New Gateway president has deep Arizona ties

A group offers prayer for Holly and Adam Groza and Adam Groza’s inauguration as Gateway Seminary president Oct. 9. Photo by Courtney McCaa

Adam Groza was inaugurated as the eighth president of Gateway Seminary in a ceremony on the Ontario, California, campus on Oct. 9. While he is a California native and has most recently lived in California for a number of years, his ties to Arizona run deep.

His family moved from California to Phoenix when he was a child. Groza attended Moon Valley High School and then earned his undergraduate degree from Northern Arizona University.

Although he left Arizona in 1998, he still maintains numerous relationships with friends and family in the state. His parents and siblings still live in the Phoenix area, and one of his daughters is currently attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott.

Before becoming president of Gateway, Groza had served as vice president of enrollment and student services and associate professor of philosophy of religion at the seminary for 14 years. He had previously served as director of admissions at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and as a pastor at churches in California and Texas.

While he now lives in California, he sees immense value in having a campus of Gateway Seminary located in Arizona.

“Gateway has always had a commitment to contextualized education,” Groza said. “We want people in very distinct and unique regions of the West to stay in those regions to continue serving in their churches. Phoenix exemplifies the West.”

One of the priorities for Gateway Seminary, he said, is for people who attend in Arizona to remain in Arizona, “to train under ministry leaders who know what their ministry context is like … to learn under professors who have relevant ministry experience.”

Groza expressed eagerness for continuing Gateway’s partnership with the Arizona Mission Network of Southern Baptists.

“Arizona Southern Baptists are a model of collaboration and cooperation and working together to advance the gospel, and that is the spirit of Gateway,” he said. “Our partnership is strong, our passion for advancing the gospel … and our commitment to the state and to God’s Word is not just our past but also the foundation for our future.”

Groza’s Arizona ties ensure that the partnership between Gateway Seminary and Arizona Southern Baptists remains secure and successful.

Chelsea Bush, a freelance writer living in Phoenix, is a member of Foothills Baptist Church, Phoenix.