A few days ago, I blogged about the things that seminary did not teach me - things I wasn't prepared for in ministry. Now, I will elaborate on the things seminary did teach me and it's a lot.
While I felt fairly unprepared for a lot of practical areas of ministry, seminary definitely prepared me theologically.
1. Seminary taught me to know my doctrine and know it well. When I started seminary in the fall of 2004, I loved Jesus and that was about it. I came from a small, country, and somewhat dysfunctional church just outside of Nashville, TN. I learned to love Jesus and love his church there. However, I did not learn much else. I was fairly theologically illiterate when I started school. Ecclesiology, eschatology, soteriology, hermeneutics, all the fancy words were Greek to me, including Greek and Hebrew. Not so today - I not only learned doctrine and theology but learned to love it, know it, be able to teach it, and defend it.
2. Seminary taught me to depend on the Holy Spirit. This is MUCH easier said than done. This will sound arrogant (and I don't mean it that way), but I am good at stuff. I am a good teacher - it's what I studied in college and what I did for 7 years of my life and many more years in the church. I am also good at organizing and planning stuff. However, I am 10,000,000 times better at those things when I depend on the Holy Spirit for strength, guidance, and wisdom. Dr. Lawless, in particular, was the professor who really stressed this to me. I may be able to do a good job at teaching and administrative type activities at church on my own and fool most people, but I can't fool Jesus. Depending on the Holy Spirit is key to taking being "good" at something to being able to glorify Jesus through it.
3. Seminary taught me to be intentional in sharing Jesus. Dr. Beougher's Personal Evangelism class not only taught this, but forced me to be it into practice. The best evangelistic advice I ever received was from this class when Dr. B said to "speak to all people as you do to fellow believers." Oftentimes when asked how we are, we would tell a fellow believer "Wow, God has really blessed me today" but to non-believers we respond with a "fine" or whatever. He emphasized that by speaking the same way to all people, you open the door for explaining what you said. I have seen this happen so often in my life - both the door opening to share some truth of Jesus and meeting people you didn't know were believers and being incredibly encouraged. When I was pregnant with Hudson and uninsured (thank you pre-existing condition) I remember being asked at my OB-GYN's office for my insurance card. Sighing, I answered that I was self-pay but added "we're trusting the Lord to provide." The sweet receptionist looked at me for a minute then began reciting the 6th chapter of Matthew where Jesus reminds us not to worry because he provides for the birds and flowers and will provide for us. It was super encouraging and just one example of how being intentional about Jesus not only blesses others, but blesses us as well.
4. Seminary taught me to look for the question behind the question. When people find out your a believer, especially one involved in vocational ministry, the questions begin. Sometimes people are straight-forward with their questions. However, oftentimes their question is disguised by another question. Questions about the problem of evil are often asked as complaints of suffering, accusations of God being evil to allow such suffering, and sweet people who are simply desperate for relief. Questions about salvation are often guised with questions about being good enough, comparisons between one and someone who is considered worst-behaved, etc... You get the picture. It's easy to get distracted by questions and sometimes people do that on purpose as a way to not hear about Jesus. Knowing the question behind the question, comment, or complaint keeps me focused.
5. Seminary taught me that we're all on the same team. I am not athletic. However, that doesn't mean I'm not competitive. Like I said in #2, I'm good at stuff. I am especially good at school. I was able to graduate from SBTS with all As and 2 Bs - that's pretty stinkin' good y'all. However, there were SO many people smarter and wiser than me. I remember distinctly in Greek 2 there being a young man in my class who scored higher than me on every.single.test. Gosh it was frustrating. I was annoyed that he was smarter than me. The Lord is always kind to discipline us. He spoke to me one day in class when I was frustrated (yet again) that he had scored a few points higher than me that "I ought to be thankful there are people smarter than me because I'm not all that smart." Jesus speaks rather directly to me sometimes - haha! Believers, we're on the same team. I can now rejoice when I see someone's ministry is fruitful, when someone knows more than me, or someone succeeds more than I do. We're on the same team - to bring people to know and love Jesus. I'm not the end all be all in that goal so praise the Lord that there are people better at it than I am. I can learn from them, be challenged by them, and be encouraged by their faithfulness.
Overall, I am super thankful for seminary - the professors, Dr. Mohler and other admin, and the super sweet friends I made while there. Louisville will forever be my home away from home.
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