Twenty-one years ago, I walked out of Eastern Pentecostal Bible College with my Bachelor of Theology and began my journey as a pastor. I haven’t been back to the building where I spent four years since that day. That changed this past weekend, sort of.
A lot has happened in that time. The school went through a transformation. The name changed. I still make the mistake of calling the place Eastern from time to time, but many years ago, the name was changed to Master’s College and Seminary. The school moved from Peterborough to Toronto. It was a failed experiment that nearly resulted in the closing of the school. Those involved were well intentioned, but in the end, it simply didn’t work. New leadership was brought in, and a few years ago, MCS headed back to familiar territory in Peterborough.
I walked through the doors of my school this past Sunday. Our family was delivering our oldest daughter, who begins her own journey into ministry. How that looks and what role she will have is something that she will sort out with God.
It was an interesting to walk into the dorm rooms. They look exactly the same as they did when I first walking into my room in the Fall of 1986. I spent years sitting at the small desks, writing essays, memorizing the list of Old Testament kings, studying the Pentateuch, and discovering what it meant to live life with a call of God on you.
My Bible college experience was a good one. I met some great people, learned a lot about myself, and most importantly, found my wife!
However, if I’m honest, in many ways my Bible college years failed me. I learned a lot of theory, a lot of theology and doctrine, but little practical. It took years of “on the job training” to feel adequately prepared for the demands of full time ministry. Heck, there are many days when I still wonder if I’m prepared for those demands!
But, as I sat there on Sunday afternoon listening to the school’s leadership share their vision for MCS, I knew that they “got it.” The school was no longer going to simply pump out preachers. They recognized that their role goes far deeper than that. First, they are not trying to “pump out” anyone. They seem to get that each student is uniquely created and gifted by God. Each student’s calling is unique to who God shaped them to be. There’s no cookie cutter solution to preparing them for ministry. Second, their goal isn’t to make people preachers. It’s to make disciples. Spirit-led, Spirit-driven, and Spirit-hungry disciples. Young people who dream God-sized dreams and are willing to go wherever and do whatever in order to see God’s dream for their life fulfilled. I like that.
I left my daughter in good hands. It’s going to be fun to watch the journey these students take.
Sitting in her room also gave me a great idea for a short blog series. Over the next week or two, I’m going to share a few posts about how I saw ministry two decades ago and how reality has played out. I hope you enjoy it!
