2014 Spring Commencement Northern California Campus


Seminary President Jeff Iorg charged the graduates at Golden Gate Seminary’s Spring Commencement Ceremony to “work hard, stay humble, hold to the Word of God, and talk a lot about Jesus Christ.”

Dr. Iorg addressed the near capacity crowd and the 139 graduates receiving degrees from the Northern California Campus. This number only reflects about 60% of the total graduates from the entire Golden Gate Seminary system.

Iorg’s sermon, entitled “Moving into the Future,” was an exposition of Revelation 3:7-13. He instructed graduates to “place confidence in Christ,” because he “creates your future and holds it securely.” Iorg continued, “The bible says that Jesus is holy, true, and holds the keys of David. This means that the same Jesus who has access to the throne room and treasure house of God also holds all of our futures in his hands. And he alone opens and closes the doors of ministry opportunities.”

Expounding upon this point, Iorg identified several important qualities from the passage that graduates should embrace in order to move forward into the future Christ provides. “Your classes are over but your work is not. God expects us to toil, give effort, and to work,” Iorg stated. He also declared that our efforts on behalf of the kingdom of God must be seen in light of our human weakness since “the Bible tells us that we have ‘little power and strength.’ This should serve as a reminder to all of us to remain humble and not place confidence in ourselves. But our confidence needs to be in the Word of God and in Jesus, who is faithful and true.”

Iorg concluded, “in ministry, you will get to celebrate victories you did not win, find strength you did not achieve, do what you never thought you could do, and become a person you did not think you could become. Do the work of the Great Commission and make us proud as you take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.”

The William O. Crews Leadership Award, the seminary’s highest honor, was awarded to Pedro Ramirez. Ryan Rindels was the recipient of the Lifeway Pastoral Leadership Award and Ikaika Higa received the Broadman and Holman Seminarian Award.