Provost Sherwood Lingenfelter delivers address at FSNC graduation celebration
::
06/15/09
Fuller Seminary Northern California, with campuses in Menlo Park and Sacramento, celebrated the largest graduating class in its history at its graduation ceremony held Saturday, June 6, at the chapel of St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California. A total of 38 students graduated this year from FSNC, and 33 of those participated in the ceremony.
Sherwood Lingenfelter, provost and senior vice president of Fuller Seminary, delivered the graduation address, entitled “BEING the Church to Lead the Church.”
“We’re here to celebrate the calling of the risen Christ to you,” he said to the new graduates, “and to celebrate your faithfulness to that call.” Recounting poignant lessons learned from his own father, a lifelong pastor, Dr. Lingenfelter reminded the students that the Church is not a building; it is the people of God who love one another. “Our first priority as leaders is to help our people be the body of Christ,” he said. “Unless we are the Church, serving in covenant relationships with one another, we cannot be the vessels through which the manifold wisdom of God is made known in the world.”
“Graduates of Fuller Northern California, you are serving the Church, and by God’s grace you have been equipped through your studies to do that work more effectively,” he declared. “I pray that you will never lose sight of the fact that to be the Church is our highest priority . . . to know and share the love that surpasses all knowledge . . . to lead our people to mobilize as one body in mission to a broken world.”
The ceremony also included reflections on the Fuller experience by two graduates: Sarah Ago, earning her MA in Family Life and Education, and Kevin Kaub, graduating with his Master of Divinity. “One of the most valuable things I take with me from my Fuller studies is the diversity of theological viewpoints and opinions that have been presented here,” said Ago. “I have found great growth in my own life as I’ve learned about these multifaceted expressions of the one Christian faith.”
At Fuller Seminary Northern California, “We have been equipped,” said Kaub. “We have been equipped so that we might follow God’s call, and lead others to join us in working for God’s Kingdom.”
“It is exciting to me that we are sending out 38 graduates who are passionate about the Kingdom of God and the value of their theological education in equipping them for the work of the Kingdom,”said FSNC Director Curt Longacre.
FSNC, which has a current enrollment of 190 students, has been in Northern California since 1974 and is the largest regional campus of Fuller Theological Seminary. For more information about the campus, click here.