Several months before I officially started in my role as President of Bakke Graduate University in 2023, I worked with our Chancellor, Dr. Brad Smith, to present an ambitious new vision for our institution called BGU 4.0. The board unanimously approved the vision to chart the way into the future. The university belongs to God, and I am a steward of the BGU 4.0 vision. It has been so exciting to see God orchestrate divine appointments and open doors as we have scaled over the past few years. We now offer close to 30 certificates. Our executive coaching initiative has been launched. We are offering courses in English, French, Spanish, Korean, and Mandarin. And our vision to decentralize around the globe through the expansion of regional ecosystems has started to take shape in some key strategic areas.
One of those strategic regions is on the continent of Europe. We have BGU graduates, staff, and faculty members scattered throughout cities in Europe, and God is opening doors for creative ways to continue to expand our presence there through our academic degree programs and certificates. I felt a prompting from the Lord to visit a couple cities in Europe recently to meet with individuals and organizations who could help us along our journey to reach more leaders in Europe with our transformational leadership training. I started my journey by visiting Berlin in Germany, and I followed that up with a visit to Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
I stayed right in the heart of the city of Berlin during my visit there, spending time each day with individuals from different parts of the world who had gathered there for an Easter outreach event. There was a definite interest, even a hunger, among the people that I met with for the kind of transformational leadership training that BGU provides. I met with a colleague, Dr. Rainer Schacke, an urban missiologist who is a long-time resident of Berlin. We spent some time dreaming together about how we could work together to build on the momentum of the city movement that has been forming there in recent years. He recalled fond memories about Dr. Ray Bakke’s visit to Berlin years ago where they had taken the time to get out into the city see where God was at work. And he was excited to walk me around Berlin, showing me signs of hope and signs of need as we meandered our way to the top of a hill in a park where we could overlook the entire city. We left our time together with several ideas on the table about how BGU could partner with the city movement in Berlin to raise up more leaders to serve this city.
Often when I travel, the Lord ministers to me through other Christians that I meet during my journeys. I believe that BGU is on the precipice of some big things, and I was excited to be prayed over by people who attended the outreach in Berlin. The individuals who prayed with me confirmed that God is on the move in Europe and around the globe through our university, and I was greatly encouraged by words that were prayed over me for our school. I am expectant that God will be bringing new financial resources and new students to BGU in the coming months and years so that we can lead boldly and courageously into the future.
With a full heart, I boarded the plane from Berlin to Amsterdam where I was greeted by friends from our BGU European community, Dr. Piet Brinksma who lives in Amsterdam and Dr. Debbie Yip who lives in The Hague for part of the year and Singapore for part of the year. Piet is a popular faculty member at BGU, and he serves in a strategic role on our Board of Regents as the Chair of our Academics Subcommittee. Debbie is a BGU graduate who has served in several significant roles as part of the BGU community, including on staff guiding our operations and, recently, with helping to launch our BGU Mandarin initiative. We all met in a café on the corner of the main avenue and train station area in the heart of Amsterdam. The conversations mostly focused on how we could establish Amsterdam as an anchor city of the BGU regional ecosystem in Europe. There seem to be doors opening with partners who could help with that vision. New ideas emerged, including expanding our city immersions in new ways throughout European cities and collaborating on courses specifically designed and contextualized for leaders there.
I was also excited to spend the next day learning from Piet about how the city movement that he leads in Amsterdam is making a significant difference across the city in different sectors. It truly is a movement of Christians who are unifying around the common good of the city. And the network has now expanded across the Netherlands through a framework that Piet has helped to build. It looks like BGU could have a significant role in supporting that network through training, thought leadership, publishing, research, and more. It is amazing to see how God opens doors! I will share more details and vision in the future about how we are scaling in the continent of Europe with its diverse cities, languages, and groups of people. For now, I know that the Lord is at hand. God is leading the way and granting us favor to reach a new generation of leaders in that region of the world. Praise God!
Dr. Bryan McCabe
President