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My wife and I served in Lima, Peru for two years prior to coming to Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. It was an amazing experience and God taught us a lot of things that continue to have an impact on our lives and ministry.

We did a lot of traveling in the Andes Mountains when we lived in Peru. On one of these trips we met a man named Daniel, a village doctor. Daniel seemed good-natured, but was very skeptical of who we were and what we were doing in Peru. The following day our team leader, Mike, visited Daniel again and gave him a New Testament. We assumed that was all we would hear of him, but we were wrong.

The next morning Mike returned from town with some exciting news. He told us that as he was walking through the village Daniel ran out to meet him. “His face was beaming!” Mike said. He told Mike that he had read through the New Testament the night before and realized his sin and need for Jesus. Daniel had given his life to Christ!! The team was pumped, but God wasn’t done yet.

That night we had scheduled town meetings in two neighboring villages. In these meetings we handed out New Testaments and taught people how to study God’s Word. Daniel, our new brother in Christ, came along with us. At the first village, Daniel shared his testimony and how God’s Word had changed his life. Twenty-five people put their faith in Christ!! At the second village, he shared his faith again and over twenty more people trusted Jesus!! God used the seed we planted by sharing his Word to bring over forty people into his kingdom!

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul said “My job was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God, not we, who made it grow. The ones who do the planting or watering aren’t important, but God is important because he is the one who makes the seed grow.” The Corinthians had made the mistake of forgetting that it was God who gives the increase. It is important that we recognize that we are simply vessels or tools that God uses. When someone builds a house, the hammer is not praised, the man who built it is. We are the hammer, God is the builder.

A while back I wrote about what MABTS is known for but shouldn’t be. Today I’m going to write about what MABTS should be known for and isn’t (for the most part).

From the beginning Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary strived to train people not only in theological matters, but in the practical outworkings of theology in everyday ministry. In other words, the founders of MABTS, weren’t satisfied in relegating training for ministry to a classroom and theoretical debates. So, a system of practical ministry integration was born.

The practical missions program was put into place; and it’s really simple.

Every student is required to participate in two hours of ministry a week.

Every student is required to walk with someone through the Gospel message once a week.

Every student is held accountable to completing this requirement.

The experience and habit of putting into practice what goes in the classroom is potentially soul-shaking for a student. It was for me. In starting at MABTS I suddenly found myself in an intense classroom setting dealing with new ideas and new ways of seeing the world. Most people have had the experience of being challenged by a teacher. Far fewer have been able to step out of the classroom and into the people’s lives and continue the process of working out what they just wrestled with in theory.

This is what MABTS should be known for. For me, it is what has been the fertilizing agent in my growth in and toward Christ these past two years.

There is no doubt that MABTS is known for it’s tie-wearing policy. For a lot of folks, that’s the first thing they think about when they hear Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. That’s unfortunate because MABTS has some amazing things to bring to the table when it comes to training for ministry. The dress code is a secondary issue that sometimes has a tendency to become more important than it really is.

Truthfully, it was one of the only things that I knew about this school when I was first considering it.

Last week Dr. Spradlin announced a historic change MABTS policy. Ties are no longer required. Many were overjoyed. Some were disappointed. And a few were mostly concerned with the fried catfish that awaited them in the cafeteria.

Ties or no ties, Mid-America is an effective and fruitful center for training ministers. What we look like on the outside is important (business casual from now on, by the way), but not near as important as the the day in and day out business of walking in obedience to Christ and full of the Holy Spirit as we seek to be his hands and feet in Memphis and beyond.

Warm weather means a lot more congregating at Mid-America Student Housing. A few nights ago we fired up a few grills and enjoyed a warm evening of food and friends.

The community in which we get to participate here at MABTS is one of the things for which I am most grateful.

One of my favorite things about Dr. May’s style of teaching is the fact that he helps us process the material in such a way that we could, if need be, teach it others. To make sure that we reach that level of understanding, we actually teach.

Below are Brad Savage and Sarah Byrd in action. As you can see, they are both hanging on to the podium for dear life.

It’s more than a little intimidating to stand before peers and professors and try to communicate information in a clear and engaging way.

Each of us has different talents. Some have a gift for interaction with people. Others have a gift for achieving objective goals. All of us who aspire to Christian ministry and service must seek to increase our concern for and interaction with others, or, in Paul’s words, we must seek to share our lives. We need to develop a habit evaluating our priorities, and we need to recognize that the tasks we think are so critical are not more important than the people God has entrusted to us.

Lingenfelter. Ministering Cross-Culturally, 2003. p. 85.

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I’m working my way through this small book for Dr. May’s Contextualization class. It’s good. It exposes some underlying tensions I am feeling as I work with Latinos.

In the book Lingenfelter walks the reader through the interpersonal experiences he had as he lived and ministered to the Yapese.

We use Logos at Mid-America. It’s a bit on the expensive side. But it is an amazing piece of software. One great thing about it is the digital library that is included. It provides a way to sample books to which I may have never been exposed.

Two that have been particularly useful to me are The Necessity of Prayer by E.M. Bounds and Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon. I read this from Morning and Evening today:

Faith is our walk, but fellowship sensibly felt is our rest. Faith is the road, but communion with Jesus is the well from which the pilgrim drinks.

Spring Break here at Mid-America is over. Classes have started back. After two weeks of no classes, quizzes, or exams every student has to ask himself the same question. Did I use my time wisely?

I’m sitting in the library trying to justify an affirmative answer to that question. I am working my way through a book on Romans for New Testament 2.

Wise use of time, however, doesn’t necessarily mean accomplishing a lot of tasks. It may mean simply accomplishing the most important task.

Today as I was driving in to the student apartments I saw my fellow student and friend, Eli. Eli is from Nicaragua. He was standing on the sidewalk visiting with someone. I know he has as much work as me, probably more. Yet he didn’t seem in the least bit hurried or stressed. That’s one thing our Latino friends to the south of us have that we need; time for people.

I often find myself so worried about things that I am convinced have to be accomplished that I don’t leave margin for relationships. Unfortunately, it’s way too easy to work so hard at making wise use of time that I really don’t get to the most important thing.

María is one of the sweetest people we have met since we started church planting in Memphis. She is around 30-years- old and is struggling to raise Arlette on her own. Arlette just turned two, but is significantly behind where she should be developmentally. She doesn’t speak much. Also, she cannot use her arms or legs. She goes in regularly for therapy and has been undergoing a series of surgeries to help her begin to gain use of her limbs. It has been humbling to see Arlette begin to warm to us. She, at first, didn’t want anything to do with me. This probably had to do with the fact that she was suddenly separated from her father by something very much beyond their control.

(María babysits the girl in the photo during the day.)

María is one of the sweetest people we have met since we started church planting in Memphis. She is around 30-years- old and is struggling to raise Arlette on her own. Arlette just turned two, but is significantly behind where she should be developmentally. She doesn’t speak much. Also, she cannot use her arms or legs. She goes in regularly for therapy and has been undergoing a series of surgeries to help her begin to gain use of her limbs. It has been humbling to see Arlette begin to warm to us. She, at first, didn’t want anything to do with me. This probably had to do with the fact that she was suddenly separated from her father by something very much beyond their control.

Amanda has begun to meet with María at least once a week to study English. María is a very diligent worker and has a strong desire to better her English. She wants to understand what the doctors are telling her about her daughter.

María and Amanda aren’t only studying English, but they are becoming friends. Please pray that Amanda is able to share with María the reason that we love her. Please pray that María will open her heart to the One who turns ashes into beauty.

I had the privilege of attending the commissioning of 61 missionaries last week. The International Mission Board currently has over 5 thousand missionaries across the world. In the coming year, however, they have to draw back. They lack the resources to maintain the current deployed workforce.

Some are able to go. Like these.

Four couples from Mid-America Baptist were appointed with this group. Two will be going to South America, one to Romania, and the fourth somewhere else.