Archive for Mark

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone.  I’m praying for you all to have restorative time in worship and with your families over this break.
We’ve taken a bit of a break from posting of late, but hope to address some new subject areas next year.   In the meantime, all of the archives are available and searchable.
Thanks for your support.
Mark [...]

Popularity: 14% [?]

December 23rd, 2008 | Mark | 2 comments | Continued
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Seminary Students are “Self-Absorbed Pricks”?

Nothing like the perspective of an outsider to give us pause.  Over at Theophilogue, Brad reports an encounter with a coffee shop employee.
You should read it.  (It’s short.)
So my questions:

How much do you tip?
What does that say about you?
Is generosity an important virtue for people in ministry?

Popularity: 19% [?]

Popularity: 19% [?]

December 17th, 2008 | Mark | 3 comments | Continued
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Ministry Is For Broken People

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 [...]

Popularity: 39% [?]

November 17th, 2008 | Mark | 2 comments | Continued
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Deciding Where You Stand At Seminary

There is a huge range of debatable issues in theology and in the practice of ministry that a person could take sides on.  An average church member generally isn’t required to have fully developed theological opinions.  They are often asked to agree with and support the theological and philosophical stance their church, but aren’t [...]

Popularity: 45% [?]

November 3rd, 2008 | Mark | 1 comment | Continued
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Your Seminary Isn’t Responsible For Your Education

Your seminary isn’t responsible for your education.  You are.
In the past week, I’ve had the chance to visit with a few current and just-graduated seminarians, and some of their observations have been strikingly similar:

The seminary environment is too academic.
The assigned readings are too long, and not really related to the subject matter.
If I do [...]

Popularity: 50% [?]

October 27th, 2008 | Mark | 6 comments | Continued
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Stumbling at Seminary: Laziness

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 [...]

Popularity: 71% [?]

October 6th, 2008 | Mark | 0 comments | Continued
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Introducing Ed

You’ve probably seen Ed Eubanks’ comments around Seminary Survival Guide.  I’ve always found them to be mature and thoughtful.  Well, after some correspondence, Ed and I met face to face last week for the first time over great food at Growler’s off Lindbergh in St. Louis.  I’m happy to announce that in addition to his [...]

Popularity: 82% [?]

September 15th, 2008 | Mark | 0 comments | Continued
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Stumbling at Seminary: Cheating

In an interview with the dean of students at a leading evangelical seminary, I asked about the most common reasons people did not complete seminary.  One of his answers was a shock to me: students get caught cheating.
Seminary students have ample opportunity to cheat.

You can plagiarize-representing the academic work of others as your own.  [...]

Popularity: 100% [?]

September 8th, 2008 | Mark | 5 comments | Continued
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Tim Keller on Time Priorities

This is definitely worth two minutes of your time.

(RSS readers: embedded video)
If you manage your time and priorities right, people will be mad at you.
Get used to it.
HT: Chris Gensheer
Popularity: 69% [?]

Popularity: 69% [?]

September 1st, 2008 | Mark | 3 comments | Continued
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Seminary Syllabus Strategy #4: A Study Plan for Each Major Exam

Similar to creating a writing plan for papers, you should block out dedicated study time for major exams. If you do this now, at the beginning of the semester (and stick to your schedule), then you won’t be pinched to find time to study.
It’s pretty simple:

Reserve study blocks beginning about a week before the [...]

Popularity: 85% [?]

August 28th, 2008 | Mark | 1 comment | Continued