I’m just completing my first semester in a seminary Ph.D program, which I began while keeping my full-time ministry job as Associate Pastor of my church. It’s not an easy task at all, and has more than its share of time management challenges. I wanted to share some of my thoughts and practices, and to [...]
I began this website in December of 2007 as a way to give counsel to seminary students from a vantage point outside seminary. Now, I have returned to seminary, this time as a Ph.D student. I just completed my first semester toward a Ph.D in Christian Philosophy at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. [...]
A new grad from my alma mater, Southwestern, shares his thoughts on seminary. A sample: Make an effort to develop good friendships Not only are you making friends for life, who will be a rock for you to lean on during your days in ministry, but you will learn more outside of the classroom in [...]
James White offers good reflections on why seminary training is increasingly shunned by those going into ministry. On first read, it seems to me that his perspective, and that of those avoiding seminary is (1) essentially pragmatic, and maybe too pragmatic; and (2) true of some seminaries, surely, but definitely not all. Read and see [...]
Seminary students have a LOT of writing to do. This article has some great counsel on honing your ability to write. One excerpt: 4. Give yourself time. Many smart people tell themselves pathetic lies like, “I do my best work at the last minute.” Look: It’s not true. No one works better under pressure. Sure, [...]
This excerpt from Darrin Patrick’s new book, Church Planter: The Man, the Message, the Mission, has terrific insight for seminary students. One of the greatest temptations for pastors is to use ministry to hide from and avoid God. It is easy to hide behind your sermons by expecting everyone in the church but yourself to [...]
In the face of all the multiple demands at seminary, the temptation to laziness can be acute. I’ve spoken with a number of students who succumb to laziness, to their own hurt. They have much to get done, but cannot get themselves to do it. Often laziness will show up as procrastination; or choosing to [...]
The first week of seminary is over, and looming ahead are due dates for reading, papers and tests. You know this because you should have a syllabus for each class, which contains all the assignments you’ll need to complete this semester and their due dates. This is awesome. It’s a time management bonanza. If you [...]
The true reasons people go into ministry are manifold. We’ve written at length about the need for divine calling. But not surprisingly, there are human factors as well. One major human factor that is widely unacknowledged is personal brokenness. I’ve never met anyone in ministry who didn’t have some level of emotional wounding in their [...]
Triage (`tree-ozh), from French, “to sort.” 1. A process for sorting injured people into groups based on their need for or likely benefit from immediate medical treatment. Triage is used in hospital emergency rooms, on battlefields, and at disaster sites when limited medical resources must be allocated. 2. A system used to allocate a scarce commodity, [...]
