The Christian Post reports that Gateway Seminary, a California-based theology school affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, has record enrollment for its fall semester. The seminary reports 1,095 students, up from 971 in fall 2025. New student enrollment rose 46% to 338, the largest incoming class in Gateway's history.
President Adam Groza told the Post in emailed comments last week that the headcount covers students in the core programs, including master's, doctorate and certificate programs, plus diploma and certificate students who sit in the same master's level classes. It does not include doctor of ministry students or those in the school's unaccredited leadership program, ADVANCE, because the DMin cohort model does not compare cleanly with the semester-based programs. Total credit hours reached 5,240, the highest since Gateway moved its main campus to Ontario, California, in 2016.
Groza gave the credit away. "Our enrollment success is ultimately the result of God's grace and the faithful partnership and support of Southern Baptist churches," he said. "Students are hungry for God's Word." He told the Post that students are drawn to the school's emphasis on preaching, missions and evangelism, and that every Gateway student can qualify for a fully funded overseas mission trip. He also credited a faculty committed to the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture as expressed in the Baptist Faith and Message, which he said appeals to students serving in highly secular settings.
The growth comes at a time when many seminaries across the United States are seeing enrollment fall and facing serious financial trouble, the Post reports. Asked what he would tell struggling schools, Groza cautioned that every seminary has its own context. Then he offered four ideas. Stay connected to local churches and partners such as the Baptist Foundation of California and California Baptist University. Be wise about trends, and he noted that while several seminaries are cutting the hours required for the Master of Divinity, Gateway is not, because students want a more robust education. Put Christ-centered training where it is needed most, which for Gateway has meant a new campus in Hawaii that enrolled 24 students in its first semester, teaching sites elsewhere in California and in Nevada, and partnerships in Finland, Hong Kong and Ukraine. And keep a culture that is both convictional and humble, where faculty are pastoral and the campus feels like family.
Peter Orr warns in today's study that many pastors are leaving their posts. A full classroom of future pastors and missionaries is a good reason to give thanks. It is also a reason to keep praying for these students now, before they ever take a pulpit.
