Kevin T. Bauder What training do pastors need? It depends entirely upon the ministry that they intend to pursue. Becoming a social justice warrior takes one kind of training. Becoming an ecclesiastical impresario takes another. Learning to work a crowd for high-pressure evangelism takes yet another. New Testament pastors must engage in a particular kind… Continue Reading
Kevin T. Bauder As General Motors’ top line, Cadillac has become a metaphor for the best and most luxurious of something. A Cadillac is never a necessity: a Chevy could get you from one place to another. The people who purchase Cadillacs are after class, prestige, and comfort. Consequently, when the Religious News Service recently… Continue Reading
Kevin T. Bauder The Religious News Service recently published a story stating that future pastors are turning away from the traditional M.Div. and toward the shorter M.A. for their ministry preparation. That story labeled the M.Div. as the “Cadillac” degree for pastoral preparation. It also noted that other seminaries are shrinking the M.Div. from the… Continue Reading
Kevin T. Bauder The Association of Theological Schools, the primary agency that accredits seminaries, recently produced a study showing that the number of M.Div. students is falling, while the number of future pastors taking the shorter M.A. program is rising. The study was picked up by the Religion News Service, which opined that, while the… Continue Reading
Jeff Straub One of the real delights of working at the seminary is the opportunity to hear the visiting chapel speakers. Our students get the privilege of hearing from some choice servants of the Lord. A recent missionary was no exception. It was a special blessing for me to hear him, as the brother who… Continue Reading
Brett Williams In my last article, I discussed the future of seminary education in relationship to consumer-driven academia and consumer-craving ecclesiology. It seems as though the mass of ministerial pragmatism, multiplied by the acceleration of globalization in higher education, has produced such a force within contemporary religious education that there is little to do but… Continue Reading
Good teachers will revise their notes every time they teach the same class. They’re always reading new books, attending seminars, hearing lectures, listening to papers, and perusing articles. Over time these new sources of information add depth to teaching and enable teachers to address current issues within their disciplines. Sometimes teachers make even larger modifications… Continue Reading
In June of 1979 my wife and I left Cambridge, Iowa for seminary in Denver, Colorado. We were towing a fully-loaded twelve-foot U-Haul trailer with a 1976 Chevy Nova. When we pulled out of Cambridge, the temperature had risen to upwards of ninety degrees. We had to drive gingerly so the little six-banger didn’t overheat.… Continue Reading
This has been the final week before the beginning of the fall semester at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Our faculty has spent most of the week on in-service meetings. These meetings are complicated by the fact that Central Seminary is closely related to both Fourth Baptist Church and Fourth Baptist Christian School. While each of… Continue Reading
In a recent blog post, Pastor Travis Smith attributed the closing of Clearwater Christian College largely to a change in its position and standards. I agree with Pastor Smith that those matters certainly played a role. Still, the “change and die” narrative does not really explain why fundamentalist schools have closed. Some institutions have made… Continue Reading
Spurgeon. Pillsbury. Atlantic. Calvary. Northland. Now Tennessee Temple. These are all names of fundamentalist educational institutions that have closed their doors (through dissolution, merger, or “gifting” their campus to another entity) over the past decade or so. The most recent, Tennessee Temple, had been standing on wobbly legs for years. This week its board voted… Continue Reading
In May and July, the Lord gave me the opportunity to travel overseas to teach church history in three different countries. Two of the countries were in Africa and the other was a major Asian country. Two of the countries were new places for me to visit. In all three locations, I was in urban… Continue Reading
The standard for ministry training used to involve a liberal education at the undergraduate level, followed by a three-year ministry degree (in those days it was called a Bachelor of Divinity), followed by an apprenticeship under a seasoned pastor. Liberal education was obtained in the universities. Ministry preparation was provided by seminaries, some of which… Continue Reading
Pastors need to be trained in and by churches. The local church is the center of God’s work during this age. It is the focus of biblical ministry and the heart of biblical discipleship. It is the pillar and ground of the truth. It is the place for developing character, imparting skills, and maintaining the… Continue Reading