Once again, we’d like to thank you for your prayers and support. God has continued to sustain us through sixteen years of ministry, and the past year has been especially encouraging.

Retrospect 

In the early spring, we launched the 1689 Theology Project: Five courses on systematic theology using the Second London Baptist Confession as a template. We offered Unit 1: Scripture, God, and Decree (chs. 1–3) in March, and we have Unit 4: Christian Life and Worship (chs. 19–25) scheduled for the first week of December. We had over 50 attend the first module, and we expect roughly the same amount for the second. These theology courses will form the heart of a 12-unit Certificate in Reformed Baptist Studies program.

Emmanuel Baptist Church of Coconut Creek, Florida, hosted a module on biblical ethics in May, which enabled us to completely update our course on ethics. This course features lectures by Pastor Jeff Smith on the abiding relevance of the Decalogue, a theology of the Christian Sabbath, as well as lectures by Pastor Nick Kennicott dealing with social justice, critical race theory, and gender identity. This module was also well attended.  

We saw eight students graduate after the spring semester, bringing the total graduates for the 2020–21 academic term to twenty. We expect another seven students to graduate in December, which will bring the total graduates since 2005 to one-hundred twelve. In a recent survey, forty-five percent of our graduates indicated they were serving as pastors when they enrolled in RBS. Of those same respondents, sixty-six percent have been serving in the pastorate since graduation. Others are serving as deacons, pastoral interns, teachers, or laypeople in the church. Additionally, fifty-six percent indicated they fully subscribe to the 1689 Confession and forty percent most subscribe. 

Our enrollment for the fall semester increased to 109 students, which is the most actively enrolled in our history. Additionally, we began offering a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies or Theological Studies. Dr Gonzales taught Old Testament Introduction as a semester-length course from September through November, lecturing on the composition, transmission, historicity, interpretation, and primary themes of the Hebrew Bible. Specially attention was given to the use of archaeology to confirm the reliability of the OT and the use of ancient Near Eastern comparative studies to shed light on the meaning of the OT. All thirty lectures have been recorded in audio and video format and will be available online in the spring. 

We were also blessed in 2021 to have Vadim Chepurny increase his labors to nearly fulltime as Dr Gonzales’s assistant. Vadim has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of California and a Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree from The Master’s Seminary. Thus, he not only brings a good deal of knowledge and experience in the realm of theology and academics, but he also has a good grasp on audio, video, and internet technology. His contributions to the seminary have invaluable. 

Lastly, it looks like we’ll enter the new fiscal year in the black, even though we projected a deficit due to the increase in staffing expenses. Praise the Lord once again for his generous provision! And thanks to many of you who support the seminary financially. 

Prospect 

What do we have planned for 2022? 

The Lord willing, Mark Chanski will lecture on Hermeneutics in Sacramento, the week of February 22–25. Pastors Robert Elliott, Jamie Howell, and Jeff Johnson will teach pastoral theology in Riverside, California, the week of April 25–29. Then, Jeff Smith will teach Unit 3 of the 1689 Theology Project in Sacramento, where he’ll present the soteriology of the Confession, expounding chapters 10 thru 18, on the weekend of May 13 and 14. Finally, we plan to offer Unit 5: The Church and Last Things (chs. 26–32) of the 1689 TP, sometime in the fall or winter of 2021. 

Additionally, with Vadim on staff the seminary has decided to give Dr Gonzales a four-month sabbatical from April through July for his nearly 17 years of service. He plans to devote some of that time to rest and some of it toward some writing projects. One of those projects includes editing lecture materials from the 1689 Theology Project into a practical commentary for the churches. 

In closing, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude once again for your prayers and partnership in this endeavor. We remain convinced that training men for gospel ministry is just as much the church’s responsibility as is praying for laborers and sending them into the harvest. May the Lord Jesus continue to provide the church with the gifts she needs to build up the body and to publish the gospel to the ends of the earth! 

Sincerely,
Bob Gonzales, Dean
Reformed Baptist Seminary 

Photos