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Attending Seminary Means Living In a Foreign Land

When I went to seminary, it entailed a move from Florida to Texas. There was a shift in geography, but there was also a shift in culture-a pretty dramatic shift, as anyone who’s moved to Texas will probably tell you.
I grew up in South Florida. I was a native Floridian, which was pretty [...]

Popularity: 9% [?]

July 21st, 2008 | Mark | 5 comments | Continued
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Avoid the “Seminary Church”

Particularly around larger seminaries, you’ll find what I call the “seminary church.” It’s almost always a large church. Often it’s close to the campus. Many professors and students attend it. The culture and theology of the seminary often bleeds over into the church. For seminary students, it’s a comfy place to be.
There were a few [...]

Popularity: 27% [?]

July 17th, 2008 | Mark | 5 comments | Continued
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Going to Seminary

If you haven’t yet checked out goingtoseminary.com, it’s a great resource for current and future seminary students. They have several current seminarians writing for the site. You can find lots of good counsel on a variety of subjects, and a engaging community, to boot.
Ryan, the GTS webmaster, has been very helpful to me personally [...]

Popularity: 60% [?]

June 18th, 2008 | Mark | 0 comments | Continued
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Learn to Confess Your Sins

Confession is a much neglected discipline in Protestant life, despite the clear biblical command to “confess your sins to one another and pray for each other that you may be healed.” (James 5:16) Speaking your depravity out loud to a listening brother or sister in Christ is one of the most powerful means of sanctification [...]

Popularity: 62% [?]

June 16th, 2008 | Mark | 4 comments | Continued
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Is “Calling” a Biblical Idea?

A few days ago, I got a great question in the comments on a post I’d written on calling to ministry. It’s a topic on which I have well-formed opinions.
Here’s the question:
Where does this concept of a “call” come from in Scripture? I mean, some of the great men of the faith were audibly [...]

Popularity: 82% [?]

June 2nd, 2008 | Mark | 5 comments | Continued
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Seminary Time Waster #6: Saying “Yes” to Every Request

Seminary Time Waster #6: Saying yes to every request.
Seminary students who can’t say no give permission to others to waste their time.
We’re nice people. We like to say yes. Jesus knew this. He advised us, “Ask and it shall be given to you.” (This verse is not primarily about prayer; it [...]

Popularity: 80% [?]

May 12th, 2008 | Mark | 2 comments | Continued
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Writing Learning Objectives for Your Seminary Experience

I worked four years in a church staff position during and after college before deciding I needed to further my education by going to seminary. Those years were invaluable to my development, because I experienced ministry and discovered what I didn’t know and needed to learn before starting my studies. I wish [...]

Popularity: 81% [?]

May 5th, 2008 | Daryl Eldridge | 0 comments | Continued
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Using Mentors in Seminary

Having a learning coach or ministry mentor is a great way to leverage your seminary experience.
Our research on theological education as well as surveys with people in the field led us to make mentoring a significant part of our learning model. Many seminaries will involve mentoring during the last two semesters of their study [...]

Popularity: 90% [?]

April 28th, 2008 | Daryl Eldridge | 2 comments | Continued
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Lessons Learned about Online Learning

Five years ago, I left a residential seminary campus to start a fully online seminary from scratch, known today as Rockbridge. In my travels and discussions with ministers around the world, I discovered many ministers that wanted seminary training but didn’t feel called to leave their ministry fields in order to get it.
Technology [...]

Popularity: 89% [?]

April 21st, 2008 | Daryl Eldridge | 1 comment | Continued
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Seminary Time Waster #5: Disorganization

A common frustration about seminary is all the balls you have to keep in the air at once. Seminary coursework alone can have you managing several multi-step projects with their own timelines and deadlines. Add to that your job, family commitments, and whatever ministry you’re serving in. It’s a lot to keep [...]

Popularity: 100% [?]

April 14th, 2008 | Mark | 2 comments | Continued