NEST Newsletter – June 2024
From Dr. George Sabra, President
On September 30, 2024, I will leave N.E.S.T., having reached the mandatory age of retirement. On this occasion, I would like to share the final words I addressed to the Board of Managers meeting held on May 24: “In concluding this report for the academic year 2023/24, which is also the last time I will be reporting to the Board, after having served this Seminary for 38 years as a member of the faculty, 29 years as Academic Dean and 12 years as President, and after having taken part in over 60 Board Meetings, I would like to thank the Near East School of Theology for this opportunity of serving God in the field of theological education in teaching, publishing and administration throughout four decades. It is not for me to put before you a record of my achievements and failures. I leave that to the judgment of history and later generations.
There is no doubt that N.E.S.T. today has come a very long way from the N.E.S.T. I joined as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 1986 in the last and worst years of the war in Lebanon. All of us – Board, administration, faculty, staff and students over the years have contributed to the survival and prosperity of our Seminary throughout countless crises and difficulties. I am confident that N.E.S.T., with God’s guidance and protection, will overcome the present crisis and continue to serve the gospel and the churches in this part of the world, as it has done for the last 155 years of its existence as a theological seminary in Lebanon, despite all the wars, famine, genocides and turmoil of the last century and a half. And I am reassured that the Board has made a wise choice of a new president to lead this institution into the next phase. And so, I would like to wish the president-elect success in his leadership of N.E.S.T. and ask God’s blessings on all his endeavors.
Finally, I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to all the current and former members of this Board, to my colleagues on the faculty and staff members for their cooperation throughout the years, and to all friends and partners of N.E.S.T. worldwide for their faithful support.”