A New Chapter in my Life: Seminary

Today I start a new chapter in my life.  I am going back to school to get a seminary degree.  Megan and I have been praying about this for several months and we feel confident in God's calling for me to do this.  I am excited about getting started.

Many things have been leading us to this decision:
1. Edgewood has been through many changes over the last year.  I have had the privilege of serving on the staff, the board, and the vision team as we work to follow God's leading through a time of transition.  For many of the topics we discussed, I felt very under-equipped to know how to best move forward.  This is where the idea of furthering my education started.

2. My college training was fantastic and I greatly appreciate my time at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri.  My degree is in church music which greatly prepared me for music ministry.  However, I would now like to broaden that education and my abilities to additional areas besides just music.  Even things like being a better pastor to those in the worship ministry would be a huge help.

3. I believe this will greatly enhance the Worship Ministry at Edgewood.  The Biblical training alone will give me a better understanding of God, God's Word, and leading others closer to Him.  I will also take many ministry management classes to help with the administration side of church work.

4.  I am only 28 years old and, Lord willing, want to be in the ministry for the rest of my life.  Hopefully I have a lot of years left to serve and I want to be as effective as possible with every day He gives me.  A four-year study will be well worth it in the long run and will make the rest of my years that much stronger.

There are the basic thoughts of what led us to this decision.  Multnomah Biblical Seminary is in Portland and has very strong, Biblically-based programs.  They have an extension campus in Bellevue (about 20 minutes from us) and also offer some online classes.  I will also need to spend a few weeks a year at the Portland campus to complete all the necessary requirements.

My degree will be a Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies with an Emphasis in Ministry Management.  I feel my strongest spiritual gift is in administration and I want to continue to develop and strengthen that gift.  If taken full-time, this is a 2-year degree.  But since I will need to break it up to continue working at Edgewood, it will take me roughly 4 years.  For this semester that starts today, I am taking a Foundations Intro Class, an Old Testament Class (focusing on Isaiah to Malachi), and a New Testament Class (focusing on the Gospels and Hebrews-Revelation).  I've got lots of reading to do =).

I would appreciate your prayers as I get started on this new endeavor.  We are four months away from the due date of our baby boy and things are going to get busy real fast.  I'm excited about deepening my personal relationship with the Lord during these classes, but also want to keep a good balance in life of family/ministry/school.  Pray for my sanity =).