Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio, TX
The Baptist University of the Américas (BUA) is in San Antonio, Texas. This school's stated founding purpose was to train "Hispanic Church leaders for ministry effectiveness." To a great extent, the university has not strayed far from this ideal. It still perceives its role as an educator and trainer of students to become better people from a Hispanic context to serve Christ as cross-cultural Christian leaders. The BUA was founded in 1947 as the Mexican Baptist Training School by the San Antonio Baptist Association. In 1962, the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) saw to the addition of post-secondary educational services in the Spanish language. In 1963, they expanded their services and the campus by building 7 buildings on a 12 acre site in San Antonio. From 1982-1988 it operated as the Hispanic Baptist Theological Seminary with accredited programs in Divinity, Religious Education and Church Music. From 2006, BUA has seen a few major changes. In 2006, a new building campaign saw removal to a new 80 acre site. This included new residences as well as teaching facilities. 2006 was also the year they received approval for an Associate of Art degree in Cross-Cultural Studies. The Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio has only been an accredited university since 2003. In that year, it was certified by the state of Texas. In 2007, the Association for Biblical Higher Education granted them accreditation for 2 BA programs. These are in Cross-Cultural Business Leadership and in Spanish. They are also currently state certified to approve a BA degree program in Biblical Theology. Currently, BUA has approximately 200 students on their San Antonio Campus.
