The first principle is to guard your time in the Scriptures. There are hundreds of millions of books, but only one book inspired by God. Be careful that, in your reading, you do not neglect the reading of God’s Word. Each person has his own method. For me, the most helpful method is to choose a book of the Bible and read through it several times, outlining it, meditating on it, and applying it to my life. Usually, I will select a commentary to read at the same time. Usually, I choose a commentary or study help that is pastoral in nature. I want to read something that aims to convict me and rouse me to action rather than merely to inform me.

A second principle is to avoid limiting yourself by era, tribe, or category. (1) Push beyond the limits of your era, refusing the chronological snobbery of limiting yourself to books written in the late 20^th and early 21^st century. Read old books. Put down Grisham and Geisler and pick up Augustine, Dante, and Lewis. (2) Read outside of the parameters of your tribe. By this I mean that you will benefit from reading people who are not just like yourself. Over the long haul, you want to read books by authors who are not Christian, evangelical, Baptist, or American. (3) Expand your reading beyond the limits of a familiar category. If you read mostly theology, try something new and read some missiology or church history. If you always read non-fiction, buy a good novel or two. If you read mostly “practical” books, put them down and read a good work of theology (you’ll find that a good theology is the most practical thing a person could have).

A third principle: reading the great authors is more helpful than reading a great number of books. In Christian theology and related fields, this means that you might want to pick a handful of theologians who have influenced the church and make sure that you have read at least a little bit of what they wrote. If you are a seminarian, you want to read Irenaeus, Athanasius, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, and Barth, the towering figures in church history. (Philip Yancey is not a towering figure in church history.) In fact, you may want to choose one or two of these authors and read everything they’ve written, and read some of their books multiple times. If you are Baptist (or even if you are not), you are well-served to purchase and read Dagg’s Manual of Theology and Boyce’s Abstracts, and you cannot allow yourself to neglect Hubmaier’s “On the Christian Baptism of Believers.”

A fourth principle: make a list of categories and read a selected number of books each year, in each category. My list includes the following categories: theology, biblical studies, missiology, philosophy, history and current affairs, international affairs, and fiction. These categories are weighted according to what I am teaching during a particular semester and according to interest, but each semester I try to several from each category, with fiction being the possible exception.

A fifth principle: read a few select journals and magazines. During my time in the Ph.D. program at SEBTS, I began receiving First Things, a journal dealing with any and all issues at the intersection of religion and public life. Since then, I have also begun receiving Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Economist, The Atlantic Monthly, The Times Literary Supplement and The New York Review of Books. While First Things provides me with a lively discussion of religion and public life, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy allows me to keep track of international affairs, The Atlantic Monthly allows a peek into things that are of interest to the broader culture, The Times Literary Supplement and The New York Review of Books serve notice of a wide array of recently published books. The Economist provides the reader with an avalanche of concise articles on matters of interest across the globe and across various sectors of society. Other periodicals worth the read are Books & Culture and Touchstone. Your list will not be the same as mine; browse Barnes & Noble and find some magazines and journals that help you stay abreast of the rest of the world.

My title is Assistant Professor of Church History and Baptist studies. My main sequence of courses is Church History I, Church History II, and Baptist History, all three of which are required core courses. I also teach periodic elective courses on a variety of topics in Baptist Studies and post-1500 church history. Because my classes are not about the Great Commission in the same sense as some other courses, I have to deliberately bring missional priorities to bear on my teaching and assignments. This is what I do.

In my Church History lectures, I emphasize the spread of Christianity through both informal expansion and formal mission efforts. I have found both “history of missions” and “global history of Christianity” texts helpful in shaping my own lectures. I also discuss key figures and movements in missions history (e.g. Ulfilas, the Edinburgh Conference) and try to correct misperceptions and oversimplications (e.g. the Reformers weren’t concerned with missions, William Carey was the first modern missionary, etc.).

In my Baptist History lectures, I emphasize the central role that missions has played in Baptist history, including Southern Baptist history. I discuss key Baptist mission pioneers (there are loads of them!) and important controversies surrounding Baptist missions (ditto). I also discuss the way the language of missions was used in 20^th century Baptist life in both helpful and confusing ways. I give some considerable attention to how Southern Baptists cooperate for the sake of missions, particularly through the Cooperative Program.

In all of my classes, I try to make regular Great Commission application. First, I regularly urge my students to consider serving as either foreign missionaries or North American church planters. Second, I recommend reading (including some material unrelated to the class) that I think will help students develop Great Commission priorities in their own ministry. Third, because I am a history professor, we talk quite a bit about how the gospel has been contextualized in various times and places—we discuss good and bad examples of this and try to make relevant application to our present context(s).

As far as assignments go, in each of my classes every student is required to share the gospel at least once during the course of the semester. Students who fail to complete this assignment receive a letter grade deduction from their final grade. While such an assignment might seem unusual in a history class, I explain to my students that we are a theological seminary equipping students primarily to serve the churches through various ministry vocations. We are not pursuing education for the sake of knowledge alone, but education unto edification—we are training for life, godliness, and ministry. Plus, if my students are sharing the gospel, it helps hold me accountable to do the same—we professors live in a Christian bubble as well, so I need encouragement to get out there in the world and share Jesus.

Finally, though it is not directly related to the classroom, I try to be a Great Commission role model to my students. After all, professors (and other leaders) are always teaching—even when we aren’t teaching. I help to coordinate my local church’s Missions Ministry Team, and my students know it because I talk about what our church is doing. I also try to periodically help lead SEBTS mission trips—I am co-leading a trip to India with my friend and colleague George Robinson (who, by the way, is a new Between the Times contributor). And I share with my students some of my own evangelism efforts, especially those that I think include some “teachable moments” (both for the good and the bad!).

This is what I do in my classes—no doubt some colleagues do some things differently and better. I try to regularly learn from my colleagues various ways that I can incorporate Great Commission concerns and all kinds of other important and helpful priorities in my classes. (For example, an ethics colleague, Mark Liederbach, first encouraged me to include a personal evangelism requirement in church history classes, though this requirement is normally associated with personal evangelism classes.)  I still have much to learn, and am thankful that God has surrounded me with so many godly role models.

If you are looking for a seminary that weds sound doctrine with missional emphases, then Southeastern is the place for you. If you want to learn to think rightly about God so that you can live rightly before God, then I would urge you to consider Southeastern. If you want to consider what it means to be a gospel-centered leader who is reproducing other gospel-centered leaders, for the glory of God and the sake of the nations, then you may find Southeastern to be just what you are looking for. Let me encourage you to contact our Admissions Office and schedule an appointment to come and visit the SEBTS campus. If you are coming this way, shoot me an email—I’d love to meet you and hear what the Lord is doing in your life.

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There are three types of people in our country. There are, first of all, those who do not read. An AP-Ipsos poll recently revealed that 25% of Americans do not read books, while other polls have put the number higher, at around 50%. It is not that these Americans cannot read or that they do not accumulate knowledge. (No country’s citizens—and I mean none—bring more depth and import to subjects such as celebrity clothes, hair and makeup, and the intricacies of the Pitt-Jolie marriage than the citizens of the USA.) It is just that their knowledge is not gained from books. Second, there are those who read but do so aimlessly, choosing on a whim what to read and when to do so. Third, there are those who plan to read and who read with a plan.

This series of posts is meant to encourage college and seminary students to discover the joys and benefits of disciplined reading. Upon entering seminary fourteen years ago, I was a “serial reader” but not a particularly judicious or disciplined reader. By “serial reader,” I mean that I read lots of books. But I gave no serious thought to which books I ought to read, and I read plenty of books that were not worth the time spent. That first year of seminary, our president challenged us to acquire a 1,500 book library before having graduated from seminary. Uh huh. If my income had tripled during those two years I would not have been able to afford 1,500 books. But the challenge stuck with me. I wanted a 1,500 book library! Another professor, Dr. L. Russ Bush, challenged us to read the right books. If a book is deficient in content, analysis, and style, it just possibly is not worth the read, he argued.

Yet another professor pointed out the importance of words for the Christian faith. The Triune God is himself a model of accomplished communication. God created the universe through his Word (Heb 11:3). Jesus Christ is the living Word (Jn 1:1). The Spirit inspired the written Word and brings enlightens us as we read and meditate upon it. God has given us, his image-bearers, the unique ability to communicate through the written word, and has chosen to speak to us through it. To read is to image forth the Creator. In fact, as Danny Akin’s booklet, Building a Theological Library, points out, “as the apostle Paul faced his impending death, he still remained a student, requesting of Timothy that he bring the books when he came to visit him in prison (2 Tim 4:13).

In the following posts, I will seek to give brief answers to three questions: (1) What should I read? (2) How should I read? (3) What benefits are accrued from disciplined reading? Finally, (4) I will answer questions and give some concluding thoughts.

The most recent development in this system is the use of what we call “Hybrids.”  Hybrid format classes begin each semester with online materials and include a weekend with the professor at our Wake Forest campus.  Students spend time in discussion groups, have Q&A time, and interact with the most current issues in each field.  After the weekend with the professor, students complete the class with the online materials.  This allows students the flexibility of distance learning plus face-to-face time with our faculty and on campus credit for the class which meets in Wake Forest, NC.

Further, students can combine online and extension center classes with hybrids and five-day break classes to earn an entire degree with only a limited amount of time at our main campus.

There are multiple options for taking advantage of distance learning for your degree at SEBTS:

• The Master of Arts in Christian Ministry can be done entirely at the Tampa Extension Center.
• The Associate of Divinity degree may be earned entirely via distance learning.
• Master of Divinity students may earn all but 24 hours class credit via distance learning.  Various hours can be earned for Masters of Arts.  Please contact the Distance Learning office for details.
• Undergraduate students may earn class credit via distance learning.

The staff in our Distance Learning Office (Jerry Lassetter, Director; Kristine Wagner and Chris Thompson, Administrative Staff) would be happy to discuss a plan for taking distance learning classes that will suit your needs.  They are available by email at online@sebts.edu or by phone 1-866-816-0273.  Further information is also available on our website at http://www.sebts.edu/distance/.

I just began my 16^th year as a seminary professor. That itself is hardly remarkable.  But over the last decade and a half, and for the years before teaching at Houston Baptist University and adjunctively at other schools, I have tried never to stay the same, but to grow and learn and get better at the craft to which God has called me. I have gone through the phases many go through, from wanting to teach every student possible to recognizing the greater value of mentoring a few, from obsessing over lectures to understanding the value of a life consistent with them, and from a serious attention to the academic to a greater focus on a holistic, gospel driven identity.

I am hardly qualified to describe what a professor should be; I am still trying to figure that out myself. The following simply offers my limited perspective on what a seminary prof should be, but it mostly demonstrates what I am trying to become. So many of my colleagues push me with their excellence in the classroom, effectiveness in writing, and godly character. But I thought I would throw out a few features that in my mind should mark a seminary professor.

A seminary professor should be:

1. A churchman. We are tasked with equipping leaders of the church, and thus our commitment to the local church should be exemplary.  In most cases a professor should have significant experience in a local church. Having been a pastor helps me to understand the rigors of church life.  I am grateful our president encourages active church involvement even to the point of allowing faculty such as myself to serve local churches as pastors or staff members. The 21^st century is the century of the local church: the heroes of my students are almost without exception pastors. We who teach should in our words and by our lives show our love for the local church.

2. A gospel lover and a gospel-bearer.  We are a gospel people, and regardless our area of specialty we should both love and share the good news consistently. This includes being faithful locally and globally, in the neighborhood and going to the nations. Again, this is a great joy to me at Southeastern as I have colleagues in various fields who both live and the gospel daily.

3. A generalist, and yet an expert. We should all have some awareness of the other disciplines and yet have substantive expertise in our own. When I taught at the university level the need for being a generalist was greater, as I taught OT and NT survey and Christian Doctrine. Now, having expertise in my field matters more. But I cannot teach my discipline without having some level of understanding of and appreciation for the others.  I have seen schools where the faculty divides over their various disciplines, and where a silo mentality creates antipathy more than gospel driven unity. This normally comes from a lack of appreciation for, and too often an ignorance of, other disciplines.

For example, I have a degree in music. I am not genius in the field and I have no business teaching courses there. But I have such a great love for music and the arts and understand how music can be a powerful communicator of truth. If we will understand the generation we currently teach, we had better have more than a sophomoric view of music.

I am grateful that in preparation for my PhD studies I had to take an entrance exam that required an hour of examination over virtually every major area from Hebrew and Greek to missions, from philosophy to ethics, from preaching to evangelism. I am in no way qualified to teach theology or New Testament at the masters level, but having done so in the undergraduate program has (I think, and I hope) helped me to teach evangelism better.  So a professor should be well read in his field but should also be at least conversant with issues in others as well.

3. A mentor, not a talking head. I recognize that teaching a class of 75 requires a different approach than an elective class of 15. Once upon a time I preferred the huge classes, thinking that those would be the main way I influenced leaders for the gospel. I still love these classes and love teaching these students. But I finally figured out (I am thick) that the greatest impact I will make for Jesus comes from the individuals I have mentored in smaller classes, in small groups, or individually. It is unfathomable to me that a professor would not be constantly mentoring some student or students. I am grateful that colleagues of mine have brought great conviction to my life by their example in mentoring.

4. A catalyst, not only a communicator. We should be excellent in the classroom. One of the great sins of a teacher is to be boring, especially given what we teach at seminary. But communicators come and go and the world goes on spinning. Catalysts bring change. Catalysts do more than communicate; they inspire.  Communicators cause a stir for a moment, but catalysts change the trajectory of students for a lifetime. Students today need much more than information. They need a vision. They want encouragement. They seek permission. And as we impart these, we bring catalytic change to young leaders.

5. A disciplemaker, not merely an information disseminator. Related to the above, we teach not simply to help students learn a discipline. We teach as a means to make disciples. If any teacher thinks their primary calling is to teach a discipline, I fear for his students. We teach STUDENTS, not subjects. Our subject matter does in fact matter. But if we have not helped to make disciples, how are we different than a professor in a state university?

6. A family man and a father to the fatherless. We can and will demonstrate our weaknesses and struggles as parents as we do life with our students. But we must do more. This generation is a fatherless generation like none before in American history. Particularly those of us who have children the age of our students (old guys like me) need to give students a vision for a godly family. I love hearing stories of students at the homes of faculty. I love seeing students pop in our home on Monday nights during football season just to hang out. We must do more than tell. We must show.

7. A man of integrity and not only a man of ability. If a man (or woman) has the rare honor, and it is indeed rare, of teaching at a seminary, he certainly has a level of ability. But integrity matters more. Integrity gives credence to our ability.

8. A teacher and a prophet of God. We are not simply teachers of a subject, we are spokesmen for the Almighty. What a heavy weight that is to bear! Thankfully, God has called us and He is faithful (I Thess. 5:24).

9. A contributor to the greater Christian world. We dare not think that our influence extends only to the students who sit before us in class. Our books, our ministry beyond the campus, our influence through our graduates should contribute to the greater Christian world.

Okay, so I wanted to have ten but after reading over this I pretty much agree with what I said and now want to resign as a professor for failing so much at all of it.  So I guess since “9 marks” is fashionable these days I will stop just here.

I am sure I missed some big ones and I fail at these. My overall point is this: we who teach at seminary do not teach just like people at the university. We seek to teach the leaders of the people of God so that they can go and lead the people of God to fulfill the mission of God. And I can think of nothing I would rather do than this.

These are my simple thoughts. What are yours?

Jimmy Scroggins, senior pastor of First Baptist Church West Palm Beach:

Kevin Ezell is the perfect man to create a new NAMB for the next generation. He is a proven leader of leaders, a relentless bridge-builder, and a fearless innovator. His ministry is characterized by decisive leadership, an openness to fresh perspectives, and a winsome humility. Ezell has capitalized on his proximity to Southern Seminary by creating an engine for training aggressive, missional pastors and leaders. His “family tree” of ministry stretches around the world, and literally hundreds of pastors, missionaries, and other church leaders call him a personal mentor. Somehow, Kevin has the ability to simultaneously be a maverick and a denominational statesman (exactly what NAMB needs). Bottom line for me: the man loves Christ, serves people, and knows how to build effective coalitions to get things done.

While I was in Europe a few months ago, Aaron Coe and I talked about Kevin–unaware of this forthcoming nomination. Aaron is church planter and pastor of Gallery Church in New York City, has already written a post on his blog celebrating Kevin’s nomination. He also shared some additional words with me:

Kevin and his crew at Highview served as our sending church when we planted Gallery. First, they encouraged their people to pray for us and be involved. From the beginning they sent people to come on short-term mission trips. One spring break they sent over 100 youth from their middle and high school ministry. They also encouraged people in the church to make the move to help us get started. A doctor in the church and his family heeded that call and are still in NYC today. Kevin personally recruited a network of churches to round out our partnership support. He paid for seven churches to come up on a vision trip and three of those churches ended up partnering with us. He also led the people of Highview to give more money to our plant than they had previously given before (over 150K). He really encouraged the church sacrifice on our behalf. On more than one occasion Kevin personally came to NYC to encourage our work and encourage me as the leader. He appointed his associate, Dr. Jimmy Scroggins, to be our church planting coach. Jimmy was involved in helping us through the first couple of years. Personally coaching me in preaching, leadership, etc.

Lastly, and I don’t say this lightly, if it were not for Kevin and the people of Highview, there would be no Gallery Church in NYC and my ministry in this city would have ended a long time ago. They have supported and encouraged me and my team every step of the way. They have made it possible for us to have a long term ministry here.

I will be praying for the NAMB trustees as they consider Kevin as president of NAMB.

Words are not adequate to express how excited I am that Dr. Ezell will be the new president of NAMB.  This is truly a great day for Southern Baptists and especially the North American Mission Board.  Why am I convinced this is a wonderful thing for our convention of churches?  Let me share several reasons.

First, Kevin and his wife Lynette live out the Great Commission.  In addition to their three biological children, they have adopted three others from China, Ethiopia, and the Philippines.  Their love for the nations is not something they merely talk about. It is something they live!

Second, he is an incredible leader who knows how to recruit, inspire, motivate, and implement.  I saw this first hand when living in Louisville. Kevin will build a great team and foster a healthy culture at NAMB.

Third, he is theologically conservative, balanced and fair.  He gladly affirms the BF&M 2000.  Now, anyone who knows Kevin knows he is not a classic Calvinist.  They should also know that Al Mohler has gladly called Kevin his pastor since 1996!  Kevin is not a Calvinist and therefore he does not have a Reformed agenda.  At the same time he is not paranoid about Calvinism. He is not afflicted with Calvinophobia, and doesn’t see a Calvinist lurking behind every bush ready to highjack the SBC back to Geneva!  He will gladly and effectively work with anyone with a passion for the lost and a heart to serve the unreached and underserved regions of North America.

Fourth, Kevin has led Highview in aggressive church planting in North American and passionate missions to the nations.  I believe he will work well with the new leadership at the IMB and lead Southern Baptists to the most fruitful days of church planting in their history!  70,000 churches by 2020 may be more than a dream.  It may become a reality!

Finally, Kevin is a team player who will reach out to all members of the Great Commission Council, the leaders of our State Conventions and those who serve in the trenches of our local associations.  And most importantly, he is a local church man.  The SBC will find in Kevin Ezell a friend and encourager who will challenge them and help them do great things for the glory of God.

This is a great day for Southern Baptists.  This is a great move for the expanding of the kingdom of God and the renown of King Jesus in America.  Kevin will have my prayers and full support as he takes on this awesome assignment.  I am excited to watch what God does in and through this man for His great glory in the days ahead.

I will never forget the first day of Systematic Theology with Paige Patterson. I had decided to take Systematic during my first semester and the opening class period would be the first experience I would have in a seminary environment. I sat on a row with J. D. Greear, Keith Errickson, and Chris Thompson. As Dr. Patterson began class, he announced that he would begin by handing out the class “syllabi.” As he said this, I leaned over to a friend and mentioned that the proper plural of syllabus is “syllabuses,” not “syllabi.” At this point, Keith raised his hand, was acknowledged by the teacher and proceeded to say, “My friend Bruce has a problem with your grammar.” I’m not joking. Dr. Patterson looked at me and said, “Yes?” To which I responded, “No sir, there is no problem with your grammar. My friend is joking.” The professor, however, insisted that I should put on my big boy pants and tell him what I really thought. So I did. I proceeded to unload my theory that syllabus was not derived from the Latin and therefore the plural should be syllabuses. Dr. Patterson thought about it for a second or two, looked at me, and said, “no, -buses are things that children ride to school, and since you know so much about everything, I will grade your weekly quizzes out loud, in front of the entire class, for the rest of the semester.” And that he did. Can you imagine what a never-ending carnival of theological wedgies the remainder of the semester was for me?

In all seriousness, I loved Systematic Theology. There is nothing more satisfying, more unsettling, more helpful, and more practical than asking the really big questions about God, man, salvation, the church, and last things. First and foremost, we studied the text of Scripture, drawing upon the resources of the entire canon to answer each question. Along the way, however, we investigated what the church fathers and the Reformers had to say on any of these doctrines, and learned to defend and apply those same doctrines. I was forced to write my first bona fide research paper. I had never written a paper in Turabian style and had no idea how to argue a thesis. I chose to argue for the divine inspiration theory of Scripture (vs. human constructivist and human response models).

After having mustered all of my bibliographic, analytic, and stylistic resources, I managed to complete my paper. I received it graded the next week. At the end of the paper, Dr. Patterson devoted several paragraphs of red ink to the shortcomings of my paper, gave me a few words of encouragement, and then ended with this sentence, which I will never forget: “Mr. Ashford, we will make a real scholar of you yet, if it kills us both in the process.” Hmmm. Even though I had just been informed that (1) I was not a real scholar, and (2) that to make me one might actually kill my professor in the process, I found myself encouraged, oddly enough, that I might one day make a decent theologian. There was light at the end of the tunnel. From Dr. Patterson, I learned not only theology and research, but also how it is that a teacher really challenges those whom he is teaching.

My biblical languages and biblical studies courses were of inestimable value. One of those courses was the book of Isaiah with Gary Galeotti. It was one of the most worshipful experiences of my life, as we studied Isaiah, line by line, for an entire semester. I realized that Isaiah understood Christ 800 years before the Lord’s coming better than I did 2000 years after. In addition to learning the book of Isaiah, I learned what it meant to be a godly preacher and teacher of the Word. Day after day, he opened the text of Scripture, expounded it, applied it to our lives, and challenged us to embrace and obey the words of God. He aimed not only for the mind, but for the heart.

I took Christian Philosophy, Apologetics, Christian Faith and the Modern Mind, and several other courses with L. Russ Bush. In these courses, I learned to give a defense of the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Dr. Bush was a man who had thought deeply and broadly and was able to speak cogently on any issue across the range of the disciplines. At his fingertips were theology, philosophy, history, world religions, and current affairs. It was in this class more than any other that the Lord distilled in me a love for reading widely across the disciplines.

Alvin Reid was my professor for Introduction to Evangelism. I had never been around a man with such a contagious enthusiasm for the gospel. His courses were an extended argument for evangelism, missions, and revival. He argued from the text of Scripture, illustrated from the annals of church history, and applied it to our contemporary milieu. Between his evangelism course and Keith Eitel’s Introduction to Christian Missions, I found myself under conviction every week. They continually impressed upon me the fact that a love for God and His Word necessarily issues forth in a desire to commend Him to a lost world.

John Hammett was my professor for courses such as Ecclesiology, Soteriology and Baptist History.  Not only was I forced to study the doctrine of the church in depth, but I encountered a man who was the consummate scholar. In presenting his own views, we recognized that he was rigorous in his research and unflinching in his argumentation. In presenting views that differed from his own, he was unfailingly even-handed. He did not need to misrepresent his opponents in order to refute their views. One of the things that most impressed me about Dr. Hammett was that one could be a tough-minded theologian and at the same time have a gracious demeanor.

From Andreas Kostenberger, I encountered not only the New Testament but also a man who embodies the severe discipline necessary to “leave no stone unturned” in the study of the Scriptures. From Steve McKinion, I imbibed not only the writings of the church fathers but also learned that one could be a missionary to the academy; he could research and write and speak in such a manner that he reaches an audience extending far beyond the bounds of the evangelical world. From Dan Heimbach, not only did I learn Christian Ethics, but also observed the life of a man who had advised the President of the United States and taught at the Naval Academy and who was willing to leave all of that in order to teach ministers of the gospel. And this is just the short list of men from whom I have learned.

Last, but not least, I want to encourage seminary students to learn from those who God has put in leadership at their seminaries. It is God who has placed these men in such positions and we would be remiss not to learn from them. The lessons learned from each president will vary according to their personality, context, and relative strengths and weaknesses. Since I live and write from within a Southeastern context, I will mention our own President, Danny Akin. If I had to limit my thoughts to only one thing that I have learned from watching him, it would be that he has modeled for us what it means to hide behind the cross. I think it was James Denney who said, “No man can give the impression that he himself is clever and that Christ is mighty to save.” Our president models this in his preaching, as he keeps the text of Scripture front and center, and puts himself in the background. The lesson here is that we should not allow our personalities or agendas or sense of humor to overtake the text itself. He also models it in his leadership. It is not often that one has opportunity to sit under a leader who is genuinely self-effacing, consistently willing to admit his faults and ask forgiveness when wrong, committed to visit and serve his missions students on the field (in less than ideal conditions), and willing to spend time with students in spite of his multiple responsibilities.

I was very, very close to eliminating this installment because I was afraid that it would seem like an extended piece of flattery. After all, in trying to give a brief exposition of God’s grace to me in a seminary context, I have focused on the faculty as much as (or more than) I have the curriculum. There are two reasons why, in the end, I decided to post this installment. First, at a good seminary, the faculty and curriculum are inseparable. That is the whole point of having a seminary community. We are drinking deeply from the well of the Christian Scriptures at the feet of men who have walked with the Lord and who have studied their chosen disciplines with more depth than we likely ever will. Theology, pastoral ministry, and leadership are caught just as much as they are taught. Second, with all of the emphasis on young leaders in our convention, I thought it fitting to focus on the benefits of listening to, and learning from, the older leaders whom God has set before us. Young men are most likely to become leaders by sitting at the feet of their elders.

In conclusion, let me affirm what I wrote in the first post, “I can say that life in a seminary context has been good in many respects. It is a place where I learned to study God’s Word and relate it to all aspects of His world. I was introduced to church history, systematic theology, apologetics, and much more. I formed friendships that will last for a lifetime, and was taught and discipled by men who had walked with God for many years more than I. It is easy for me to recognize God’s grace and goodness to me in this calling.” Let us live and study and teach and worship in a manner worthy of our calling.

Actually, I have collated many of your suggestions and expressed your sentiments under the heading, “the danger of being THAT GUY.” Often, THAT GUY is the one who has only recently come to a new theological position and is positively obnoxious about it. You know, the guy who nobody wants to have a conversation with because of the axe he has to grind. A lot of attention has been given to “cage stage” Calvinists (these are freshly minted Calvinists who ought to be locked in a cage for a couple of years until they can stop referring to four-pointers as “quasi-Pelagian” and start learning to utter sentences that do not contain the phrase “the doctrines of grace”). But there are cage-stage anti-Calvinists too (and they can’t claim that God ordained them to be obnoxious).

And don’t forget the Contextual Seminarian (this guy is similar to the second type of dork to which I refer in an earlier post. He’s the guy with the wounded poet look, emerging church glasses, girl jeans, and a soul patch. And he doesn’t even have a prescription for the glasses). Or the “Courting Only” guy (I’d like to offer him a cold compress for his fevered brow). Or Mr.  “Home-School Only” (If one more person at the SBC comes up to me and tells me that it is ungodly for me to send my kids to public school, I think I’m going to strangle him with a floral-patterned jumper).

Other times, THAT GUY is the one who can’t seem to keep his mouth shut in class. He is always pregnant with an inane question.  Are you THAT GUY? If so, you are probably blissfully unaware. Did you know there is a Fantasy Seminary League? Are you aware that some of your fellow students choose the names of their favorite THAT GUYs at the beginning of the semester, and form their own Fantasy Seminary team? That’s right. Every time you start into another 4.5 minute question, the guy who picked you gets a point. If you ask three or four of those questions, he gets three or four points. If the teacher ignores you, reprimands you, or pokes a little fun at you, they get double points!

“Oh, no,” you opine. “I’m not THAT GUY.” Really? Well, here is a test: Do people groan and roll their eyes when you start showing off your knowledge, attempting to disguise it in the form of a question? Do you like to bring up your pet theories in every class, struggling to adapt them to interrogative form? Are you personally committed to uttering, in the form of a question, every stray thought you’ve conceived during the lecture? Do your questions start with the phrase, “But don’t you think that…?” Does your teacher get an odd look on his face when you raise your hand? Do your fellow students ever tell you that every time you talk in class they feel like a hamster swimming in a bucket of Thorazine? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you might be THAT GUY. And if you are THAT GUY, stop it. Stop it right now.

Still other times, THAT GUY is one who idolizes a particular man in the ministry. Usually, THAT GUY imports his idol’s interests, theological convictions, pulpit mannerisms, and sometimes even his clothing preferences. Take, for example, students who idolize John Piper (I call them “Pipettes”). When they preach, they try to imitate Piper’s intensity and earnest demeanor, and even his intonations, but instead they look like they are in great pain and might implode on the spot.

But it is not just Piper. Our campuses have students who seek to impersonate any number of other ministry figures. When I first started preaching (waaaaaay back in 1993), I had discovered James Merritt’s sermon library and started preaching his messages to my youth. Verbatim. Soon, I discovered Adrian Rogers and started preaching his sermons. I tried to imitate his voice and intonations, and even the Adrian Rogers “chuckle” at the end of my (his) jokes. Seriously. Of course, there is nothing wrong with looking up to certain men and women who have walked with the Lord longer than we, and who have much to teach us. However, any time we admire a man inordinately we are in trouble. Ultimately, we are called to emulate Christ (and not our heroes) and hold Him and his Word supreme (rather than some man’s theological system or methodological distinctives).

OK, enough of that. I hope that you are not offended by the warning not to be THAT GUY. I’ve tried to be candid, while staying on the nearside of disrespectful. On a more serious note, others suggested that I include the danger of burnout: Seminary brings with it many challenges. There are financial pressures, intellectual challenges, family responsibilities, and church commitments. It is not easy. Likely, you have never had to try to juggle a 30-hr. per week job, 12 hours of class, and 60 required books per semester at the same time that you try to love your family and serve your church.

The real question here is how to juggle the multiple callings God has given you: family, church, and two workplaces (seminary and job). This challenge is not easily met, and it continues throughout life, but two insights are particularly helpful: First, recognize that faithfulness should not necessarily be equated with excellence. Being faithful to your seminary studies is not to be equated with making A’s in your studies. This might be a season in life when the best thing for you to do is to make A’s at home and B’s and C’s at school. Second, recognize that there is a reason that the Lord gave us a day of rest. Enjoy your church’s fellowship and worship time, devote several hours to reading and reflecting upon Scripture, and if possible take a nap.

As for the dangers of seminary, this concludes my reflections. In the final installment, I will speak of tremendous assets of the seminary context, of the way in which it can be a catalyst for spiritual growth, theological maturity, and methodological creativity.