I began in ministry and preaching at the age of 17 in my home church in Illinois. I was in this church from the age of four until I moved to Dallas at age 36. I never held an official position in this church. The church ran around 150 on Sundays. The only ministry positions were the father and son pastors. I was content in the role for many years, but after visiting Dallas, I began to feel a call to plant a church in the Dallas Metroplex. It took a couple of years to work through this calling. Eventually, our family moved to the Dallas area to work with a church that had a vision of becoming a multi-campus church.
My desire is to plant a church where corporate worship is centered around the public reading of Scripture, congregational singing, corporate prayer, and expository preaching. I realize this may sound highly idealized (and it no doubt is), but I believe the redemptive purposes of God will be most effectively fulfilled in churches that honor his Word.
I have been exploring several options to further my education. I did not want to be part of a program that allowed me to earn a degree without actually helping further my personal spiritual development. I’m excited to be part of a seminary that will not only help me earn a degree, but is also interested in helping me grow personally and spiritually.
I appreciate the model that Redemption Seminary offers in terms of aligning continuing education with the pursuit of ministry. Rather than treat a theological education like a secular pursuit, the concept of having students work with mentors that can help guide and coach has a great deal of appeal with me.
I would encourage students who are not familiar with Redemption Seminary to compare Redemption’s model to other seminary models to determine what is the best fit for them. I suspect there are a lot of people in the same position as me, working full-time jobs and unable to attend weekday classes that most seminaries offer.