I have been blessed through the time of reflection on the various schools I have attended.  I have enjoyed the comments and interactions of my internet friends.   When I look back in my life, I realize that God seems to be in control.  My first roommate Guy, has discovered my blog, and has commented on Brown Trail.  He asked an interesting question concerning his time at the school.  “If I had a chance to go back and do it over again, would I?”  Guy is one of the brightest, deepest thinkers I have ever met.  I believe like him, I would go to all the schools again that I have been too.  Brown Trail was hard on me, God was not.  Heritage Christian was God’s hand of healing for the first experience.  Lipscomb provided tools for ministry.  Freed-Hardeman gave me one of my favorite role models.  Would I do it over again, I would.  All the schools have blessed me in certain ways.  All of them were needed to development me as a minister.   I feel that since I have been to so many schools, I feel that this has given me a well rounded ministry.

I am excited to move on to the next step.  I will be attending Harding Graduate School of Religion in the fall.  I will be working on the Doctorate of Ministry degree.  A lot of people go into a PH.D. program after the M.Div, but that is for smart people who usually want to teach in a University.  I want to preach in a congregation.  I want to be a preacher.  I love focusing on the practical aspect of ministry (besides I am not smart enough to get a PH.D.).  Hopefully someday I can use my education and training to make ministers better for congregations across America and the world.  I plan on focusing on the spiritual formation and development of preachers in this degree.  The next step seems exciting, new, and a blessing.

The question of suffering has caused religious doubt in numerous people throughout the ages.  This book is not a text seeking to defend the Lord’s involvement in suffering in this world.  In fact, the book is written by a former minister, turned agnostic towards the faith.  The book deals with the Biblical responses to suffering in the world.  The author does do a good job in presenting the biblical evidence for the various views of suffering in the Biblical text.  The author deals with the views of God punishing the people for sin which brings about suffering, the classic freewill argument, in the sense that because of man’s sin, people suffer because of the sinful actions of other men, there is a section on redemptive suffering, and the unreasonable nature of suffering as presented in Job and Ecclesiastes.  One of the most interesting sections was the look at suffering through Jewish-Christian Apocalypticism.  The author does not deal with the redefinition of suffering that was taught to me years ago, in the sense that suffering is only sin.  The author also does not deal with the concept of the “vale of soul making.”  Overall, the book was difficult for me because I really do not enjoy people seeking to destroy faith in God.  But I felt I better read the book because of the influence that it could have on countless people.  One of the major ways that the author argued was to explore one explanation for suffering and then deal with the situations that the explanation could not explain.  I saw some problems with this because no one explanation can deal with every circumstance of suffering in this world.  I believe that the Bible does a good job in the sense that it has many explanations for suffering, because there are many situations that call for many explanations for the reasons behind the suffering.  Realizing that suffering can be a major stumbling block to many people, I wanted to read this material so that I can help people through suffering.  I believe that seeing that suffering has some purpose is more beneficial than giving up one’s faith and viewing suffering as pointless.

“Do those people even exist?” was mentioned to me concerning FHU by a fellow student during the Lipscomb graduation after he discovered that I would be attending this new school. I made the switch to FHU because if I stayed at Lipscomb I could not graduate with a Master’s of Arts degree because of the desire to continue on with the Master’s of Divinity degree. This is ATS accreditation rules. I transferred in 36 hours and received a generous scholarship. I was on my way to a new experience. One would be amazed with the diversity between Lipscomb’s Bible program and FHU’s Bible program. The Lipscomb program focused more on theology while the FHU program focused more on the philosophical nature of the Bible and religion. A lot of the graduate teachers at FHU have degrees in Philosophy. Words like Postmodernity were mentioned in a negative sense, theology was replaced with Christian doctrine, and there was no focus on system theory. The program at FHU dealt with more ethics and the text. Sometimes I did not feel that I fit into the program. I would ask questions that seemed to create confusion and suspicion. A lot of the students did most of their training at FHU and were continuing with the graduate degree. I remember one time hearing a professor renounce postmodernity, so after he was finished I asked him if he was for it or against it? He mentioned, “against it.” I commented that it did not matter if he was for it or against it, postmodernity is here and we must learn to preach Jesus through this mindset. You can be against it, but it is like being against the sun, it is still going to shine if you like it or not. The question is not if we are against it or for it, it is what are we going to do about it. I remember one time I asked a question and class and one of the students accused me of “believing only in the red letters of the Bible.” Stuff like this made me wonder about the image I was giving in the classes. I am so far from being a person that is this liberal that I had to laugh when the comment was made. Asking a question, does not make you a raging liberal. I have seen a lot in the church, I was wanting to learn more about what the professors thought of certain topics. Mostly of this was from some of the undergraduates in class. The only major weakness in the program was the newness of the divinity degree. The school increased the Bible program, and with this, it created some weak classes where it was taught at the undergraduate level. There were only two classes like this, but they were the two classes that I seemed to have the most difficulty in because of the level of the class and some of the spiritual maturity of the students. These two classes, one on values and one on Hermeneutics were terrible. All the other classes I had were great. I loved having David Powell, Clyde Woods, Kevin Youngblood, Ralph Gilmore, David South, and Earl Edwards. I really feel that the program helped me to be a better preacher in a congregational setting. Lipscomb helped me be a theologian and FHU helped me be a preacher. I really liked certain students. Jonathan Jones was one of my favorite classmates as well as Bart Warren. These guys were exceptional men. I also loved Serge Shoemaker, though he argued with me all the time. But he was probably one of the sharpest students in the school. Though he would make me mad a lot because he would challenge me so often and sometimes drive the point home, literally into my skin so that the next class I wanted to drive the point home too into his skin. But I think he really truly loved me and I loved him. We just debated a lot, especially in Systematic Doctrine class. For most of the program, I wondered about my place. I guess I questioned my place because I was questioning my place in the church. Some students were hard line conservatives, some students were issue oriented, some students were never exposed to much in the church, and I have been from one of the most conservative schools and to one of the most progressive schools in the church. So where do I fit in, maybe this is a pointless question, but it is one that I have asked. I feel that I am a conservative, but one that has not wished for the glory of yesterday, but one that is engaged in today’s ministry, one that is aware of the challenges of the world. I am a conservative that tries to fellow Jesus first and foremost. It is more important for me to be loving instead of right. I think in the end, I found my place at FHU. During the oral examination, I was listening to Earl Edward explain the use of preacher and minister in the Bible. He told me something I never knew before. And I thanked him for the insight. Earl Edwards and I are not of the same personality, he is serious and I laugh, he is stately, and I am lighthearted. He and I are different, but from the time he gave me a bad mark because I was unkind to his view to the final handshake after I passed my comprehensive exams, I believe I gained a great respect for this older master of the faith, and in a small way, I believe he learned to love me as a loud mouthed kid who truly loves Jesus. Where truth comes from is not my major concern, my major concern is to discover the truth. So My place—-is next to Jesus, the giver of all truth.

The schooling experience started to change with the start of Lipscomb.  I was working in Gallatin, TN and I was now married.  I no longer lived on campus or sought the same level of relationship with the instructors.  School became more about education and intellectual development.  After coming from two small schools, Lipscomb to me was the big time show.  It was impressive.  There was a intellectual vibe in the air and a post-modern feel to the school.  I still remember a particular woman youth minister from one of the large Nashville area congregations coming to class with a cup of java from Starbucks.  She looked so cool.  At this point, Starbucks was way too expensive for my cheap tastes.  The classes were different from my past experiences.   The words “theology, postmodernity, systemic, and narrative” were flipped off the tongue with a religious coolness.  It had the urban feel to ministry.  I really enjoyed some of the professors of Lipscomb.  Everyone was always nice, you never were around people to create serious personality problems.  Rodney Cloud was a joy to have as we had a mutual admiration society going.  I would brag on him, and he would brag on me.  Mike Williams was the hardest teacher I ever had.  It was perfection or a “B”.  I had him in Greek and nicknamed him “Machine Gun Williams.”  I would try to praise him and he would turn it around to make it an insult.  I loved matching wits with this man.  John York introduced me to postmodernity and narrative preaching.  Every time we got into some doctrinal controversy, he would raise his hands and state “My God is too big for that” end of discussion.  One of the greatest assets that I learned about was “system theory” in congregational leadership.  These methods and philosophies have increased my leadership ability significantly.  In fact, every minister would benefit from these lessons in the church.  You can see a congregation so much more clearly with this knowledge.  One of the problems with Lipscomb was that it was a little disconnected from the typical ministry in a local congregation.  Lipscomb is more on the progressive side of most congregations.  Sometimes the stuff you were learning would never fly in a local congregation.  Through the school, I did meet some amazing students.  I really looked up to men like Tom Riley, Kirk Brothers, and Dan Chambers.  Coming from a small town in Nova Scotia, attending two smaller schools, it was a new experience.  I guess that was why I wore my glasses to class most days; I wanted to look religiously cool too.  Probably, I just looked like a religious Geek; I should have got the Starbucks too.

Night turns into day.  I was emotional exhausted from Brown Trail.  I had a wonderful summer in Camp Wood, Texas working with the congregation and the mission from Nova Scotia that I helped move to Texas.  He was a loving friend and encouragement.  The summer was pleasant as the congregation was smaller and the youth group was mostly a few young people.  I spent most of the days working at building an addition to the building and swimming with James and David in the river.  I needed that summer.  I arrived on campus, though never even visiting the place before, to see my friend from Brown Trail, Sherrilyn Hurd, who seems to follow me around (I graduated with her from FHU yesterday too).  Jim Collins, who recruited me had me stay at his house for the night after taking me out for supper with some of the students.  Jim Collins is still one of my favorite people on earth.  Florence was a blissful land for the church.  There seemed to be so much in-fighting in Texas, so much focus on issues and personalities, that Florence did not seem to have.  I got involved in the UNA Student center, and dated a lot of the local girls.  I made friends quickly with the student body.  HCU is a small university for training preachers.  At Brown Trail, I was not allowed to speak for any events or gospel meetings, while everyone else in the student body did, but at HCU the school used me as a fund raiser, on the lectureship, all over the south.  The President, Dennis Jones loved me, and encouraged me to lead.  I remember being at all of the teacher’s homes, I remember having heart to heart talks with Ervin Jackson, Coy Roper, and Jim Collins.  Heritage was heaven on earth to me.  The school was more conservation than some colleges, but they were lovingly conservative.  The school centered me in my faith from the rest of my journey.  Being conservative, but always being loving in my conduct with those who disagree.   Heritage Christian University saved my weak soul through the instruction and love that was given to me.  It is one of the greatest places on earth.

Yesterday, I officially passed all of the requirements for the Master’s of Divinity Degree from Freed-Hardeman University.  This caused me to begin to reflect on my experiences in the various schools I have attended.  Fortunately, I have had a wide background in the theological diversity in my education.  I want to begin my reflection from the beginning.  At 20, years old, I left Canada to attend a small preacher training school.  A preaching training schools are typically more conservative than the mainstream universities within the church.  The schools perform a function of training men who are making a career change into the ministry or younger individuals who have a strong conservative background.  Also, some young people use the preaching schools to acquire college credit for no cost.  I went to Brown Trail because the missionary family that helped me come to Christ told me to.  I had no background or family in the church.  While at Brown Trail, I was severely mistreated by one of the professors (He is no longer there, and was ultimately fired).  I am sure I deserved some of this, and I am sure he felt that he was doing the Lord a service, but looking back, it was someone picking on a weak individual.  This caused numerous nosebleeds because of stress.  But looking back, this was the Lord’s test to see if my heart was given for ministry.  It was this that has strengthened me in the ministry.  Most people would have quit the church based on my background, but it was a confirmation of my desire to serve the Lord.  Was I going to leave Ur or not?  I did, praise the Lord.  Putting this experience behind me, I enjoyed the Brown Trail experience.  You become close with the students on the campaigns.  I learned how to preach the word in a powerful way.  I memorized over a thousand verses of text.  I was loved by a ton of people.  Brown Trail is like a bible boot camp for preachers.  In Brown Trail, I became a man, disciplined, and dedicated.  It was exactly what I needed to start my journey with the Lord.  In hindsight, the Lord wanted me at the school.  The school was hard on me, some of the things I went through were evil, but like Joseph I see now that this was the Lord’s ultimate plan for my life. 

This has been a busy week for me.  I have been putting some of the finishing touches on the thesis.  We are engaged in a Gospel Meeting this week.  Joe Paul Bryant is doing a wonderful job.  I have enjoyed his lessons.  But through this nourishing week, I have a heavy burden to carry.  Tomorrow I have to write my comprehensive tests for my Master’s of Divinity Degree at Freed-Hardeman University.  I also have to defend my thesis.  My stomach hurts now because of the stress or I am feeling sick, not sure yet.  I believe I have about five hours of testing ahead of me at 7:30 in the morning.  I want this completed.  I have spent too many long nights in the office writing, studying, praying, too many Saturdays working, and too many Sunday’s working all afternoon trying to accomplish this task.  Receiving the Master’s of Divinity degree is hard work.  Any minister who has this degree has earned it.  Most of us, have held down full time work as we went to school.  It says a lot about a minister who can accomplish this task.  Lazy people do not have M.Div degrees.  Enough of myself bragging on myself, trying to make myself feel good about all this work.  Please pray for me today and tomorrow.  I need your prayers.

This morning I was thinking about some of the discussions on here about the nature of the church.  The term “non-denomination” is thrown around a lot in the Christian world.  I remember writing an article on this for the Gospel Advocate that was well received.   Though I was written up once for being too conservative.   It seems that in the religious world, everyone has a particular definition for “non-denominationalism.”  There are some of the classic senses of having autonomous congregations, in the sense that there is no headquarters for the church.  Church leadership is congregationally formed instead of having a person over multiple congregations.  Some people define the term as “not having a written creed.”  But it seems that today, to be non-denominational, you just have to put the word “community” or “non-denominational” in the name of the church.  If you survey some of the larger community churches, they are just old denominational churches with the name “community” in them.  The doctrine has not changed, just the name, but people will flock to them because of the term “community,” thinking that they have transcended a denominational attitude.  It is my general impression of the religious culture that few people have a understanding of this term, it just seems cool to be it for a lot of people.

This book is by the popular author Donald Miller.  I read his book “Blue Like Jazz” and enjoyed it.  I was going to stop with that book, but a fellow blogger noted that this was his favorite of the Miller books.  I am not sure I share the same sentiments, but I certainly did enjoy the book.  As Donald travels and reflects on his life with God, I seem to join him in reflecting on my own life.  I guess there is a part of all of us that desires to travel with the Lord.  This is why it seems that people enjoy taking mission trips to various parts of the world and nation.  There is an excitement that follows as one journeys with the Lord.  I guess I can relate because I traveled a lot with the Lord.  Also, I would have enjoyed this book more if I read it in college while I was single.  The open road is not the same with two small children crying in the back seat.  Nevertheless, the book was good, not so much for the spiritual insight, but for the adventure, the friendships, and the trip.  As you travel with Donald, you cannot help but travel through your own life too.

This morning I finished reading the Gospel of Mark.  I have been impressed with the large response from the congregation in reading this text for the week.  The congregation has a gospel meeting this coming week, and the reading was done to prepare our minds for the preaching.  A lot of people have commented to me about various aspects of the book.  The book is on the mind of the congregation.  The last few chapters impressed me because of the ability of Jesus to properly handle the Old Testament text.  There are various issues and questions given to Christ, and in each case he focuses on the core element of truth in the problem.  He applies text to the situation.  Jesus is perfect in using scripture to manage human affairs.  The application of the text is always clear and correct.

The second insight into Christ from the last few chapters is that Christ never seems to be out of control.  The whole world is in conflict and Jesus remains calm through it all.  There are angry emotions, politics, and jealousy, but Jesus rises above the affairs of the reactionary world.  This is a great lesson for leadership.  One of the weaknesses in leadership, ministers, and congregations is to become reactionary.  Jesus provides an example of remaining calm in chaotic situations and times.  Help us to be more like Jesus.