Dear friends,

In 1991 Dr. Robert Johnston, then Dean of North Park Theological Seminary and his wife, Cathy Barsotti, traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, where I was working for the World Council of Churches, to convince us to move to Los Angeles to lead the Hispanic Center for Theological Studies (CHET). The reasons were good enough to be considered: a growing Hispanic population not only in California, but all over the United States, the need of the Evangelical Covenant Church to count on pastors who would reflect the Evangelical Covenant ethos, the development of a school with the potential to train Hispanic leadership within the national borders and in the mission fields. The late Dr. Jorge Taylor, who served as the first President of CHET had accepted a position with Fuller Theological Seminary. My wife Noris and I asked to visit CHET. The visit took place in September 1992, after which we kept praying for God’s guidance. We clearly and deeply felt the Lord’s call to come to CHET. We arrived in August 1993.

CHET at that time had around 30 students in the main campus and 20 in its first extension site located in Turlock. It used one room here and one room there in the premises of the Bell Gardens Covenant Hispanic Church which had moved from downtown Los Angeles a few years earlier. Dr. Taylor had also served as the part time Senior Pastor for the Bell Gardens church.

We were attracted by CHET’s potential. The way that CHET was designed by its founders (Drs. Jorge Taylor, Robert Johnston and David Mark; Oscar Pierola, Cathy Barsotti, Lyle Stokes, and others) was incredible. They envisioned CHET as a “center”, able to develop as needs emerged, capable to be shaped according to the demand of the Hispanic community, linked organically to North Park College & Theological Seminary and the Evangelical Covenant Church, but with a separate board. An endowment of one million dollars, set aside by First Covenant Church of Los Angeles for a Covenant school to train Hispanics for ministry was something unique that gave CHET a solid foundation from which to launch and grow.

The quality of the Board of Directors is another wonderful addition to this story. Lay people like engineers Oscar Piérola and Lyle Stokes, pastors like Rev. Curt Peterson who, with his assistant in Montecito-Santa Barbara, coordinated from the beginning of CHET, the fund raising efforts, all on a voluntary basis. Hispanic pastors like Samuel Galdámez (Turlock) and Alberto Ruiz (San Francisco) also played important roles in the start effort. The Superintendents of the Pacific South West Conference (PSWC) and the Deans of North Park Theological Seminary have also been deeply involved from the beginning to the present. Dr. Robert K. Johnston (then the Provost at Fuller Theological Seminary) and Dr. David Mark (Covenant missionary in Mexico) as well as students and representatives of the Bell Gardens church have been extremely valuable members of the CHET Board. CHET has so enjoyed the luxury of having the creme of the crop of the Covenant on its board and committees. Throughout all these nine years some names have changed, but the same Board of Directors’ climate and values remain: great commitment to the mission of the school, lots of energy and creativity, full support to the President and the staff, and a deep concern for excellence, just to name a few.

The Board of the Ordered Ministry (BOM) of the Evangelical Covenant Church, since the inception of the school, had the confidence to entrust CHET with the training of Hispanic Covenant pastors, who sometimes do not have the same academic credentials as those required for non-Hispanics, and –most important of all-- the decision to accept CHET Ministerial Program graduates as candidates for ordination. The BOM and the ECC in making these decisions has empowered CHET and the Covenant Hispanic community for ministry and Christian services. So far, three of our graduates have been ordained, including a woman; six other candidates are on their way to ordination. The BOM also entrusted CHET with the Covenant External Orientation Program (CEOP) to be offered in Spanish at a lower cost than that of the same program offered in English at NPTS. Twenty pastors –most of them church planters and all new to the Covenant– are now registered in this program. All of these decisions are bringing Hispanic pastors and churches from the margins towards a full integration in the denomination.

Churches, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic, have responded very positively to CHET appeals for support. The task of making CHET known to the Covenant at large has been until recently in the hands of one of the founders of the school, Cathy Barsotti. Cathy worked for CHET for many years on a volunteer basis and for three years as a part-time staff. During her tenure CHET donations tripled and we were able to hire an Academic Dean, Edward Delgado. With Ed in turn –as Dean and Vice President for Business Affairs-- CHET has been able to double its student body, having registered over 310 students this Fall, a number greater than the goal established by the Strategic Planning Committee for the year 2008. Cathy continues to be a valued partner and member of our CHET faculty.

We are also extremely blessed to have a small but effective staff of four full-time persons. This is a good team, one that assumes responsibility --with efficiency and pride-- the daily tasks of running a school of this size, with half of its student body in satellite centers spread over the Greater Los Angeles area and beyond. Sonia Portillo, member of the Bell Gardens church, is the CHET Administrative Assistant in charge of many things, especially the invoices and the finances. Karen Figueroa, the daughter of Pastor Samuel Galdámez (Turlock), is our Registrar, also in charge of the “Department of Graphic Arts”. Both have the grace and the patience to deal with CHET’s actual and prospective students, tutors, professors and visitors, all with a great smile and incredible wisdom. Why? Because they also feel their service to be a call to ministry.

CHET, in its short history, has gained respect from the larger Hispanic Protestant community as a serious evangelical school committed to providing the best theological training for pastors, counselors and lay leadership, all at low and accessible prices, which is very important for most of our students are first generation immigrants, many struggling to survive and to raise their children while they are preparing for ministry. Since we started offering a Bachelor of Ministry (B.Min.) degree this past year, there has been an increasing number of inquiries from pastors who wish to continue their theological training. As a matter of fact, two thirds of our student body come from denominations other than the Covenant. Many of our most outstanding Hispanic church planters in the Pacific South West Conference have come through CHET contacts.

During CHET’s 14 years of existence many things have happened to spur the development and equipping of Hispanic leadership for the Covenant. We believe that this is only the beginning. We believe that God has greater things in store for CHET as a ministry committed to the extension of His Kingdom for His honor and for His glory. We are dreaming and projecting now to the future as we start to pray for a new building, since the facilities at Primera Iglesia del Pacto en Bell Gardens are becoming too small for the increasing number of students. On Monday evenings, CHET uses all the available classrooms, including Ed’s office. The maximum capacity of the largest classroom is 45. One Fall 2003 class with over 70 registered students has been split into two.

Another of our dreams is to offer a program on Community Transformation to equip men and women –both in Spanish and in English-- to link with others to meet the multiple needs and justice issues of their neighborhoods and communities. Our desire is to be responsibly joined with the Covenant in its commitment to Churches Planting Ministries and to the broader Faith-Based Initiatives, but most importantly, to the Great Commandment given by our Lord Jesus Christ to share the good news in word and in deed.

Thank you friends for all your support during the first 14 years of CHET’s existence. We ask that you join us in prayer requesting that the Lord will keep blessing the CHET board, its staff and volunteers with the necessary wisdom, energy and resources to accomplish what He has in His heart for the Hispanic community, for the Covenant, and for this great nation. To God be the glory!

Jorge E. Maldonado
President