Archive for the ‘Blog Post’ Category

I well remember the swirling emotions that filled my heart as I processed God’s call to the ministry. Though I grew up in a Bible-believing, Southern Baptist church, I resisted the gospel throughout my childhood and adolescent years. It was not until my freshman year in college that I committed my life to Christ. After many months convicting my heart, the Spirit of Christ invaded my life, saved me, and redirected my life’s ambitions. Read more

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here in this hour of worship and for choosing to be a part of this family; both as faculty, staff, student, trustee, and all that comprises who Midwestern Seminary is. I want to invite you this morning, as we frame the semester before us and think through where we are in our stage of life and ministry here, to Colossians 4:17. Frankly, this morning’s charge is a little different than what I typically do. I am not going to work through a longer passage of Scripture, rather, we are going to look at one verse in particular. This verse will be a charge to the entire seminary community. Read more

Bart Ehrman serves as a religious studies professor at UNC Chapel Hill. Although he teaches the New Testament, he does not believe it is actually God’s Word. In fact, as a professing agnostic, Ehrman is known for debating evangelicals about the inspiration of Scripture. Every semester he begins one of his courses with a class exercise.[1] He begins, “How many of you believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God?” According to Professor Ehrman, the majority of students at UNC raise their hands. Read more

As an expositor, one must assess both the culture and the congregation in order to determine whether or not to engage certain concerns that arise. Clarity in this matter is essential. How does the preacher gain clarity in his assessment? Let’s consider these nine questions, which will serve as indicators for the expositor—helping him discern the extent of the concern and whether or not it should impact his upcoming sermon: Read more

I am glad that you are here with me,’ said Frodo. ‘Here at the end of all things, Sam.’”[1] I never expected to get an ecclesiology and eschatology lesson from the concluding chapters of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, but I did. The hero and his faithful companion, comprising the remnant of a fellowship that set out on a journey to destroy evil and see the return of their king, lay exhausted and helpless, surrounded by an erupting mountain of volcanic proportions with no cause for hope of rescue. Read more