BLCS On-Line Catalog - Section Four: Articles to Help You Make the Right Decision
A Call to Prepare for Ministry
by Michael K. Lake, Th.D., D.R.E.
“Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.” 2 Tim 2:15 AMP
You have felt the leading of the Holy Spirit to start or continue your education for ministry. That is one of the reasons you contacted Biblical Life College & Seminary. You know you must start working on getting that degree, whether it is an undergraduate, graduate or doctoral degree. You know that it is a tool that you need to take you to the next level in ministry.
I want to take a few moments to examine these words of encouragement from the Apostle Paul to Young Minister Timothy. I also want to use them to debunk some of the trends in nontraditional theological education that is not only grieving my spirit, but I believe, the Holy Spirit as well.
First, most scholars agree that 2 Timothy was the last epistle the Apostle Paul ever wrote. Some even believe that he finished it the night before he became a martyr for the sake of the Gospel. Paul was not writing this letter at the beginning of Timothy’s training for ministry. Timothy was already a graduate of Paul’s School of Theology and had ministered with Paul for years. These words serve as a reminder to Timothy (and to us) that a call to ministry is a call to a lifetime of study. I love how the Amplified Bible brings out the shades of meanings in the original Greek text. “Timothy, study, be eager to study, do your utmost in filling yourself with the Word . . .” These words were written to a man that had been mentored by the Apostle Paul. Who could have asked for a better mentor, save Jesus Himself! Yet, at the end of that mentorship, the Apostle says “be eager and do your utmost in your studies.”
One of the things that we have missed in becoming so Greco-Roman minded in our Western culture is we believe that when we receive a degree we have arrived. Our words to describe those that gain graduate level degrees in ministry or theology are: scholar, master teacher, and theologian. All of these are high sounding words that place the individual above everyone else. In our Hebraic Heritage, a Jewish scholar is called a “Sage.” Sage means a “master learner.” When he arrives, if you will, he arrives at a place to really start learning. What a difference!
This Greco-Roman mindset has permeated education, especially nontraditional theological education. Many schools boast of not how much you will learn or how much the courses will transform your life. Rather they boast at how fast they can get their degree on your wall. It is an injustice to all true theological education AND an injustice to all the saints that have gone on before us.
The abuse of life experience credits is rampant in our industry. I do not care how long you have been in ministry, the rule of thumb is a maximum of 30 semester credit hours (SCHS) at the undergraduate level. Anything more than that is cheating you and anyone you minister to. Now, if you have written books and taught extended series (10 sessions or more), those things can be examined and additional credit can be give. There is a difference. Concrete accomplishments are measured, evaluated and converted to credits. These credits are not just looking at a resume. Let me share with you a true story to prove my point:
At BLCS, we offer LECs based on documented ministry, credits for works completed such as books and extended teaching series. We also offer an Experiential Exam. This exam is one big bad bear of an exam to take - 160 essay questions. It is designed to find out what the individual knows and doesn’t know. It also helps us fill in the educational gaps he has. About ten years ago, we had a seasoned minister that was a regional director for a small Pentecostal denomination contacted us. He wanted to complete his undergraduate degree. He presented an impressive looking resume documenting 25 years of ministry with his denomination. He had not written any books or audio taped any extended teaching series. He wanted more than just the 30 SCHS that could be given for his documented ministry. We set up a time for him to take our exam locally under the supervision of a proctor. When I scored his exam, I could not believe my eyes. Out of 160 questions, he only got two correct. He even missed “Who wrote the book of Exodus?” Which is one of the easiest questions on the exam (all lengthy exams should have a freebee or two). After reviewing everything, I designed a 110 SCH program for him. I told him that with his low score that he should not even receive the full 30 SCHS based on his resume. It would be an educational blunder on our part and an injustice to him and anyone he ministered to. I really strove to design a course of study that would enable him to have the wealth of knowledge that someone in his position should really have. I did not hear from him for about three months. One day I receive an envelope from him in the mail. Naturally, I thought it was his enrollment form. “Surely he prayed through and God placed it upon his heart to really get the education that he (and all those he was leading) needed” I thought. To my surprise, all is contained was a photocopy of his brand new Bachelor degree from a well known nontraditional seminary in Florida. As I prayed about it, the Lord reminded me of the fig tree that He had cursed. Why did He curse the fig tree? Because it was presenting itself as something it was not. This man was like a fig tree full of leaves (i.e. a degree certificate hanging on the wall), but no fruit (of a real education) in his life.
The second abuse is open book exams. Come on friends! Even in High School, closed book exams are the standard! Open book exams render the education to an Institute level – not college or seminary. I don’t care what they call the school or who they are accredited by. It is institute level training, plain and simple!
The third abuse is not requiring a Thesis at the Masters level or a Dissertation at the Doctoral level. These are standards with hundreds of years of tradition. The thesis or dissertation is the proof that you have gained the knowledge and competence to receive the degree. When someone tells me they have a doctorate degree, it is not the certificate I want to look at, it is the dissertation. I want to see and read through the documentation of what God has spoken into their lives.
Finally let me answer the question on why you do not want to speed through the process. A valid college or seminary degree should do several things:
1. It should stretch you intellectually and spiritually. Easy courses do nothing for you.
2. There should be spiritual dynamics that transform your life as you go through them. [If the education does not transform you, what are you going to use to transform others with?] This is also the reason we have developed courses with audio lectures. You can listen to them again and again to get them into your heart. That’s were the transformation will take place!
3. The education should build within you the tools you will need for a lifestyle of study and research.
The study and research does not end when you graduate. Your graduation marks a place in your life where you are really ready to begin the research of a lifetime. That’s what Paul was reminding Timothy of. That is what I want to stress. You are beginning an educational journey that will take you the rest of your life to do correctly. You need it. Everyone that you will ever minister to needs you to have it. Don’t get caught up in the worldly idea of rushing to get the degree on your wall. Why not strive to get every once of knowledge, spiritual transformation and research skills possible from the school you are going to study with. Make sure you do not just have the leaves on your tree. Instead, be sure you are loaded down with the fruits of your education.
Being Called to Study
by Michael K. Lake, Th.D., D.R.E.In my last article I touched on the following subject:
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The call to ministry is a call to a lifetime of study.
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Lack of transformation in the traditional Greco-Roman based educational model.
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Abuses in nontraditional education:
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Abuse of issuing unrealistic life experience credits.
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Abuse of improper course examinations (i.e. open book exams).
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Abuse of so watering down the educational process that no thesis or dissertation is required at the Masters and Doctoral levels.
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How proper education should provide the research & study tools you will use the rest of your life.
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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 listen to the sample lectures.
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 our digital library on our website. Those URLs are:
www.biblical-life.com/library/library.htm
Take the time to download everything you can there. (For the MP3 files, DSL will help.) Read through them, listen to them and seek the face of God while you are doing it.
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, you are ready to count the cost. Now I am not just talking about the financial investment you are getting ready to make. That is important, and Jesus warns us to consider this before beginning such an endeavor (Luke 14:28-30). More than the financial investment, I am talking about several other things you must invest just as much of:
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Time
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Discipline
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Determination
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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 time you answer the call, and they are matured through the preparation process. So don’t drop the ball once you enroll. Make a schedule for prayer and study. Keep at it day after day – whether it is convenient or not (the devil will make sure it is never convenient). Take the time and do not let anything else steal that time from you. Make every study session count for the Kingdom.
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!
BLCS 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 BLCS, it will be my greatest pleasure to welcome you as a new member of our student family. If God is calling you to another school, I ask that God would give you the grace and wisdom to find that school and to enroll.
