We are in the midst of our Global Focus at Bethlehem Baptist Church. Beyond the normal responsibilities of our faculty (teaching, mentoring, grading, etc.), many are engaging in the ministry of the Word at Bethlehem and beyond.
Brian Tabb and Jonathan Bowers have done some in 1 Thessalonians at Redeemer Bible Church, where I also am scheduled to preach on November 1. Joe Rigney and David Mathis preach often at Cities Church, a recent church plant of Bethlehem. Andy Naselli, in addition to preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church, is preparing to lead a team of our students with Chuck Steddom, our Director of the Worship Pastors Track, to continue our teaching with the Kachin in Myanmar this January. Travis Myers plans to accompany this team, along with Todd Rasmusen, Bethlehem’s Global Outreach Pastor, to consult with Kachin leadership about mechanisms for sending Kachin missionaries to the unreached peoples that surround them. Travis is also helping to oversee a Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course in Cameroon sometime in the coming year or two. He did this in 2005, and they are asking for it to be done again.
In December I plan to join Dieudonne Tamfu (class of 2010 and current adjunct) to teach a master’s level course on New Testament theology for Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary. In January I have been invited to speak in Thailand at a spiritual life conference for a team of missionaries, including one of our graduates, who are serving in Pakistan. Then in May, Lord willing, I will travel with Philemon Yong, Bethlehem Global Partner serving as Director of School Planting & Curriculum Development with Training Leaders International (TLI), to teach Romans at an emerging seminary in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which is modeling itself after Bethlehem College & Seminary. Jason DeRouchie is planning to teach in March in Ethiopia with TLI, exploring both an on-going ministry of pastoral training and also a possible role he hopes to play in helping to initiate an indigenous widow and orphan care program.
More could be reported here, but this is enough about some of the doors God is opening for Bethlehem College & Seminary’s wider impact. Our prayer is that while remaining residentially small as a church-based seminary, we might have a disproportionate impact for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. A deep unifying aim of our staff and faculty is “to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all nations through Jesus Christ.” One of the great advantages of being a church-based seminary is that the missions passion of Bethlehem Baptist Church is thoroughly absorbed and enhanced by Bethlehem College & Seminary. Our students are being drawn into this passion as well. Many undergraduate students and all seminary students will be involved at some point during their education in a cross-cultural teaching internship. Our aim is not that they all become missionaries but that they all increase in their passion to make a difference in God’s global purpose, whatever their gifts and calling and location may be.
Together with you in the Greatest Cause,
Tom Steller
Pastor for Leadership Development/Academic Dean
John Helmberger’s Message at Chapel,
October 8, 2015: “Among Whom You Shine As Lights”
Join us for our weekly Chapel Service on Thursday, October 29th, 12:45-1:45pm, featuring Dieudonne Tamfu on Singleness and Celibacy.
Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for Tim Tomlinson, president of Bethlehem College & Seminary, and Dan Gurtner, Bethlehem member, Bethel Seminary professor, and adjunct professor for Bethlehem College & Seminary, who are leading a group of our donors and friends on a study tour in Israel. Right before departure, I shared with him Psalm 125:2 to encourage him amidst the new wave of violence that is breaking out in and around Jerusalem.
2. Pray for our students as they prayerfully discern where God is leading them to do their cross-cultural internships
3. Pray for our faculty as they discern God’s leading in the many cross-cultural opportunities that are presented to them
