Schmidgall, Waldrop Receive Distinguished Educator Awards
Recipients of the 2014 Church of God Distinguished Educator of the Year Awards were announced during the Leadership Enrichment Training Conference on July 28 of the Church of God International General Assembly, conducted July 29-August 1, 2014 in Orlando, Florida.
Dr. Paul Schmidgall, president of the European Theological Seminary in Kniebis, Germany, is the recipient of the 2014 Leadership Award and Dr. Richard E. Waldrop, professor at the Seminario Sudamericano (SEMISUD) in Quito, Ecuador, is the recipient of the 2014 Faculty Award.
Upon completion of high school, Paul Schmidgall studied for five years at the Police Academy in Göppingen, Germany. During the Eurofest of 1975, he received his calling into the ministry and began his studies at the European Bible Seminary in Rudersberg, Germany, before entering Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee.
After completing his undergraduate studies at Lee in 1979, Schmidgall received a master’s degree from Western Kentucky University in 1980 and a Master of Arts in Hebrew Language from the American Institute in Israel in 1983. In 1996, he completed his Ph.D. in Contemporary Judaism at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The recipient has authored and coauthored over twenty publications, most of which are written in his native German language.
As an instructor at European Bible Seminary (EBS) in the early 1980s, Schmidgall was responsible for the EBS Israel Study Program. In Jerusalem, he met Gabi Kielvein who was serving as a missionary for the German Church of God in the Holy Land. After marriage, they continued to minister in Bethlehem. In 1987, they moved to Jerusalem when they were asked to serve as overseers for the Church of God in Israel.
In 1994, the Schmidgalls were called back to Germany, and served until 2000 as overseer of the German Church of God. From 1996–2000, Schmidgall also served as the chairman of the Federation of Pentecostal Churches in Germany. During his time as overseer, Paul was involved in education in Europe and served as Board chairman and as dean and director of the graduate program at EBS. Since 2004, Paul has served as president, and Gabi as general manager, of the European Theological Seminary.
Dr. Richard E. Waldrop completed B.A. degrees at Northwest Bible College in 1972 and Lee University in 1974 and received a M.A. degree from Bethel Theological Seminary in 1975, with specialization in pastoral care and missiology. The following year he enrolled in intensive Spanish language studies in San José, Costa Rica, in beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. In 1985, he completed his doctoral program in missiology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, with a research topic that required a thorough understanding of Latin American history, culture, and theology, as well as holistic missions issues.
Waldrop is a career missionary educator with Church of God World Missions, having served for 38 years, along with his wife, Janice, whom he married in 1972, at different posts in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ecuador, and the United States. From 1994 to 2008, he served on the faculty of the Pentecostal Theological Seminary in Cleveland as associate professor of world missions and evangelism, while also teaching one semester each year in Latin America.
Having taught world missions courses (missiology) in fourteen Church of God seminaries and Bible schools around the world, Dr. Waldrop currently serves as missionary educator and social ministries coordinator with the Church of God in Latin America. He also continues to serve as a visiting or adjunct professor of missiology at many colleges and seminaries internationally, including SEMISUD, the Pentecostal Theological Seminary, and schools in Brazil, Columbia, Peru, and Argentina.
On behalf of the Church of God Division of Education and its 126 educational institutions around the world, Executive Director J. David Stephens, D.D., extends heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Schmidgall and Dr. Waldrop, to their families, and to the excellent educational ministries in which they presently are serving.
–Lynn Stone, Church of God Division of Education
