Distance and Extension Learning Program (DELP) to the world to serve theological formation through the e-education approach. Truly, God is to be honored for what He has done through AGS with 606 alumni serving our Lord all around the world.

But we cannot rest on our laurels. Factors evolve into our awareness very fast that if we do not do something about them, the Seminary becomes a luxury and not a necessity. Globalization came in during the time of President Ramos. Open trade, information technology, consumerism, and entertainment become the added factors in the daily economic decision of every one.

In the religious sector, we are caught unaware; post-modernity becomes the consenting spirit of the time. The hierarchical arrangement of authority based on the worldview that cosmos is structured and ordered according to importance and power began to be questioned. Hymns composed in times of movements by the church thinkers, slowly paved their way for a personalized singing with the first encounter with God. The hymn, “To God be the Glory” to the generation today is abstract. Arnel Depano’s “Sadyang kay buti ng ating Panginoon. Nagtatapat sa habang panahon. Maging sa kabila ng ating pagkukulang, biyaya Nya’y patuloy na laan.” makes sense because I and God are into my personal story.

Relevance, meaning and significance are the by-words of post-modernity. The realization that the world is flat is an admission of the fact that truth as fact is not anymore the monopoly of the church. Since the information technology has made available the data, each one has an access through the internet. A pastor who prepares the message each Sunday should be very careful in the study of the Word because members of the church have equal access to the information available in cyberspace. The implication is that answers could be found everywhere. The clergy who used to enjoy the position in the higher order because of theological knowledge could no longer claim so because we now have informed laypersons. Who can deny them anyway? We have them in the Evangelical churches in the Philippines in the likes of Ed Lapiz, Butch Conde, Eddie Villanueva, Peter Tanchi, the Victory guys, among others. In the Alliance circle, who can miss the adequate theological knowledge of the lay members of the AGS BOT in the persons of Harold Ledda and Jun Vencer? I believe they know their theology textbooks better than some students of theology. The dichotomy between the clergy and lay is becoming more difficult to discern in terms of content. We have bi-vocational leaders, like a lawyer and a Scripture professor and/or preacher as example. [ppt pictures of Atty Jun Eslao and Atty. Toto Bagares]

Because the world is now accessible due to affordable air transportation the Diaspora movement fits in the situation. Immediately we are confronted with the reality that thousands of Filipinos are leaving the country to find a living. This is not hard to understand with 4 million Filipinos unemployed, 7.8 million are underemployed, and 2.8 million families live on less than 1 USD or P43 a day. The Diaspora phenomenon presents to us a way of understanding the “doings of missions.” The usual way of sending missionaries may now be overcome by training the Diaspora in lands and seas. In other words, we have a paradigm shift from factory mentality to franchise mentality of doing theological training.

But in the light of these changes, we stick to our commitments. They could be stated as follows:

(1) We are committed to the authority of the Word of God as the standard for our faith and practice. This commitment should respect the nature of the Word as written in time and space for a particular need yet very appropriate for our time also, for our faith and practice. But because the Bible has a context and worldview distant from the modern mind, understanding is not something immediate and easy. Thus, we commit ourselves to respect the critical study of the text (including philosophical-theological reflections of our spiritual leaders in the Christian movements with an adequate sensitivity to history), as a way of validating interpretations. We shall continue to train faculty to be experts in biblical and theological studies to continue the tradition of biblical scholarship that is at par with the academic requirements of Asia Theological Association, Association of Theological Education in South East Asia and the Association of Theological Schools in the USA. [ power point of biblical studies and theology professors]

(2) We are committed to serve the ministry and missions of the church by dedicating our lives towards the training of “transformissional” leaders who will serve the Lord in the different sectors of our society. We do this through our multi-level approach to theological education, namely, the 8 graduate degree programs recognized by CHED, DELP, and the Innovative Programs including the MBA in NGO Management, Master of Ministry for church leaders, and the upcoming MA in Organizational Leadership for the PNP. [ power point of the programs with pictures]

(3) We are committed to integrated and inter-disciplinary courses and curricula which the resident programs and their respective professors will model in their respective syllabi. We expect to produce leaders who integrate content, character, and skills—competence, confidence, and credibility. [ppt 3 circles]

(4) We are committed to research and the publication of works primarily by the faculty members and students to make an influence to the worldview of the academe and the next generation of gatekeepers and readers [ppt Dr Tano’s book]

(5) We are committed to the sustainability of theological education in the Asian contexts through partnerships with like-minded visionaries. We intentionally link with institutions who would support a faculty chair, contribute to scholarship assistance funds, and send faculty members who will share their expertise at AGS (ppt TTGST and DR Terry C. Casiño, Seung Lee, FIN-Jojo Remegio, Enoch Wan, Wil Goodyeer, Joy Tira, ACTS/Carey University-Bangalore, India in the persons of Ken Gnanakan and others, other sponsoring missions groups: Tim Undheim, Andrew Spurgeon, et. al.) Because of these partnerships, AGS for the first time is in the black.

(6) We are committed to uphold the values of being “Rooted in the Word for Ministry to the World” so that as a Seminary we could truly say we do Theological Education for National Transformation (TENT). We trust that our relationship with our donors and stakeholders is primarily one characterized by accountability to our God who called us to live our vision of TENT.

Today, our new inspiration is to franchise theological education to churches, the diaspora Filipinos in the different parts of the world in partnership with the Filipino International Network (FIN), the non-government institutions in partnership with the International Christian Higher Education (ICHE), and the Philippine National Police in partnership with a reputable university in the US. We seek to train leaders whose spirituality is characterized by a high aptitude in content, a Christ-like character, and functional skills for the ministry and mission of the church of Jesus Christ. This makes AGS an arm of the church in Theological Education committed to National Transformation (AGS as TENT) as we endeavor to be always “Rooted in the Word for the Ministry to the World”. (ppt pictures of the prime movers of this concept)

We are energized to see the 364 pastors and lay leaders enrolled for the Master of Ministry under the Innovative Programs all over the Philippines. The first class in Europe among the Diaspora Filipinos is scheduled to start in May 2008.

Lately, we had initial talks with the official representative of the Azusa Pacific University to help us out with the need for the faculty and the problem of accreditation for the MA in Organizational Leadership primarily designed for the Christian officers in the Philippine National Police. The latest news we have from their coordinator is that Asuza wants the first class to begin this summer. The partnership with the ICHE paved the way for AGS to partner with other schools such as Talbot Theological Seminary (USA), International University ( Vienna, Austria), William Carey University ( India), and Azusa Pacific University (USA) to put theological education in the cutting edge. Our MBA in NGO Management is a good model brought about by this network to train NGO managers in the land. We now have 14 regular students. (ppt of leaders who met at a University in Seoul Korea). Thailand would like to start the first class this summer as well. We seek for partners who will give towards the scholarship of deserving students.

At our resident programs, we are now in the process of integrating our curricula (interdisciplinary approach). We are excited about the effects of an integrated learning on our students as they engage the Gospel and Culture in our society. What is reflected in our souvenir program is the idea of the Philippine Government to put the other disciplines under the existing CHED recognized programs.

Because of the above opportunities and challenges, we are inspired to move beyond “Trenta” with a new vigor.

Of course, without the prayers and blessings of the esteemed members of the Board, we would not reach this far. They had been very supportive in bad times and good times from both sides now from ups and downs and still somehow. May we request them to please come up front to receive a token of our simple appreciation.

With You in Theological Education for National Transformation!

Merry Christmas and A Blessed New Year!

Figure 1. The AGS Management Team and Staff greet You a Merry Christmas.
Figure 2. The AGS Management Team and Staff after a successful celebration of the Pearl Anniversary in Max's Restaurant.