The Master’s University and Seminary announced Friday that its board of directors had selected longtime professor Abner Chou as interim president of TMUS following the resignation of Sam Horn on Feb. 26.

In a statement released on its website, TMUS officials announced that Chou, who earned his theology doctorate at the university and has taught there for the last 17 years, would serve in the interim role. The announcement said the board was grateful to Chou’s “longstanding commitment to the doctrinal heritage of TMUS.”

“And we are confident that he will faithfully lead the institution during this interim period,” the announcement said, later adding. “The board asks our faculty, staff, students, and alumni to pray for Dr. Chou, especially as he leads the schools into an exciting new chapter.”

News of Horn’s resignation was announced last Monday, but TMUS officials declined to comment to The Signal on the reason for his departure. A spokesman for the school said they had received his resignation on February 26, and that after selecting an interim president, the board of directors would begin their search for the next leader of the school.

In 2018, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, or WASC, through its WSCUC, had imposed the sanction of probation after its review team had conducted a review of TMU in March of that same year.

The report from the WSCUC noted their concern over the board of director’s lack of independence from John MacArthur, a “climate of fear, intimidation, bullying and uncertainty” for staff members, financial conflicts of interest, underqualified leadership for positions in higher education and some staff being hired to positions that lacked job descriptions.

In November 2020, while Horn was president of the school and following continued review by the regional accrediting association and commendation for the school’s revised policies, TMUS’s probation was lifted and its accreditation reaffirmed for six years.

Chou began his career at the university in 2004, teaching Greek at both the university and the seminary. He also spent two years teaching in Israel at TMUS’s Israel-Bible Extension program.