September was a special month in the BGU community. It was a month of global engagement and celebration. Our new Passport to Accelerating Mission certificate opened up to the world where we engaged leaders in facilitated dialogue to interact with the release of the State of the Great Commission Report from the Lausanne Movement. So far, nearly 70 global leaders have worked on the certificate together, many of whom are new to BGU.

I had the opportunity to attend our first ever Hooding Ceremony in Seoul, South Korea on September 20, where around 80 family members and friends celebrated our first four graduates from the BGU Korea program at Sarang Community Church. It was a joyful time as we celebrated the students who helped to pioneer our transformational leadership training in a fully contextualized Korean context. Big things are ahead for the BGU Korea program, with new momentum building from our MOU celebration with Sarang Community Church and the SaGa Global Academy on September 21 and 22. We have many potential new students in Seoul and beyond who are eager to learn more about BGU.

After the celebratory activities early on in the Korea trip, many BGU staff, faculty, students, and graduates converged on the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization that was held in Incheon/Seoul from September 22-28. The BGU community impacted many different parts of the gathering of 5,000+ leaders from around the world as table hosts, workplace track speakers, keynote speakers, workshop facilitators, and more. BGU has deep roots with the Lausanne Movement, and this gathering was definitely a confirmation of more good things to come out of our collaborative efforts.

This BGU newsletter also highlights many other things that are happening at BGU in this coming season, including highlighting a prayer movement for the Dallas City Immersion, exciting details about the Singapore City Immersion that is coming up in 2025, an overview of BGU’s fundraising goals for our year end giving campaign, and plenty of details about other upcoming events in the BGU community.

Good things are always happening at BGU!

Dr. Bryan McCabe

President