I believe that I am created and wired to be a pastor. I believe that the welding of God and God’s Word to the lives of everyday people is a privilege. The Word of God endures forever and so do people–eternal truth and eternal souls.

Recently I’ve been invited back into what I generally term “the academy,” that is, formal education. I did a two year stint in 1979 to 1981 on the Moody Bible Institute faculty. Teaching in the Bible and Theology department was a tremendous experience. I am glad I did it because it was in that environment I concluded that I was made to teach the Scriptures in a whole life environment–the local church–rather than in the artificial environment of the school. When a young couple grieves at the graveside of their still-born child, you find yourself in the pastoral environment where you don’t have to bicker with self-absorbed students arguing over why you gave them a B rather than an A on their Romans exam.

But I’ve been invited to adjunct teach at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary and at Aquinas College here in Grand Rapids, MI. At GRTS I teach on the “missional church: church and culture” and at Aquinas I will teach on “faith and meaning: Christian spirituality from a Protestant perspective.” Aquinas as you can guess is a Catholic college.

I hope I will be able to teach as one who practices what I believe and not teach just as a conduit of ideas. We no longer can afford to transfer knowledge without life; principles without praxis. I am challenged by these opportunities, of course, but I hope I am wiser and calmer and less dogmatic than in 1979-1981. Not less convinced of what I believe, but more loving in how I believe it and how I teach it.

I appreciate your prayers.

John

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