About NCBC

History

In 1971, Ernest B. Gentile, founding pastor of Gospel Temple Church in San Jose, California, founded Northern Calif. Bible College in an effort to train men and women to become ministers of the Gospel. California state authorization from the Private Postsecondary Commission for Vocational and Higher Education was granted, along with Veterans benefits approval.

In 1973 NCBC continued to offer day classes, but began to also offer evening and Saturday classes primarily to Christians throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

In 1984, NCBC helped start a sister college in Owerri, Nigeria, which has since become fully accredited and trains a student population of over 450 full time students. The school is called West African Advanced School of Theology (WAAST). Curriculum written by the NCBC faculty is used by the Nigerian faculty.

In 1987 the school changed ownership and moved to Pleasanton, California, where it continues under the direction of Pastor David Sell up to the present. The founding president, Pastor Ernest Gentile, continues to serve as the college president.

In 1999, NCBC developed its first website and began offering courses also through a distance learning format. Discovering NCBC on the Internet, students from other cities and states could now also pursue their degree program. Each class offered on the various campuses was recorded and made available through CDs and later on DVDs. To help promote the college program, faculty began to travel to various cities throughout California to teach in satellite campuses. This began the ultimate shift from being a traditional college to becoming a “distance learning center.”

In 2004, a partnership was forged with “Reasons To Believe,” located in Glendora, California. “Reasons to Believe” is considered a Christian “think-tank” specializing in the correlations between the Bible and proven scientific discovery. Student taking on-line courses from this well-known organization could now receive college credit through NCBC.

In 2005 the Cathedral of Faith in San Jose, a church of about 6000 members requested that NCBC establish a satellite campus on their facility to train their leadership team. Since then we have seen our first graduating class and NCBC has become a solid fixture of the Cathedral of Faith overall program.

In 2011 a partnership was forged with Jubilee Christian Center in San Jose to enable graduates of Jubilee Bible College to transfer credits into NCBC and earn their B.A. degee in Biblical Studies.

Also in 2011, NCBC planted a satellite campus in San Francisco and a branch campus in Pasadena.

Also in 2011, NCBC began the process of applying for full national accreditation with ACCSC (Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges).