RUSSELL ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

LeAnn Flesher remembers Keith Russell's first day on the job as president of American Baptist Seminary of the West. The day before a strong wind had blown open a window in a stairwell of the main building, Hobart Hall. Flesher, professor of Old Testament, used some string to secure the latch and keep the window in place. Arriving the next day, she saw the window dangling by the string, flopping in the wind against the old building, a sure sign of the school's disrepair. She couldn't help but laugh as she visited Russell in his office that morning. He had an enormous task ahead of him.

It was a good thing that Russell arrived in Berkeley in 1997 with great energy. His vision was to overhaul not just the campus but the entire theological enterprise. And his passion was contagious. Faculty, staff and students responded enthusiastically, the buildings were retrofitted, and the seminary reinvented itself as a multicultural and multiracial, evangelical and ecumenical center for the training of church leaders for the 21st century.

After a decade of leadership, Russell has announced he will retire in June 2008. The Board of Trustees has appointed a committee to search for his successor.

"I am choosing to retire now because ABSW is at a point where a new leader can build on the strong foundation that has been established," Russell says."We have a solid program and a committed faculty and staff waiting to help a new leader take the school to its next level of success. It is now time to expand our offerings.

I am stepping aside so that can happen and so that I can return to New York to be closer to our children and grandchildren."

Following a three-year, $3 million renovation, Hobart Hall reopened in 2001. Its historic character intact, the building now provides state-of-the-art classrooms and meeting spaces. That combination of preservation and innovation marked other campus improvements, including the renovation of student housing. And it signaled Russell's greater ambition Ð to remake the master of divinity curriculum by integrating the historic theological disciplines with contemporary analysis and contextual understanding.

"The thing I'm most committed to is what we have been doing pedagogically — reshaping what we do with students," Russell says."That's what I think my legacy is: a new approach to doing education."

Russell came to ABSW after 21 years at New York Theological Seminary in various teaching and administrative capacities, including 10 years as president. He had led churches in New York and Philadelphia, and he was well known as a prophetic preacher. But teaching — particularly teaching that aims for transformation — has been his real passion at ABSW.

Russell focused the seminary's attention on the teaching task as well as the content and the context of the classroom. He developed a more diverse faculty, and he led his colleagues through a three-year process of redesigning the curriculum. The new M.Div. program integrates the various theological disciplines through team teaching and provides students with hands-on training in a variety of settings. The goal is to develop ministers who are conversant in the tradition and competent in providing creative leadership for the present.

"His love of the classroom was evident from the start," Flesher says, adding that Russell has always found ways to engage students and be part of their lives.

Profound Impact
One former student who was profoundly impacted by Russell is the Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in San José, Calif.

"I served on the search committee that called Dr. Russell, and I continued to serve on the Board of Trustees during his first year. I had the good fortune of being a student in his ecclesiology class — preparation for pastoral ministry that I could not foresee at the time," Mathews says.

Following his graduation in 1998, Mathews continued to meet with Russell for mentoring and spiritual support. Through this relationship, Russell introduced Mathews to the congregation he now serves.

"I found in Dr. Russell a commitment to ecumenical, multicultural ministry partnerships that were rooted in real relationships, not abstract ideas," Mathews says."He has trekked uncharted territory in the education of leaders for the 21st century, experimenting with ideas in real life. His vision has influenced my vocational self-understanding and my vision for intercultural, inter-generational ministry that empowers people to engage a changing world."

Throughout his tenure, Russell invoked the promise God makes in Isaiah —"Behold, I am about to do a new thing." He preached this word in the face of sharp criticism about the value of theological education and in a time of great transition as the denominational structure that formerly sustained the institution passed away.

Despite the challenges, Russell's enthusiasm for the vision has not flagged. He found new congregational partners, established new streams of financial support, and cultivated a denominationally and culturally diverse student body that is passionate about the seminary's mission. As he prepares to leave, Russell remains hopeful.

"ABSW has a bright future as an ecumenical school with Baptist roots. We need a leader who can relate to more than Baptist churches. While it is tragic to see the conflict and discord in American Baptist churches on the West Coast, it does not change the mission of the school to provide training for men and women to serve Christ in the 21st century," Russell says."ABSW has a bright future, but it will be a new future. Our strength will be in reaching out to a new constituency while we continue to be the 'premier night school' of the Bay Area. Our future is in working with leaders from African American, Asian and Latino churches. May God send ABSW a leader who can help us to accomplish our mission."