PORTLAND, Ore. (BP) – Gateway Seminary has initiated an executive transition plan to elect a new seminary president. Current President, Jeff Iorg, asked the board of trustees to begin the transition process at the board’s Oct. 10, 2023, meeting in Portland. Iorg will continue to lead the seminary through the executive search process.

“Due to the excellent leadership of our board, the strength and stability of our faculty, and our overall organizational health, I believe now is the appropriate time to find capable, fresh leadership to propel Gateway forward,” Iorg said.

“My wife Ann and I have done our part to fulfill Gateway’s mission. We are still committed to Gateway’s mission and look forward to new ways we can be involved in the future.”

The announcement came during a regularly scheduled plenary session of the full board.

The trustees enacted an executive search protocol that was previously adopted in 2018, and revised in early 2023. The transition plan outlines the details of the presidential search committee and an 18-month transition timeline. J. Robert White, longtime executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board who retired in 2018, was elected as chair of the search committee. All communication about the search can be sent to [email protected].

The plan mirrors the previous protocol implemented to select and onboard the vice president of academic services and the vice president of business services. “We have field-tested our transition process and by any measure, the results have been outstanding. Now we must apply those principles to the presidential transition. Doing so will assure organizational health and minimize disruption to fulfilling our mission,” Iorg told the trustees.

“Executive changeovers are challenging and can unsettle organizations,” said board chairman Phil Kell.

“Our entire board is confident in the process we have adopted and grateful for the humble leadership Dr. Iorg has demonstrated during his tenure at Gateway. We are grateful to begin this transition process from a place of institutional strength and stability.”

This decision by the trustees was made in the same hotel conference room and on the 10th anniversary of the board’s decision to sell the old campus in Mill Valley, Calif. Following that decision, Gateway relocated 400 miles to Southern California and established a new primary campus in Ontario. 

Portland is a significant personal location to enact the transition process for the Iorgs who began their ministry in the Western United States in Oregon more than 30 years ago. “It is fitting we are taking this step here in Portland,” Iorg said.

“In 1989, Ann and I made the defining decision of our ministry lives when we moved near Portland to plant a church.” Today, Pathway Church continues to minister to Oregonians and sends students for ministry training to Gateway.

“From the root of that single decision, the fruitful tree of our ministry has flourished. When we said yes to God’s direction – to do what some thought was irrational – God opened a panorama of opportunities we could have never imagined,” Iorg said. 

“For me, a seminary presidency is not about legacy; it is about stewardship,” he said. 

“As a steward, I have tried to maximize the presidency for its owners – the seminary community and ultimately, Jesus.”

In other regularly scheduled business, the board approved sabbatical for Dr. Joe Kim and adopted the 2022-2023 audit from Capin Crouse.