Considering Seminary?

For any of y'all out there considering seminary - you don't have to go to Southeastern, but be sure to go to a place with professors like this:

Who am I? That's a silly question to be asking! But I'm writing the preface to my book on discipleship so the topic has come up, at least in my own mind. Am I a conservative or a liberal, right-wing or left? Though my theology is conservative, I've learned much from my brothers and sisters on both ends of the evangelical spectrum. Some of my friends think only about Israel, others only about Palestine. Some complain about the 3,000 unborn who are killed every day in America, while others focus almost exclusively on the 30,000 children who die of starvation every day in the world. I see no need reason to establish boundaries of love. If we mourn the loss of 4,000 U.S. service personnel in Iraq (as we should), we must also mourn with the same outrage and passion the life of every innocent Iraqi civilian who was lost. Some evangelicals believe that right-wing politics hangs the moon; others support the liberal left. I pledge my allegiance to neither. Folks, I just want to be a Christian -- a simple, radical, marginal, downwardly-mobile follower of Jesus. There's nothing unique or spectacular about being a Jesus-follower. You just remember that God's love is borderless. You just declare the Good News to the poor, as He taught us to do. And it all happens through relationships, not programs or organizations. And here's something strange: I am learning to fall in love with people and not just ideas. And I love ideas! Crazy people like Jim Elliott are finally beginning to make sense to me. I'm learning how to reprioritize my values and resources. Just think -- the average American consumes as much as 520 Ethiopians do. Can we do anything about it? You bet! Because of our website Becky and I receive gifts for reading glasses and protein bars and pre-natal vitamins Bibles and meeting houses and evangelists' salaries and equipment to show the Jesus Film with and food to feed hungry prisoners and on and on the list goes. No fancy organization, no 501 c(3), no overhead, no bureaucracy, no HQ. Just Jesus-people connecting with Jesus-people.

Why I love used bookstores

As part of our trip to Matt Thomas' wedding in Louisville, Megan and I made a step in Beckley, WV where we came across a small used bookstore. After thinking that there wasn't anything worth buying I came across three volumes of the Anchor Bible Dictionary (vols. 4-6). Each was being sold for $5. I checked the actual cost on Amazon.com today and found that each one is being sold for $85. There's nothing like making a rare find at a used bookstore! As one of my professors here says, "the good thing about used books is that they work just as well as new books..."

On Resolution Number 6 at the SBC

First off, I feel like I've officially become a part of Southern Baptist life with a blog post title like the one above.

But, an exciting resolution passed at the recent Southern Baptist Convention that looks something like this:

SBC Resolutions
6. On Regenerate Church Membership And Church Member Restoration June 2008
WHEREAS, The ideal of a regenerate church membership has long been and remains a cherished Baptist principle, with Article VI of the Baptist Faith and Message describing the church as a “local congregation of baptized believers”; and
WHEREAS, A New Testament church is composed only of those who have been born again by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Word, becoming disciples of Jesus Christ, the local church’s only Lord, by grace through faith (John 3:5; Ephesians 2:8-9), which church
practices believers’ only baptism by immersion (Matthew 28:16-20), and the Lord’s supper (Matthew 26:26-30); and
WHEREAS, Local associations, state conventions, and the Southern Baptist Convention compile statistics reported by the churches to make decisions for the future; and
WHEREAS, The 2007 Southern Baptist Convention annual Church Profiles indicate that there are 16,266,920 members in Southern Baptist churches; and
WHEREAS, Those same profiles indicate that only 6,148,868 of those members attend a primary worship service of their church in a typical week; and
WHEREAS, The Scriptures admonish us to exercise church discipline as we seek to restore any professed brother or sister in Christ who has strayed from the truth and is in sin (Matthew 18:15-35; Galatians 6:1); and now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, June 10-11, 2008, urge churches to maintain a regenerate membership by acknowledging the necessity of spiritual regeneration and Christ’s lordship for all members; and
be it further
RESOLVED, That we humbly urge our churches to maintain accurate membership rolls for the purpose of fostering ministry and accountability among all members of the congregation; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we urge the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention to repent of the failure among us to live up to our professed commitment to regenerate church membership and any
failure to obey Jesus Christ in the practice of lovingly correcting wayward church members (Matthew 18:15-18); and be it further
RESOLVED, That we humbly encourage denominational servants to support and encourage churches that seek to recover and implement our Savior’s teachings on church discipline, even if such efforts result in the reduction in the number of members that are reported in
those churches, and be it finally
RESOLVED, That we humbly urge the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention and their pastors to implement a plan to minister to, counsel, and restore wayward church members based upon the commands and principles given in Scripture (Matthew 18:15-35; 2 Thessalonians
3:6-15; Galatians 6:1; James 5:19-20).

Resolutions with the SBC are somewhat tricky in the sense that this is not a new requirement for all churches in the SBC but rather a strong exhortation. However, it is a great step to having church membership actually mean something. The only questions are 1) what took so long? and 2) will it make a difference? To the first, I understand that other victories - such as the battle for the Bible - needed to be won before something like this would make sense. As for the second, I have seen many say that nothing will change but I really see this as a challenge to pastors to actually have a biblical model for church membership. More than anything, this resolution makes me even more thankful that we attend a church where nothing has to change when it comes to church membership.

Some thoughts from spending a week with Norman Geisler

This past week, my good friend J.P. Harmon and I decided to man up and take an entire class in one week. The class was Christian Apologetics & World Religions with Dr. Norman Geisler, one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century in Christian apologetics. This was particularly momentous for me because Dr. Geisler had had a unique impact on my decision to come to seminary. He taught and inspired Ravi Zacharias while at Trinity, and Ravi's sermons, lectures, and question and answer sessions on college campuses had a major impact on me feeling the responsibility to be intellectually prepared for ministry. Dr. Geisler was also an author I would read when trying to understand the usual criticisms of the Christian faith.

Needless to say, the experience was incredible. We spent the mornings having Dr. Geisler lecture through his twelve-step apologetic method which is the following:

1. Truth about reality is knowable

2. Opposites cannot both be true

3. The theistic God exists

4. Miracles are possible

5. Miracles performed in connection with a truth claim are acts of God to confirm the truth of God through the messenger of God

6. The New Testament documents are reliable

7. As witnessed in the New Testament, Jesus claimed to be God

8. Jesus’ claim to divinity was proven by an unique convergence of miracles

9. Therefore, Jesus was God in human flesh

10. Whatever Jesus (who is God) affirmed as true, is true

11. Jesus affirmed that the Bible is the Word of God

12. Therefore, it is true that the Bible is the Word of God and whatever is opposed to any biblical truth is false

Following morning lectures, we were given an hour for lunch in which that we spent watching the Euro 2008 with fellow students from across the world who knew an exponentially greater amount about soccer than I did. The afternoons were spent watching some of Dr. Geisler's debates with leading thinkers in secular humanism or other religions, as well as lectures on other world religions.

The experience was powerful and made me all the more thankful for men like Dr. Geisler who I could look to while at USC when challenged with difficult questions and criticisms of Christianity in my various classes. While the world doesn't often admit it, there truly are great thinkers who also happen to be conservative, evangelical, Bible believing Christians.

A Week with Norman Geisler

If any of my 3 faithful readers are wondering why I haven't written in the past week, it's because I'm doing a semester's worth of material in one week. I am in the middle of spending an incredible week studying underneath one of the leading Christian apologists of the 20th century: Norman Geisler. After three days I have been so encouraged and challenged to love the Lord with all my mind. To the right is the book that I've been getting familiar with all week. (By the way, if you ever get the chance to study with a guy who has written an entire encyclopedia on a topic, take it!)


I'll be posting some more thoughts when I'm able to come up for air, as well as the second part of the series I started titled, "Just want to be like Jesus?" Also, I will be sure to post some responses to the criticisms received from Clemson and UGA fans on the best entrances in college football. The fall is almost here, and it's about time to start talking some smack. J.P. Harmon and Bert Watts have posted responses on their blogs. Gentlemen, prepare for a response soon enough...

Lessons learned from my first year at Southeastern Seminary

It's hard to believe, but as I finished my Old Testament II final on Wednesday I also finished my first year of seminary. It has been a wonderful and rewarding experience which has far exceeded Megan and I's expectations. Here's just some quick thoughts on different things I've learned or experienced after my first year...

In the past year I completed classes such as Hermeneutics, Greek I and II, Evangelism, and Theology I. I would say that almost every class has been great, with each professor adding their own twist to the class through their unique personalities. Top professors for the last year have been Dr. Akin (hermeneutics), Dr. Black (Greek I, II and NT II), and Dr. Reid (Evangelism).

I will probably stay away from the "practical" classes for my last two years (by practical I mean classes like counseling, pastoral ministry, etc). It's not that they aren't rewarding, but I've found that seminary is a place to learn things that you could never learn on your own. I found that I probably could have learned as much about counseling by just reading the books that were assigned. If you're serving in a good church you should be learning the practical aspect of ministry there, which will save your seminary electives for classes like the languages.

I came into seminary being strongly discouraged from pursuing anything in the field of apologetics. In the past year I didn't take anything within Christian philosophy because of it, but I have found that my love for apologetics has crept back! In the summer I will be taking a class with Dr. Norman Geisler (more on this later) on Christianity in relation to the other world religions, and in the fall I will take two classes with Dr. Bruce Little: Christian Philosophy and Critical Thinking & Argumentation.

Megan and I could be anywhere two years from now. We came in thinking that we were willing to go anywhere or do anything, but we weren't (at least I wasn't). Many professors here are "afflictors of the comfortable," and they challenge you to look beyond the U.S. to find your place of ministry. Megan and I talk about this often, and we look forward to see where the Lord takes us.

The consistent piece of advice I received coming in was to take professors, not classes. They were right - a class is made or broken by its teacher.

Who would have thought that I would enjoy Greek? I'm on to my third semester this summer...

Half of the education in seminary is interaction with the other students. That's why I strongly feel that being a full-time, on-campus student is a huge advantage, and should be chosen (if possible) over online courses. You hear what people are reading, thinking, experiencing, and who they listen to (sermons).

For the last 18 months Megan has been encouraging me to pursue my PhD after finishing seminary. For the last 14 months or so I strongly disagreed, but am feeling more and more called to continuing my education after graduating from Southeastern. I'm hesitant about this, because I want to make sure this isn't a pride thing, but as of now I see this as a likely next step.

I'm so thankful to be at a "Great Commission" seminary. I had many hesitations about coming to a "confessional seminary", but I am so thankful that we came to Southeastern. God has used it to change me substantially, and developed my heart for the nations.

That's all for now, and if I think of more I'll post them as they come to me...

Great Commission Conversations

Something I feel strongly about is that the Christian's theological passions should be proportionate with the theological passions of Paul and Christ. Here's a brief portion of a journal entry I wrote about 2 Timothy for a New Testament class. This is the concluding application for Paul's exhortation to Timothy in 2 Tim. 2:1-26, particularly in respect to his commands to “not quarrel about words” (v. 14), "avoid irreverent babble” (v. 16), have nothing to do with “foolish, ignorant controversies” (v. 23), and to not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone (v. 24). All of this is geared towards God granting repentance to our peers “so they know the truth” (v.25).

Paul’s commands in respect to serving others
also offers challenges, particularly while in seminary. Recognizing that one’s words have such an impact on outsiders makes me realize that I must always sacrifice my desire to speak to the priority of whether or not my words are going to honor Christ in such a way that will also edify an outside listener. I do not have the right to always give my opinion in every controversial topic or engage any debatable issue. If the matter does not honor Christ then my lips should remain shut—this is where my passion should reside. No longer should we seminarians fly the flag of the non-essentials, but instead we should let all passions be dictated by what Christ is passionate for. Humility is really at the core of this command. Will my words be about me so that I can get in the last word or try to “win” some sort of theological debate, or will I let my words and passions be Great Commission words and Great Commission passions? Our words should reflect that the least important person in a conversation is ourselves. This is rarely the case in my own conversations, and this leaves me with a part of my life that must change.