In 1997 the Southern Union Conference started SOULS to develop leadership for the summer magabook programs they organized each year. The concept of a school to develop leadership was soon adopted by the Pacific Union Conference, with a slightly different twist, and in 2001 SOULS West opened its doors to train Seventh-day Adventist youth to be leaders in Christian outreach.

While in college many young people take a year or two out of their studies to be student missionaries, SOULS West provides the opportunity to be a student missionary here in the United States. Since most of the young men and women who attend SOULS West will live in the United States the majority of their lives, a blessing arises from the fact that after attending SOULS the knowledge and experience they have gained is applicable to the people they will have the most opportunities to minister to. One's time at SOULS West is not only an opportunity to be involved in ministry during college.  Many times it is the beginning of a lifestyle of reaching out to people with the message of the Gospel.

With a faculty of around seven and enrollment kept between twenty and forty students, SOULS West is a highly effective hands-on training school. In the last six years SOULS West has graduated over forty young people from their two-year program and many of these graduates work in full-time ministry.

While our history is short, the future is very clear--the energy and intellect of young men and women are needed to reach the world with the Gospel, and SOULS West endeavors to help equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary to be effective ministers.