Dr. Larry Bollinger Announced as 8th President of APNTS

On Thursday 16 January 2020. Asia-Pacific Regional Director Rev. Dr. Mark Louw announced that after a 12-month search process, Rev. Dr. Lawrence T. “Larry” Bollinger, 50, who has been serving the Lord as Institutional Advancement Vice President at Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) in Quincy, Massachusetts, USA since August 2016, has been elected as the 8th President of Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary. Dr Bollinger, who served the Lord in the Philippines with his family for 3 years from 2001 to 2004, and taught a Community Development course in the PhD programme at APNTS in October & November 2016, succeeds Dr Bruce Oldham, who resigned in May 2019 to become the Lead Pastor of the First Church of the Nazarene in Winter Haven, Florida.

Dr Louw, who is also serving as the pro tempore chairman of the APNTS Board of Trustees indicated that Dr. Bollinger hopes to be on campus by the APNTS graduation in early May 2020.

Born 30 September 1969 in in the City Hospital at Quincy, Massachusetts, Dr Bollinger is the younger son of the late Robert Frank “Bob” Bollinger, retired Associate Professor of Economics and Business Administration and former Vice-president for Financial Affairs of Eastern Nazarene College, who went to be with Lord on 7 January 2010, and of Lucille P. “Lucy” Bollinger (nee Acton), and the younger brother of veteran Youth Pastor Rev. Brian Bollinger.

Dr Bollinger was Global Director of Nazarene Compassionate Ministries for 12 years from 2004 to 2016, travelling to more than 100 countries and working with staff to implement global humanitarian programmes. As CEO and president of Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Inc., a separate non-profit that works with government and foundation programmes, Bollinger has overseen multimillion-dollar initiatives funded by USAID and the U.S. Department of Justice. Previously, the Bollingers served in the Philippines, where Larry was Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Coordinator for the Asia-Pacific Region for three years from 2001, after serving with NCM since January 1996, and also served as the NYI Coordinator for the Asia-Pacific region.

In 2016 Dr Larry was awarded an Ed.D. in Ethical Leadership from Olivet Nazarene University for his dissertation “Faith-Based Programming and Community Transformation” , and also completed Harvard University’s Executive Training in Strategic Management for leaders of nongovernmental organizations programme. Previously, Dr Bollinger had earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in Development Economics and International Development from Eastern University in 2001, and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management from Eastern Nazarene College in 1991. A 1987 graduate of North Quincy High School, later that year he became the 4th generation of his family to enrol at Eastern Nazarene College.

Married since 21 June 1992 to Lynne Sheridan Bollinger, they have 3 children: Brendan, 22, a 2016 ENC graduate; Kari, 18, a first-year student at Eastern Nazarene College; and Jesse, 15.

Rev. Lynne Sheridan Bollinger, a 1992 Bachelor of Arts in Music graduate of Eastern Nazarene College and a 2016 MA in Intercultural Studies magna cum laude graduate of Nazarene Theological Seminary, was the recipient of the Tom Nees Social Justice Award at Nazarene Theological Seminary, was ordained an elder in the Church of the Nazarene in June 2019. Rev. Lynne has been the Chaplain at Eastern Nazarene College since June 2017, after serving previously as Assistant Chaplain for Pastoral Care and Student Missions at ENC.

Additionally, Rev. Lynne, was a contributing author to Charitable Discourse Volume 2, edited by Dr Dan Boone, and has served as the Co-ordinator of the 365m diploma programme in cross-cultural Ministries at Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, where she has served as an adjunct teacher. Lynne graduated from Malden High School in Massachusetts in 1988. In her blog, “Living in the Mosaic”, on 16 January 2020 Rev. Lynne Bollinger wrote: “this coming July, Larry and I and our youngest son Jesse will return to a place that we know and love and to people we know and love in the same intersection of ministry in the church and higher education as we go to live and work in Manila, Philippines at Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary (APNTS) where Larry has been elected as their next President. I am so proud of Larry and so happy for APNTS! Larry embodies the best balance of humility and confidence, servant and leader delivered with a big smile and a heart for God.”

When he heard the news of Dr Bollinger’s election, APNTS Professor Dr Fletcher Tink, who was taught by Dr Bollinger’s father and taught Dr Bollinger, posted: “Larry and Lynn bring strong abilities to the campus of APNTS. He is a man with a broad smile, strong business credentials, a passion for the underdog, heavily experienced international insight, administrative experience, and easy to get along with.”