A lot of people ask me the same question in one form or the other.
“What are you studying to be at seminary?” or “What are your plans after seminary?” or “What are you going to seminary for?”
It’s a fair question. I’ve probably asked it myself. But, the funny thing is I don’t really think of my time here in that way. I’m not here to go anywhere. I’m here because this is where Jesus put me. I’m not here to leave. I’m here to lift him high.
Yes, we do have plans/leadings/guidance (and an anticipated graduation date). If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be getting a Masters of Missiology. However, being a missionary doesn’t start when (if) my feet hit some foreign soil. It’s now. After all, this is foreign soil. My mission is clear, and it starts now.
I’m studying to be a better cross-cultural worker. But, that’s secondary. I’m here to lift him high in obedience and faith.
Mike and Carrie Collins and Randy and Tricia Williamson live in the same apartment building as my family. Mike and Randy are both pastors of small churches. Randy serves in Mississippi. Mike pastors in Arkansas. They have also figured out a great way to save some money!
I like to try to get an overview of what I’m facing at the beginning of each new semester. The best way for me to do that is to look at what is due and when. Then, I put it on a calendar. That gives me an idea of how the semester is going to play out. It also helps me stay out of trouble.
I’m taking four classes: Church Growth, Global Church Growth and Church Planting, Anthropology and Worldview, Issues of Missiology.
On the last day of class Dr. Akins trained us how to do a paint talk that he used for years in Brazil. We learned how to do it in the morning and then that afternoon did it at the Sudanese community.
I just got out of Hebrew I. Systematic Theology is up next.
I have a few minutes, so I thought I’d share with you what I’ve termed “Hebriety”. That’s shorthand for Hebrew Anxiety. Just look at that alphabet! I never saw anything like that on Sesame Street!
Oh yeah, due to some unforeseen circumstances this morning, I managed to make it to school with a black belt and brown shoes on. Yay for a stylish first day!
Today is my first day of class at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. Booya!
This term I am taking Hebrew 1, Systematic Theology, History of Christianity, and Personal Evangelism.
I’m excited. I’m also a little nervous because I forgot which classes I have when. Not to mention, I don’t have the room numbers. But, that just makes for a more exciting first day!
Most deeply, I feel grateful to be here. God, without doubt, has given us some things we asked of him. Although we do have some things that we are trying not to worry about, at the end of the day, it’s Him. It’s all Him, and we’re all His.
I just finished my second semester of Koine Greek. This language thing is a process.
Stage One: You are interested and intrigued by the scriptures. They speak to you and they apply to you. Learning Greek is still novel and exciting.
Stage Two: You begin to learn the ins and outs of Greek. And it gets tough. You essentially begin to dissect the scriptures. The problem is when you dissect something, it dies. This is the hard part. You have to wade through hour after hour of participles, adverbial phrases, cases, conjugations, etc. And, in some ways, the New Testament dies. It just becomes a jumbled mess of grammar and vocabulary.
Stage Three: You have dissected the language enough to know how it works. You see a Greek sentence, and you have so familiarized yourself with the mechanics that you no longer have to think about them. It’s alive again. Only this time, it’s more alive than ever because you understand it in its deepest sense.
Every once and a while I’ll have a really stressful dream. It usually is somewhere along the lines of me being in college, the semester is almost over and I realize that I have forgotten to attend a class the whole semester and now I desperately scramble to try to make up work and get ready for the final. Or, I will have forgotten about some important work that I can’t pass without and I’ve only a few days to get it in.
That dream came true. I’m in an online class at The Southern Baptist Seminary out of Louisville, KY. It’s a class on the New Testament. The thing is, this class is in Spanish. That’s my excuse for what happened. I got the syllabus at the beginning of the semester and I read it, but not very well. I just skimmed it and focussed on what books I needed and the work that was due the soonest. Unfortunately, I never really went back and read it over really well. I had a paper due October 1st and November 15th and I didn’t realize it until last week. Talk about almost losing my lunch. It was that old bad dream feeling . . . except it was for real!
Anyway, I emailed the professor and he was very graceful and said I could turn them in still. Thank you Dr. Hatfield!
I learned something pretty cool in my New Testament class yesterday. Did you know that Mark is generally considered the oldest and most accurate gospel. Actually, a lot of folks believe that Matthew and Luke used the gospel of Mark to build off of as they wrote their accounts.
Also, a lot of smart people believe that Mark 14:51 is Mark’s signature. They say that the “young man” is Mark referring to himself. Check it out for yourself here. Interesting.
