deTheos

Going to Seminary

As you may have noticed, Kari and I are going to seminary. Multnomah Biblical Seminary in Portland to be precise. We’ve found a home there, theologically, relationally, and on so many levels. It has been life-transforming and deepening for us. The old joke is that seminary = ‘cemetery’ … but the exact opposite has been true in our first-hand experience. I’ve been challenged in my love for God, love for others, and being a husband and father. Our marriage has been enriched and encouraged. There have been practical applications of deep theological truths. It is truly a unique experience to be in school together, not just one of us. The learning is not mere head knowledge (cognitive), it is reaching the very core of our beings and character (affections). In fact, while we would love to be able to drop all outside work and charge ahead full-boar towards graduation, this season of working and plodding along in school has been a formative experience. We wouldn’t trade it for anything. The degree is not our primary goal; knowing Christ and becoming like Him is our aim.

Our professors, godly men and women, continually challenge and nurture us. Our classes ranges from spiritual formation (development of character, prayer, and spiritual warfare) to biblical survey, from preaching to biblical languages , from pastoral counseling to biblical exegesis. My MDiv program is a 3-yr program for a full-time student (15+ graduate credits per semester), although I’m already at three years and will be half-way done in May. Kari’s Masters of Arts in Pastoral Studies - Women’s Ministry degree is a 2-yr full-time degree. She’s nearly complete with her course work, and then will have another year of part-time internship. As far as we know, she and I are the only full-time couple both currently at Multnomah.

We’ve also found support with our local church family. Among our church leadership only one went to seminary (our senior pastor), yet there seems to be at least a curiosity and in many cases supportive attitude. Others in the congregation wonder why we could be in college with a child. We’re not exactly in ‘college,’ but we understand the puzzling look.

Certainly, going for years to get a Master’s degree that will end up decreasing your earning power seems a bit odd. There seems to be a general disconnect between seminary and the local church (one thing Kari and I hope to influence the opposite direction). Multnomah seeks to impact that trend with their internship program, melding the best of the academy with local churches who want to develop the next generation of equipped leaders. Our experience in my internship has been great. Instead of simply handing me a pile of tasks and things-to-do, the pastoral leadership has rallied around me as mentors ought to, allowing me to watch and learn and ask and attempt and fail and grow. It is not an all-or-nothing proposition, and while we hope for a pastoral position (a job) in the end, the process is worth it. We love the local church and that is a primary reason to be in seminary. We want to see the church become better, all she is meant to be.

One recent source of recent camaraderie has been the new site, Going to Seminary, started by ‘Just a Guy.’ He and his wife and two kids are venturing through seminary, having started this year. Over at that site there various posts related to relevant topics for seminarians, ranging from finances to relationships to spiritual life to advice on how to go about researching a seminary. The comments are helpful too, with a growing readership of current and past seminarians (and others, I’m sure), giving varying perspectives for a unique (niche) group in our Christian population.

Posted in Blog, Family, Multnomah Seminary | 1 Comment »

Poe + Popcorn

We’ve had a variety of experience in the past few days. Last night Kari was reading The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe, while nibbling on some buttery popcorn. Yum. I was working on some more theology homework.

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On Thursday night I broke out the old Ms. Pac-Man game, and Kari gave it a spin, followed by all three of us watching Shrek the Third. Fun times.

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On Friday we were able to show Dutch off to his uncle John, grandma (Nana, my mom), and great-grandma (Nan), while Jeff and John talked through the finer points of search engine optimization (he’s a dentist in Scottsdale - perhaps all four of my readers can help his page rank).

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Saturday involved our friends Aaron & Candi finally arriving from their trek cross-country moving back from New England (we saw them tonight, it was awesome), and my looking at how much of our stuff we have stored in the shop here — throw it all out! And how wet its all getting this winter. Kari and I enjoyed the blue sky with a walk in the morning and run in the afternoon, while Dutch took his first journey walking outside.

This morning was my first time giving announcements at both services (normally the 2nd-service annc-giver) at Foothills Community Church. I love the people of our home church and the distinct value they contribute to the Molalla community.

Posted in Adventures, Blog, Family, Pics | No Comments »

Why Dedicate the Dutcher?

Here’s a portion of what we sent to our extended family, inviting them to Dutch’s baby dedication (which will take place this Sunday morning):

Why Dedicate the Dutcher?

We wanted to share with you, our family, why we do what we do. It may seem that a baby dedication is merely a religious ritual, a tradition to follow. In some ways, it is. We see the value of traditions that celebrate and affirm Dutch. We want him to know that he is valued, loved, and celebrated. We will spend our lives affirming him and this is a first step. But, this is really the secondary reason we are having him dedicated. Primarily, we dedicate Dutch to God because it is a symbol of what we aim to do with him in life, recognizing that Dutch belongs to God. We will spend our life helping him become the man that God desires Him to be.

In the Bible, Mary and Joseph took baby Jesus to the temple to be presented to God, signifying, by their actions, that He belonged to God and was His, not theirs. Hannah did the same thing with her son, Samuel (1 Samuel 1-2:11). She prayed for a child, and when Samuel was born she dedicated him to God’s work. In her case, this meant she only got to see her son once a year once he was older! Though it must have been so hard for her, she was willing to let him go because she’d dedicated him to God at birth. We dedicate Dutch because we want to recognize he is His.

So why are we inviting our family? We obviously could dedicate Dutch privately, in our own home even, and it would be no less “real.” But we want to share this dedication with you, because you are all part of raising Dutch. You all will influence, shape, and mold his life in different ways. You influence our lives as well, by your prayers, words, encouragement, and advice. We aren’t raising Dutch alone—you all are part of this process. We need you. And we are asking you, as our family, to stand with us and help us, pray for us, encourage us, and remind us, when things are hard, that Dutch belongs to God.

Posted in Blog, Dutch, Ekklesia, Kari | No Comments »

Transitioning one’s soul

Justin Taylor brings us this quote from C.J. Mahaney’s book Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God (pp. 49-50), about transitioning one’s soul during the commute home from work. It struck me as powerful, practical, and very effective for being essentially a small thing. Seeking to do this has had great impact on our home life, and it is easy to tell when I haven’t paused and calmed my soul to be “all there” at home after a long day in class or at work. Let’s strive to be better husbands and fathers. Here it is:

When our first two children were still quite young, I realized that my commute home in the evening was functioning as little more than a review of my day. As far as I was concerned, by the time I got in that car, my responsibilities were pretty much over until the next morning. I saw my home as a refuge, a place where the emphasis, for me, was on being served rather than on leading and serving with Christlike love.

In God’s mercy, he showed me the selfish motivation I was bringing home each evening. I saw that my commute could be best utilized as a time of transition, so that I might be prepared to finish the day by loving and serving my family well.

So I made a practice of pulling the car over a few blocks from home so I could take a couple of minutes to make an effective transition in my soul. There on the side of the road, I meditated on Ephesians 5 as well as on some other passages. I confessed to God my sinful tendency to be selfish and sought to prepare my heart to serve my wife and children when I arrived home. In this way I learned to see my home as the context where I have my greatest privilege and opportunity to serve. This practice had a transforming effect, allowing me to walk through the front door with the mind and heart of a loving servant-leader. By God’s grace, I found it an excellent help in building a loving marriage, enjoying my family, and minimizing regret.

Posted in Blog, Jeff, Quotes, Reading, Web | No Comments »