Life Pacific College

Last updated
Life Pacific University
LifePic.JPG
The Hicks Center
Established1923 (1923)
Affiliation International Church of the Foursquare Gospel
President Angie Richey
Location, ,
United States
Website lifepacific.edu

Life Pacific University (LPU) is a private Christian bible college endorsed by the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and located in San Dimas, California. LPU serves as the denomination's flagship institution for higher education. The college also operates an extension site, LPU Virginia, in Christiansburg, Virginia.

Bible colleges are Protestant Christian institutions of higher education that prepare students for Christian ministry with theological education, Biblical studies and practical ministry training.

International Church of the Foursquare Gospel evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination

The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel (ICFG), commonly referred to as the Foursquare Church, is an evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination founded in 1923 by preacher Aimee Semple McPherson. As of 2000, it had a worldwide membership of over 8,000,000, with almost 60,000 churches in 144 countries. The headquarters are in Los Angeles, California, United States.

San Dimas, California City in California, United States

San Dimas is a city in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 33,371. The city historically took its name from San Dimas Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains above the northern section of present-day San Dimas. San Dimas derives its name from the Spanish name for Saint Dismas.

Contents

History

The school was founded in 1923 as Echo Park Evangelistic and Missionary Training Institute by Aimee Semple McPherson in Echo Park, Los Angeles, California. [1] The name was changed to LIFE Bible College, LIFE standing for "Lighthouse of International Foursquare Evangelism", in 1926 when it moved into a newly constructed five-story complex next door to Angelus Temple. In 1990 the college relocated to its current home in San Dimas, California. In the early 2000s the name Life Pacific College was adopted and in 2019 the institution was renamed and restructured as Life Pacific University with the College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Theology & Ministry. LPU offers a variety of AA, BA, and MA programs, including an MA in Leadership fully delivered in the Spanish language.

Aimee Semple McPherson Canadian-American evangelist and media celebrity

Aimee Elizabeth Semple McPherson, also known as Sister Aimee or simply Sister, was a Canadian-American Pentecostal evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s, famous for founding the Foursquare Church. McPherson has been noted as a pioneer in the use of modern media, because she used radio to draw on the growing appeal of popular entertainment in North America and incorporated other forms into her weekly sermons at Angelus Temple, one of the first megachurches.

Angelus Temple Church in Los Angeles, United States

Angelus Temple is a Pentecostal megachurch of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, California, United States. The senior pastor is Matthew Barnett. The attendance is 8,975 persons.

In 1957, in Mount Vernon, Ohio, sister college Mount Vernon Bible College was founded, relocating to Christiansburg, Virginia in the 1980s. The name was changed to LIFE Bible College East in 1988. In 2003 LIFE East closed for financial reasons and its records were transferred to Life Pacific. Life Pacific now operates LPU Virginia as an extension campus at the former LIFE Bible College East property.

Mount Vernon, Ohio City in Ohio, United States

Mount Vernon is a city in Knox County, Ohio, United States. It is located 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Columbus. The population was 16,990 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Knox County.

Christiansburg, Virginia Town in Virginia, United States

Christiansburg is a town in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States. The population was 21,041 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Montgomery County. Christiansburg, Blacksburg, and Radford are the three principal municipalities of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses those municipalities and all of Montgomery County.

In November 2019, longtime LPU senior executive Angela "Angie" Richey was inaugurated as LPU's 11th president. Richey is the second female president of LPU. In May 2019 Jim J. Adams was named as Life Pacific's first president emeritus.

Alumni

Alumni have played a significant role not only within the Foursquare church, but also within the Assemblies of God, Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard movement. Life's most prominent graduates include pastors Jack Hayford, Chuck Smith, Ronald D. Mehl, Ralph Moore, Ricky Temple, Jim Tolle, Chad Veach, Irene Poupore, Randy Remington, and the late African American actor, pastor and academic Otis Young.

Assemblies of God autonomous but loosely associated national groupings of churches

The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing associated national groupings of churches which together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination. It is the fourth largest international Christian group of denominations and the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world.

Calvary Chapel evangelical association of Christian churches

Calvary Chapel, an association of evangelical Christian churches, maintains a number of radio stations around the world and operates many local Calvary Chapel Bible College programs. It presents itself as a "fellowship of churches" in contrast to a denomination, and includes over one thousand congregations worldwide. Churches that affiliate with Calvary Chapel may use the name "Calvary Chapel" but need not do so.

The Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is a neocharismatic evangelical Christian denomination. It has over 2,400 affiliated churches worldwide.

LPU has always focused on educating men and women in practical ministry and for much of its history few alumni pursued additional education. However, it has now become common for Life alumni to attend seminary or graduate school. A growing number of alumni have also earned academic doctorates from institutions such as Fuller Seminary, Regent University, the University of Southern California, and the universities of Nebraska, Edinburgh, Durham, St. Andrews, Aberdeen and Oxford. Of note, 9 of 11 Life Pacific presidents were or are alums, including Rolf K. McPherson, Nathaniel Van Cleave, Jack W. Hayford, Jack Hamilton, Ron Mehl, Dick Scott, Robert Flores, Jim J. Adams, and current president Angela Richey.

Accreditation and Affiliations

LPU is accredited by The Association for Biblical Higher Education, and with Western Association of Schools and Colleges. It is an affiliate member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. LPU also holds membership in the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU), the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU), as well as many other professional higher education associations and societies.

Western Association of Schools and Colleges university accreditation organization in the U.S.A. for California, Hawaii and some territories

The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) was an organization that provided accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Samoa and Northern Marianas Islands, in addition to the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, the Pacific Rim, and East Asia.

The Center of LIFE's Campus Gazebo.JPG
The Center of LIFE's Campus

Sports

Life Pacific began fielding sports teams in the late 1940s with baseball, football, and basketball. Following a 7-year hiatus, in Fall 2015, LPU returned to intercollegiate competition with a men's basketball team and a women's volleyball team. LPU also offers cross county and track teams for both men and women. Life Pacific College is a member of the NAIA and the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC), as of fall 2018 also offers women's basketball, women's golf, men's and women's wrestling (Cascade Collegiate Conference). Men's and women's soccer teams launch for fall 2020.

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics North American college athletics association

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) is a college athletics association for small colleges and universities in North America. For the 2018–2019 season, it has 251 member institutions, of which two are in British Columbia, one in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the rest in the conterminous United States. The NAIA, whose headquarters is in Kansas City, Missouri, sponsors 26 national championships. The CBS Sports Network, formerly called CSTV, serves as the national media outlet for the NAIA. In 2014, ESPNU began carrying the NAIA Football National Championship.

Golden State Athletic Conference

The Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) is a college athletics conference in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The conference commissioner is Mike Daniels. Conference leadership is shared among the member institutions. Nine of the ten members of the GSAC are Christian colleges located in California and Arizona. Conference teams have won 20 national championships.

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Jack Williams Hayford is an American author, Pentecostal minister, and Chancellor Emeritus of The King's University. He is a former senior pastor of The Church On The Way in Van Nuys, California and was the fourth President of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. He is widely known for his past involvement in the Promise Keepers movement and for being a prolific author and songwriter, with over 600 hymns and choruses in his catalog. He is the author of the popular 1978 hymn "Majesty", which is rated as one of the top 100 contemporary hymns and performed and sung in churches worldwide.

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Tim Clark (pastor)

David Timothy Clark is an American pastor and author. Formerly Dean of Students at Life Pacific College, he is now Senior Pastor of The Church On The Way in Van Nuys, California. In 2015, he published a devotional book on the Book of Acts called VIRAL.

References

  1. George Thomas Kurian, Mark A. Lamport, Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States, Volume 5, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2016, p. 1200

Coordinates: 34°05′57″N117°49′44″W / 34.0993°N 117.8290°W / 34.0993; -117.8290