Denver Seminary

8 DENVER SEMINARY CELEBRATES THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF DOUGLAS V. BIRK Dr. Douglas Birk, co-founder of Denver Seminary, died on June 13, 2018 at the age of ninety-nine. Dr. Birk would have celebrated his 100th birthday on August 7, 2018. When the Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary was founded in 1950, it extended an invitation to Mr. Birk to serve as the assistant professor of Christian Education, a role he filled until 1982. Since no one else was available to handle administrative and academic duties, Mr. Birk not only taught classes but carried the dual responsibilities of registrar and business manager. He served in this capacity from 1950-1955. In 1956 Mr. Birk was appointed as administrative vice president, a position he held until 1978. From 1979 until 1982 he was vice president of business affairs. He retired from academic and administrative work in 1982. On May 12, 2000, Denver Seminary bestowed upon Douglas Birk the honorary doctor of divinity degree for his 32 years of service. It was at this event that Dr. Vernon Grounds said of Dr. Birk, "In those very earliest days it was Doug who tenaciously kept the ship afloat. It was he who infused something of his own dogged determination into the hearts of our irregularly paid, embattled colleagues, encouraging us to fight on when we were tempted to give up…It was he who had the vision to begin acquiring strategic properties in the neighborhood where the Seminary was located and thus he laid the financial foundation for the eventual purchase of our present campus…It was he, in short, who really created the Seminary." Without Dr. Birk's visionary leadership, Denver Seminary would not be the institution it is today. DENVER SEMINARY CELEBRATES FIRST GRADUATES FROM WEST TEXAS EXTENSION CAMPUS AND MASTER OF THEOLOGY DEGREE On May 5, 2018, Denver Seminary's West Texas Extension Campus held its first graduation ceremony for the inaugural class at Hillside Christian Church in Amarillo, Texas. Ginger Nelson, the mayor of Amarillo, delivered the commencement address. The Seminary held its main commencement service in May as well. During the ceremony, the first graduating students from the Master of Theology Program were recognized. The class of 2018 included over 185 students who graduated from accredited Denver Seminary programs. YEAR IN REVIEW 8

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