A $500,000 grant was awarded to Multnomah Biblical Seminary
by the Kern Family Foundation for the development of three programs at the
Seminary, including a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min) degree.
In addition to the D.Min, the Master of Arts in Pastoral
Studies (MAPS) and the Master of
Divinity (M.Div) will be restructured to be offered also as distributed
learning programs. Such programs are geared to prospective seminarians who are
involved in ministry but find it difficult to uproot and move to the Portland campus. A
combination of online, on-site, and on-campus course offerings would make a
degree from Multnomah Biblical Seminary a reality for long-distance learners.
The Proposal
The $500,000 grant proposal was submitted to the Kern
Family Foundation on December 1, 2008. It outlined details of converting two
degrees into distributed learning programs and of developing and launching a
D.Min program, all in a time span of four years.
In the afternoon of January 8, 2009, Fred Oaks, director of the foundation,
called Dr. Daniel R. Lockwood, president of Multnomah University,
to inform him that the Seminary was one of five recipients of the full grant.
The Next Step
Dr. Robert Redman, the new dean of the Seminary, and key
faculty members will soon begin work developing the new programs. He and Dr.
Lockwood will meet with the Kern Foundation and the other four seminary
recipients on February 23-25, 2009, to hone the project and to share ideas
about using this project to effect substantive and innovative change at the
seminary.
Quotes
"It was exhilarating to receive this wonderful news," Dr.
Lockwood remarked, "because this grant exactly fits both the mission of
Multnomah Biblical Seminary and our long-range strategic plan."
"In the past, we have started new programs without a margin
of resources to develop, launch, and promote them the way we would like," he
added. "This providential grant provides
an extraordinary cushion to move forward innovatively without undercutting
already existing programs."
"Most importantly, we will touch students that could never
have come to the Portland
campus with practical ministry training."
About Multnomah
Multnomah University is a fully accredited, private, non-denominational,
Christian institution of higher education, located in Portland, Oregon.
Made up of an undergraduate Bible college, a biblical seminary, graduate
programs, an adult degree completion program, and an online distance-learning
program, Multnomah issues bachelor's and master's degrees, and professional
certifications and endorsements.
About the Kern Family Foundation
Established in 1999,
The Kern Family Foundation of Waukesha, Wisconsin invests in the future through support
of programs that promote values, education and innovation. The Foundation aims
to effect systemic change through broad-impact, long-term initiatives, including
Education Reform, K-12 STEM Education, the Kern Entrepreneurship Education
Network, American History, Economics & Religion, and the Pastoral Ministry
Program. The Pastoral Ministry Program began in 2002 and is comprised of four
areas of investment: the Pre-seminary Initiative, the Kern Scholars Initiative,
the Postgraduate Initiative, and the Theological Education
Initiative.