Newer Beginnings

Wow, has it really been that long since I have posted? So many things have happened since then, so let me bring everybody up to speed!

While taking my online courses through Denver Seminary, I became discouraged with how things were going. The classes were fine and the material was fantastic, but the interaction between the professor and the students and even the students/students just wasn’t really there. I got the idea that they were trying to take a physical classroom approach and force that into an online environment, which really doesn’t work well at all. It seemed kind of like trying to put a square peg into a round hole – doesn’t really work all that well, right? On top of that, realizing that the entire program was going to cost well over $45,000, I just felt convicted that I could be doing something much more substantial with the money that God was entrusting me with; especially given the fact that there are so many people in my area that need basics like food and clothes.

My discouragement had me questioning whether or not I should stay in seminary or not. Fortunately, I have a wonderful wife and some good friends that reminded me that God’s call wasn’t going to change just because I was frustrated in my current circumstances. While my wife would be supportive of my whichever decision I made, she prompted me to pray and think about it more before I made any decisions. Our wives can be such a blessing, can’t they?

Because I knew that I still needed a deeper knowledge to pull from, I began looking for other seminary options out there. That is when I found Rockbridge Seminary. Wow, what an answered prayer that was. It was just a tiny little link in the ads section of a Google results page that I happened to notice. Generally, I ignore those completely, so it was a fluke that I found it at all. After checking out their site and reading about it from all over the web, I felt this was the right place for me.

Rockbridge Seminary is geared specifically towards the online community and allows you to learn while you continue to serve right where you are. They have also taken a completely different approach to the seminary course structure and have based their program on local church ministry rather than the traditional model of categories of knowledge. This is a unique approach and one that really meets my idea of what I should be learning to be prepared for whatever God is calling me to.

Financially, the school looked great as well. The cost of tuition is less than half of what I was paying previously, which gave me much more peace in how I was spending God’s money. And for an even greater surprise, the school offered the first class free for all students registering for their September session! Pretty good deal – try the first class completely free!

Through their program, you can only take 1 class at a time and each class is only 8 weeks long. That, my friends, is another answered prayer for me. So, I have re-started my seminary journey as of September 1st with my first class there, entitled “Developing the Focused Life”.  Did they know I was coming or what? Really it deals a lot with identifying your calling, which is something I could definitely use.

I am about a week into the class so far and am truly psyched! The interaction and openness between the students as well as the professor is phenomenal and leaves me excited for what the next 3 years will bring. Only time will tell, but so far so good. Keep the prayers coming!