It has been an interesting last three months for us. Since the end of January, the Lord has laid on my heart a desire to swim in the depths of his knowledge and understanding and better equip myself for ministry. In fulfilling this desire, to some capacity, he is taking us to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. We will leave our home in Bristol, TX on January 9th to begin our journey into the unknown waters of pastoral learning.
A Dream To Be Adequate
This has been a dream of mine for some time. Since I became a Christian some 10 years ago, I have always relished the idea of immersing myself into God’s word. Through a consistent quiet time and home bible studies, my appetite for God’s understanding grew. My pastor preached the word relentlessly feeding my soul glorious truths of God’s character and power. Godly men helped keep the taste of Christ live and vibrant. Before long, I was serving in the church and learning the needs of God people and the inadequate skills I had to help them. Dave helped me a lot in this area. He opened his life to me and allowed me to walk along side of him for a time. His discipleship has been one the driving forces in my walk with Christ. I am forever indebted to him and his family the gift they have given me.
The Church Weighs Heavy On My Mind
Aside from my inadequacies, my burden for the health of the church has increased tremendously. I am overwhelmed at the lackadaisical preaching of God’s word and its effect on the saints. Many pastors have reduced the word of God to a “self-help” buffet of rhetorical hula that magnifies the man in the pulpit and denies God the glory that is due him. So many of God’s people are malnourished and denied even the crumbs of the bread of life. I pray against this and refuse to take part in it. One of the reasons why I chose Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is their insistence on learning Hebrew and Greek and their commitment to teaching pastors to exposit the word of God. I could have stayed in Texas and gone to one of the many seminaries in the area. However, many of them (not all) are not committed to the level of study that is needed to adequately preach the word of God.
More To Come
For the next few entries I will give a short timeline detailing how my wife and I came to the point of leaving for seminary. It has been truly wonderful to watch God move and work in the church and in people outside of the church in displaying His plan for us. This decision has been one of the most remarkable in my life and I have never seen God work in this particular way in my life; and I would like to share it with you.
