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���Ĵ�ý Theological Seminary Helps Launch Akademija Teoloških Nauka — Serbia’s Only Accredited Evangelical Seminary

Life without Christ is a truly hopeless experience. The past is haunting, the present feels rocky at best and the future is not secure. On a personal level, this can be isolating and anxiety-inducing. But what about at a national level? What if most people in a country place their hope in corrupt leaders, rote religious practices and worldly systems of success? The result is emptiness, futility and hopelessness. This is Serbia. 

In fact, one national taxi driver in Belgrade, Serbia, expressed, “If I had to describe Serbia in one word, it would be ‘hopeless.’” 

So how does the light of Christ penetrate a place like this? A place where less than .1% of people are evangelical Christians? Often, it just takes one person — or in this case, a married couple — with a Spiritdriven desire to help people encounter the hope of Jesus Christ. 

The Gift of Infertility

Shortly after graduating from ���Ĵ�ý with a degree in elementary education, Kimberly Baldwin met Dwayne Baldwin at a church in Owensboro, Kentucky. Both wanted a large family and were excited to become parents, but starting a family didn’t go according to their plans. 

“God gave us what we now like to call the gift of infertility,” shared Kimberly. “We ended up adopting two children from Romania and two from Ukraine. God used those opportunities and travels to give us a heart for Eastern Europe and the people there.” Over time, the Baldwins sensed the Lord calling them to missions. In 2011, Kimberly, Dwayne and their sons went to Romania to give living abroad a test run. To their great assurance, they all loved Romania and felt that God would have them move there, but God closed that door and called them to Serbia. 

“At the time, I had a business background, so I wondered how this could possibly fit into missions,” Dwayne said. “I was working with a teaching missions organization in Romania, and one day they received a request from the Union of Baptist Churches in Serbia. They needed someone to help restart the Baptist Theological School (BTS). I would soon discover that my business background was necessary for this work.” 

After the Baldwins moved to Serbia in 2013, they worked on reviving and redesigning BTS, an undergraduate evangelical Bible college that had experienced many problems — closing multiple times since its founding in 1939 and permanently closing in 2007. The only remnant was a deteriorated building with broken windows and a parking lot where cars were abandoned and drugs were used. They were tasked with repairing the building, finding students and building an academic structure from the ground up. 

“I worked on designing the school on paper for a year and a half,” Dwayne recalled. “After an intense revision, BTS opened again in September 2015 as a four-year bachelor’s program. Currently, we have about 45 students, and our class sizes continue to grow.” 

Kimberly noticed female students were also growing in number at BTS. “As more students were attending, including female students, I wanted to be able to help in a deeper, more influential way,” said Kimberly. “I had already received an education degree from ���Ĵ�ý, but I wanted to learn more about theology.” 

After a disappointing response from another seminary, Kimberly decided to see what ���Ĵ�ý Theological Seminary had to offer. She found the and enrolled with a concentration in women’s leadership studies. She graduated in 2019 and received the Outstanding Student Award for the program. In 2023, she and Dwayne earned their Ph.D.s in theology. 

Deploying a Seminary 

While the BTS student population was growing, so was the number of alumni who wanted to be better prepared for church leadership in the Balkans. Kimberly and Dwayne began to investigate their options for offering a more advanced theological education. “We started contacting schools in America,” said Dwayne. “We were mostly ignored because we were so small, but from the beginning, ���Ĵ�ý Theological Seminary was respectful and gracious to engage with us.”

Conversations surrounding a partnership with , ���Ĵ�ý’s competency-based theological education program, began in 2020. The Baldwins worked with , dean of ���Ĵ�ý Theological Seminary, and , director of Deploy, to take the existing Deploy program and tailor it to the Serbian context and needs. 

“We were very excited by the initial discussions and the alignment of values,” said Tribbett. “���Ĵ�ý Seminary had already been seeking opportunities for international partnerships, so when the Baldwins reached out, we knew this was the avenue we wanted to go down.” 

Once the partnership was established, the Baldwins could focus on finding a location, recruiting students and securing monetary resources for the seminary. 

In 2021, Dwayne began keeping a planning sheet for opening the seminary. “I wrote, ‘raise $500,000 for a new building,’ mentioned it to some people from church and promptly forgot about it,” he said. 

A sweet surprise came about six months later when Dwayne and Kimberly received notice that a benefactor from their church wanted to donate $500,000 toward a building. The Baldwins began looking at buildings and settled on one, but before they could secure the building with a down payment, the benefactor’s finances fell through. 

“When the original building fell through, we gave up,” Kimberly reflected. “But one of our supporters encouraged us to ask for funds again.” 

Despite a discouraging situation, God’s faithfulness prevailed beyond their wildest dreams. After sending a request for donations to everyone they knew, the Baldwins were surprised when HeartCry Missionary Society reached out to them, offering to cover 50% of the funds for a new building. The donation renewed the Baldwins’ hope, and they continued to receive donation pledges from church members and the surrounding community. 

“The Lord really encouraged us through that,” recalled Kimberly. “It was like a rollercoaster every week — we would get discouraged and then receive another pledge. It showed us that we were not doing it; the Lord was bringing people to us.” 

As the Baldwins searched for another building, they found an even better location for less money. This three-story building had a large kitchen, dormitory space, commercial bathrooms, classrooms and additional land for building expansion. 

“God knew we needed a building to make a statement that this school is legitimate and the education we offer is important,” said Kimberly. 

The Hope of a Nation

On Friday, August 21, 2023, Akademija Teoloških Nauka (ATN), or the Academy of Theological Sciences, officially opened with an all-day orientation for its first cohort of six students. Cardoza and Tribbett virtually welcomed the students to Deploy’s first international branch and Serbia’s only accredited evangelical seminary. 

“Seeing actual faces and interacting with students on the other side of the Atlantic was surreal,” said Tribbett. “My goal was to make them feel like they truly are ���Ĵ�ý students. They’re not second tier; they are a part of us.” 

Dwayne still reflects on that first day with awe, calling it the best initial day he could have imagined. 

Now, with a full academic year nearing completion, ATN is looking forward to new growth, new students and a continued partnership with ���Ĵ�ý Seminary. True to the U.S. Deploy model, students are mentored by various ministry practitioners, or “proctors,” and spend the majority of their time applying their learning at their local churches. But ATN includes a Serbian-inspired twist. The program is conducted in a cohort, allowing students to review content, provide encouragement and discuss their questions in person. 

“I am thankful that ���Ĵ�ý agreed to do something like this across the ocean,” said ATN student Boban Ivaškovic. “This is the only program like this in the Balkans, so it bears a great burden, and it is hard to emphasize how great this is. ���Ĵ�ý may never see the results, but we are very grateful.” 

Looking forward, Dwayne and Kimberly are excited to see where God takes ATN and the students at the seminary. “We would love to see ATN students get their Master of Arts in Ministry Studies to become BTS professors and leaders,” said the Baldwins. 

“We want to have confidence in the people we are training, knowing that they will be able to carry on this work of God — to be discerning and humble.” But more than anything, the Baldwins are praying for the hope of the nation. “Ultimately, we pray that through the partnership of ATN and Deploy, Serbia will become a country known for its hope in Christ Jesus.”