A few weeks ago, the incoming seminarians attended our “Telling God’s Story” retreat. At this annual gathering, new students dedicate a whole day to hearing each other’s conversion stories and calls to ministry. I limited each man to only 5–7 minutes, but happily, they exceeded that limit out of an abundant sense of gratitude for God’s work in their lives. I listened with joy as they expressed their excitement to learn God’s Word deeply and shepherd his flock faithfully.
Some of the men uprooted their families to spend four years away from the comforts of home and a familiar church community. Others left promising careers or unique academic opportunities. All left behind significant relationships and friendships. They did it to learn to handle God’s Word rightly and apprentice with older, godly pastors. They know that giving themselves to their future flocks’ “most solid and enduring happiness” in Christ necessitates the best training possible. And that is our aim at Bethlehem Seminary—to graduate mature leaders ready to shepherd God’s people with biblical clarity and Christ-exalting affection through rigorous study and deep discipleship.
We are also reminding the men that, in themselves, they are completely insufficient for ministry. When contemplating the supernatural nature of gospel ministry, Paul asks, “Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:16). It’s a rhetorical question. No one is. Pastor Kenny Stokes, Pastor for Vision and Preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church, recently told the men, “Ministry will regularly exceed your wisdom, strength, and competence. That is not an interruption of ministry; it is one of the ways God teaches you that your sufficiency is from him.” We labor to show our men that we are not “sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” (3:5).
Therefore, as we begin a new semester, we are desperate for God to do what only he can do through our seminary: raise up godly pastors through his church and for his church. As the Director of Seminary Discipleship, I feel the weight of this stewardship as we help shape these men. Yet I take comfort in Jesus’ words to Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Will you please pray that our men will be keenly aware of their weakness so that they too can say with Paul, “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9)?
Toph Majors, Th.M.
Director of Seminary Discipleship
1. Charles Bridges, *The Christian Ministry: With an Inquiry into the Causes of Its Inefficiency* (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1959), 8.