I am not saying that what you said is wrong at all. I do agree that you don’t need a lock-in every month or a Sunday Night Service every sunday night if you are just going to preach but I do think that to have a lock-in every 3/4 months is a good idea and I do think that having a Sunday Night Service where you can just come to the alter and worship God without having the thought in the back of your mind that the adults behind you are judging you for the way you dress or look is a good idea. If you would like to discuss this further please feel free to e-mail me.

Have a blessed day/night.

It’s as if that kind of involvement has a way of moving students from the posture of “taking” to the posture of “giving.” I think that when students get involved in ministry they gain a sense of ownership and importance that might not have been available when they were “just a kid” in the youth ministry at their church back home.

When we believe that we are making difference, and that what we’re doing really matters, we show up on Sunday (students are no exception). And, just as you showed, there’s something incredibly powerful about showing up week after week to sing the songs, study the Scriptures, pray the prayers, and fellowship with friends.

One of my frustrations with seminary was the overlap between my undergrad and seminary classes. I know now everyone had Bible and Church history before coming to seminary. But for those of us who did, it would be nice to not have a whole bunch of hoops to jump through. Maybe some seminaries handle this better.

Looking back at my seminary experience (M.Div.), the best part of those years was that I was serving at a church at the same time as pursuing my degree. I would say that I have learned at least as much–if not more–about being a pastor by serving in a local church than I did in seminary. I don’t think that getting rid of classes is the answer by any means. After all, I am a much better preacher and teacher because of my Hebrew and Greek classes, and there’s no way I would have learned those skills on my own outside a classroom. However, I would say that a handful of classes were not helpful to me at all, and that 1/3 to 1/2 of them were useful, but didn’t need to be taught in a seminary setting. (The remainder I would say were best done in a classroom, such as apologetics, languages, history, etc.)

If I had to venture a guess, I would say that the future of pastoral training lies in network-based (or denominational-based) non-accredited training programs. I think that while some seminaries will survive–and will do good work in training leaders–as it becomes more and more difficult to earn a living as a pastor in our culture, grass roots movements will find better, cheaper ways to train leaders, and graduating from an ATS-accredited seminary or theological school will become less important and less common.