It is my joy as the President of Central Baptist Theological Seminary of Virginia Beach to share the following announcement with you.  Upon the unanimous recommendation of the seminary faculty, and by the unanimous consent of the Board of Trustees, the seminary changed its name on May 6, 2013, to Virginia Beach Theological Seminary.

The name change is the result of a two-year process that included a Board-sanctioned committee of godly men and women chaired by Dr. Kyle Dunham, Associate Professor of Old Testament. This committee invested hours of time considering this entire concept—canvassing alumni, meeting with church and local business leaders, and enlisting insights of prominent leaders of Christian colleges.  Upon the committee’s review and recommendation, the Board unanimously approved this name change.

This name change reflects our regional identity and allows us a distinctive place among theological schools on the East Coast.  This change does not alter in any manner the seminary’s Educational Philosophy or mission.  In fact, these pillars remain the same and are in no way compromised. Section 2 of our Educational Philosophy reads:

“Virginia Beach Theological Seminary is a local church-based graduate school. It is the educational objective of the seminary as a Baptist institution to contribute positively to the larger body of Christ through the preparation of humble servant-scholars who can rightly divide the authoritative, infallible, inerrant Word of God, and passionately articulate the Gospel of the Grace of God.”

We rejoice in the goodness of our God for the past 17 years of ministry and the 170 graduates the Lord has allowed us to train.  We now look to the future with great anticipation and enthusiasm under the new name:  Virginia Beach Theological Seminary.