From June 12 to 14, 2015, Taiwan Adventist College held its 61st graduation at the college Art’s Center and the main church building. This graduation saw the largest number of graduates being presented with bachelor’s degrees and the Master of Ministry degree in collaboration with Griggs University, Andrews University, Michigan, USA.
There were 27 graduates from the main campus. Eleven of them were graduating with the Master of Ministry degree from Griggs University. There were eight graduates from China, one from Malaysia, and one from Korea, and the rest were from Taiwan. The breakdown of the degrees awarded is as follows:
• 11 Master of Ministry
• 11 Bachelor of Arts in Theology
• 2 Bachelor of Arts in Religion
• Bachelor of Arts in Church Administration
• Bachelor of Arts in Health Promotion
• Bachelor of Arts in Bilingual Business
The Korean graduate was a past Golden Angels member and the son of Pastor Kim NakHyung, Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD) youth ministries director as well as Golden Angels director.
From the external campuses, there were 55 graduates, and the following is the breakdown:
• 4 Bachelor of Arts in Religion
• 51 Bachelor of Ministry
The graduates from these external campuses were mature entrance students, and all of them were experienced pastoral workers or lay leaders of different churches stretching over a wide territory. The oldest graduate of this latter group was 72 years old, who has under his care more than 2,000 church members in quite a few congregations. They were won over to the Adventist church as a whole congregation.
The consecration speaker was Dr.Nam, DaeGuk, retired professor and a past president of Sahmyook University, Korea. The commencement speaker was Dr. Chek Yat Phoon, NSD education director. During the three days of graduation ceremonies, the students provided special songs of praise, responded to the challenges offered by the speakers and gave their personal testimonies.
Many of the experienced pastoral workers and lay leaders expressed that they had never dreamt that this day would come when they first joined the program.They were ever grateful for the opportunity to learn and graduate. Each one of them recognized that this was not the end of their learning but merely the beginning of a new phase of their ministry.
Taiwan Adventist College professors who had a part in teaching these church leaders were each given a poetic inscription in a unique calligraphy with their names embedded in the poem. It was, indeed, by the grace of God that this 61st graduation ceremony took place, the largest graduating class of Taiwan Adventist College.