Things
You Need to Know as You Answer the
Call to Prepare for Ministry - Part 2
The express purpose of these articles is twofold: (1) to provide additional
information for those seeking to begin and/or continue their
education for ministry via nontraditional methods; and (2) to
provide supportive instruction for our students that are already
involved in continuing their education. In the first bulletin, we
dealt with many “Prospective Student” issues, such as:
·
The call to ministry is a call to a lifetime of study.
·
Lack of transformation in the traditional Greco-Roman based
educational model.
·
Abuses in nontraditional education:
o
Abuse of issuing
unrealistic life experience credits.
o
Abuse of improper
course examinations (i.e. open book exams).
o
Abuse of so
watering down the educational process that no thesis or dissertation
is required
o
at the Master's
and Doctoral levels.
·
How proper education should provide the research & study tools you
will use the rest of your life.
In the second issue, we gave solid tips to current students on how
to get into the swing of study once again. These tools can be used
well after a student graduates. In fact, as ministers they should be
using them the rest of their lives.
With all of that said, let’s move on to the subject of this
bulletin. We all should be familiar with the call to ministry. If
you are not, the first thing I would ask you is: “Why are you
looking to study for the ministry?” It is a calling where you know
in the very depths of your heart that God has called you to one of
the fivefold offices of ministry listed in Ephesians 4. You can run
from it, but you can’t hide from it. It is in your heart and in your
blood. You know that if you do not follow after the call and prepare
for it that you will be miserable and miss God’s best in your life.
I have been involved in nontraditional education now for nearly a
quarter of a century. Like the country singer used to sing, “I was
country when country wasn’t cool.” Well, I was involved in
theological education by extension (TEE) when it wasn’t cool either!
In the early `80’s, we were pioneering many of the standards that
are now common place in TEE. I said all that to say this, I have
been around the block in training ministers for effective ministry.
You need to realize that not only do you have a call to ministry,
but you have a call to a specific school that you are to study with
as well!
You need to realize that each school is different. God has placed
certain emphases within each school. I am not talking about
denominational differences either – although that can be a
consideration for you. Each school will speak into your life in
different ways and will give you different tools and paradigms for
ministry. One school will have a set of tools and paradigms that you
will need while another will not. This is not a matter of
accreditation or cost. It is a matter of what the school speaks into
your life. What makes this harder to realize is that you cannot
always tell it from just looking at courses listed for a particular
program or degree. There is an anointing and a spirit or attitude
about each school that is imparted to their students. Unfortunately,
in many traditional schools, the only spirit or attitude passed on
is one of haughtiness and superiority.
Here are some steps to make the right choice:
1.
PRAY. Ask the Holy Spirit’s guidance as you begin
looking at schools and requesting catalogs. Does the Holy Spirit
witness to you that you should look further into this school? Does
the website information agree with your spirit?
2.
Get the catalogs. If you feel the witnessing of the
Holy Spirit about a particular school, request or download the
catalog. If you download it, take the time to print it out.
3. Prayerfully read over the catalogs. Look for the Holy
Spirit to speak to you as you read over them. He is trying to help
you narrow the list of schools. You should have two piles of
catalogs now – (1) the “no witness” pile and (2) the “Spirit-felt
witness” pile.
4. Go back to the website. See if they have bulletins,
articles, newsletters and samples of their courses on-line. See if
they have some sample course lectures in MP3 or real audio stream.
Read over the articles, sample lessons and
Now stop right here. What are you looking for: easy courses;
something you can complete quickly? If you are, you need to go back
to Mark 11 and learn the lesson of why Jesus cursed the fig tree.
You need to look for materials that speak to your heart, that add
something substantial to your spirit man, and that call for personal
transformation. If the Holy Spirit is already speaking to you
through the samples, how much more will He speak and transform your
life through the complete program!
You will find articles, sample lessons and MP3 lectures at two
locations on our website. Those URL is:
http://www.biblical-life.com/library/library.htm
Take the time to download everything you can there.
(For the MP3 files, DSL will help.) Read
5.
Pick the right school & count the cost. Once you have
found the school that is witnessed most by the Holy Spirit and their
literature and samples speak most to your life,
o
Time
o
Discipline
o
Determination
o
Prayer
You must be willing to roll up your sleeves and invest
these things too. Without them, you will
never graduate. You also need to realize another
important truth. Are you ready? The level of determination,
discipline, prayer and time you invest in this call of preparation
is the same level you will have in actually “doing” the ministry. If
you can’t get it right here, you likely will not develop it once you
are in full-time ministry! When you are ordained or installed as a
Pastor, there is no super anointing that drives these things into
your life. They are cultivated from the
6. Make application to the school
the Holy Spirit has led you to. Don’t sit on it, take action and
follow the leading and peace of the Holy Spirit.
7. Get your materials, make
your plan of action, make your schedule and begin growing. Your life
and the lives of those you minister to will never be the same!
Biblical Life College and Seminary has an emphasis on
“where the rubber meets the road” theology. The Word is meant to be
lived, not debated. We also place great emphasis on being
Spirit-Filled and a balanced understanding of our Hebraic Heritage.
This may or may not be right for you. What you do need to know is
unless you have taken the steps I have outlined here, you may pick
the wrong school. One thing that you need to lay aside in this
journey is the attitude that you are shopping at some super store.
It is not how cheap you can get the education or how quickly. Both
may in the end lead you down the wrong path. Where is the Holy
Spirit leading you? What school will place the most spiritual truths
and biblical transformations into your life? These are the right
questions to ask that will lead you to the school Almighty God has
called you to study with!
If you are called to study with Biblical Life College
and Seminary, it will be my greatest pleasure to welcome you as a
new
Michael K. Lake, Th.D., D.R.E.
Chancellor and Founder
Biblical Life College & Seminary
Copyright 2008 by Biblical Life College and Seminary
