Serious Joy Newsletter Fall 2018

VOL . X, NO. 1

FALL 2018

A Semi-annual Report to Friends of Bethlehem College & Seminary

Show Me Your Glory The Heart Cry of Bethlehem College & Seminary

WOVEN TOGETHER: BY TIM TOMLINSON

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“I am simply in awe of this book.

An absolutely astonishing triumph.”

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How did it prompt the Magi to set out on a long journey to Judea? How did it lead them to Jesus?

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GARY W. KRONK, author, Cometography;

At a recent retreat of the Bethlehem College & Seminary Board of Trustees, we had the privilege of having Pastor John MacArthur with us to help think through the purposes and main focus of our school. Pastor MacArthur made a compelling case that the greatest need in the church today is for solid, biblical preachers and that, therefore, the main purpose of a seminary should be to produce trained preachers who will faithfully and accurately preach and teach the inerrant Word of God in their churches.

DUNCAN STEEL, comet expert, Armagh

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trained here faithfully preach and teach the gospel, sinners are being saved and can exclaim along with the Apostle Paul, “how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

And that’s our ambition here at Bethlehem College & Seminary. We aim to train, educate, and inspire the “beautiful feet” that will take the gospel to the neighborhoods and to the nations.

So how are we doing with regard to that aim? That is the focus of this edition of Serious Tim Tomlinson, President, Bethlehem College & Seminary Joy. In this issue, we highlight several of our graduates who are We agree with his conviction. And while we now pastoring churches around the country. Nothing understand that the Lord will not call every one of gives me greater pleasure than to see our graduates our seminarians to this task, we are zealous that a fulfilling the call to be faithful preachers of the Word strong majority of them will be called to preach and wherever in the world the Lord plants them. that they will faithfully fulfill that calling. It is a noble We recently contacted all of our alumni (both and important calling that is critical for the ongoing college and seminary) in order to ask them what health and growth of the true church. the Lord has led them to do in the years following The words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 10 make graduation. The results have been very encouraging this very clear. to me as I hope they will be to you.

As of the May 2018 graduation ceremony, we 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord have had over 375 students graduate from all will be saved.” of our programs at our school (including The 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have Bethlehem Institute graduates). So, what are those not believed? And how are they to believe in him of graduates doing? whom they have never heard? And how are they to ӹ 39% of them are pastors hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are ӹ 38% are in marketplace ministry they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ӹ 10% are in non-pastoral, ministry positions “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the ӹ 8% are theological scholars/professors good news!” ӹ 5% are global missionaries Paul’s intent here is to illustrate the central By combining the related categories, we conclude importance of preaching to bring the good news of that 62% of our graduates are now serving in the gospel to sinners everywhere. He states the truth vocational ministry positions. These graduates are in verse 13 that “everyone who calls on the name serving the church all over the world. For such a of the Lord will be saved.” This is the beauty and young institution as ours, it is simply remarkable that straightforward simplicity of the gospel. That’s all it we already have graduates ministering on six of the takes to be saved! seven continents!

But in the following two verses, Paul also builds What an amazing privilege it is to be part of the critical case that preachers are needed in order to the process of creating and sending more and help the lost to know the gospel in order to believe it. more “beautiful feet” into the world. We are so Two critical components are evident here. Preachers grateful to you, dear friends, who are partners with need to preach, and preachers need to be sent. us in this most important work. By your prayers, That is how we see our seminary in this process your volunteer efforts, your encouragement, and that Paul has laid out. We are here to train, equip, your financial support, the Lord has used and will and then send out preachers and teachers of the continue to use Bethlehem College & Seminary as Word of God. And as that happens, we see the truth a place that trains, equips, and sends the “beautiful of Paul’s argument being proven. As preachers feet” of faithful preachers of the Word of God to a world of lost sinners and struggling saints who need the gospel. We covet, and are so thankful for, your continued prayers and support.

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PUBLIC LECTURE AND SYMPOSIUM

The Doctors: Physicians, Theologians, and Bioethics Featuring Paul Lim, M.D. January 25-26, 2019, Minneapolis, MN www.bcsmn.edu/event/coming-events

2019 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors + Church Leaders January 28-30, 2019, Minneapolis, MN www.bcsmn.edu/conference-2019

FACULTY AND STAFF UPDATES

Jason Abell, (M.A. ‘08) Vice President of Administration, has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer.

John Beckman, (PhD, Stanford; PhD, Harvard) has been promoted to Associate Professor of Old Testament.

Leah Bruneau, Administrative Assistant has been promoted to Communications Manager.

NEWS

David Zuleger, (MDiv, ‘14) has been named Lead Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church’s South Campus in Lakeville, MN.

Sam Choi, (MDiv ‘18) has been named Lead Pastor at All Peoples Church, Minneapolis, MN.

Excerpted from an address by Jason Meyer, PhD Pastor for Preaching and Vision Bethlehem Baptist Church Associate Professor of Preaching Bethlehem College & Seminary

Show Me Your Glory The Heart Cry of Bethlehem College & Seminary

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ethlehem College & Seminary is an educational institution–you have to “think” here in order to get good grades and pass classes and get a degree. But to what end? To get a job? Is that the chief end of Bethlehem College & Seminary? We exist to give grades, so people can get jobs and make money? There is a whole movement of people who are questioning the value of higher education on this score. They say that you come out with crippling debt, and it is still hard to find a job.

We could respond by saying part of Bethlehem College & Seminary’s charter values was to be affordable–not cheap. You get a world class education, but we don’t want anyone to leave with crippling debt. We have people who believe in the mission of the college and seminary that are serious about the joy of the next generation of college students and pastors.

Therefore, two-thirds of your education is being funded by the generosity of others.

But this response would only be a reaction, not a full response. This whole financial approach to education misses the point of education and makes it idolatry. If you think the chief end of education is money and job opportunities, it means you will approach every class with one question: “What will this do for me?” But a better question would be: “What will this do to me?”

Our tag line already provides the answer in terms of the pursuit of serious joy. But how does one find joy in education. That is what I want to explore with you in the time we have together. I want to go beyond the tag line to the heart cry.

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SERIOUS JOY

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The Heart Cry

The heart cry of Bethlehem College & Seminary is “Show Me Your Glory.” We find it in Exodus 33. This text is a prayer–specifically a prayer of intercession. We would expect in a text like this that there would be a back and forth–a request and response dynamic. And that is exactly what we see.

12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”

The interesting thing about Moses’ prayer is that his request relies upon what God has said in the past. Moses brings God’s promises into the present. He basically reminds God about what God has said, and then he makes a bold reasoned request that is built upon it. This is pleading the promises of God in prayer. He is using his mind–he is using arguments in prayer.

Do you see it? He said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”

What a profound argument! He is saying, “Do what you said you would do, be consistent, you can’t say something and then not follow through. Now, therefore, because I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so I can know you and find favor in your sight. God, can’t you see that since you promised this, then you must do this?”

This is a man who met God at the burning bush, who met with God on the Mountain for 40 days, but he is still not satisfied. He wants to know God’s plans or purposes (his ways); so that he can know God, so that this relationship can continue and grow and deepen. That is what it means to have favor with God. He does not want to merely assume God’s favor and become satisfied with the status quo and past grace. He is pressing on for more grace, fresh favor.

The Promise of His Presence 14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Moses got even more than he asked for! He asked to know the identity of the one that would go with Moses and the people. Now he has the answer: God will go with them after all. He will not remove his presence from them. He will take them to the land and give them rest.

The presence of God with the people of God has been the main burden of this book. You may remember that Moses has been with God on the Mountain for forty days and forty nights. It was a spectacular, even supernatural time with God, because he did not eat or drink anything for forty days. He has drawn near to God in an amazing way.

Later in the passage, the people have begun to take matters into their own hands. They want a god that they control. They don’t like being out of control and dependent upon the Lord’s sense of timing. So they fashion a false god–a golden calf–and bow down and worship it.

Judgment comes upon the people, and then God declares that the people will go to the Promised Land–the land of milk and honey, but God is not going with them.

He will just send His angel, or else He would destroy them along the way, because they are so stiff-necked and rebellious. The people hear this word, and it is crushing to them. They begin to mourn. Moses now is going to mediate and intercede for the people. This whole story is about one thing: a passion for the presence of God. God said He was going to withdraw His presence, and God’s people want God’s presence back.

Where does Moses go? He pitches a tent and calls it the “tent of meeting.” We are told it was a place where people could seek the Lord: “And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp” (v. 7).

There would be visible signs of God’s presence there.

9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. 10 And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. 11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

If You Don’t Go With Us, Don’t Send Us 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

This reply makes my heart soar every time I read it. This is not so much a new request as a response to God’s response. God says that His presence will go with them, and Moses emotes out all the reasons why this has been the cry of his heart.

Here is how passionate Moses is for God’s presence. “If your presence does not go with me, then do not bring us up from here” (v. 15). Do you see what Moses is saying? I would rather be here in this howling wilderness with you, than to have a land flowing with milk and honey and ease without you. One thing I know– “I can’t live without you. Nothing else matters. What good would milk and honey be without you?” These good things lose their value if they are separated from the ultimate good, which is God. Notice that Moses is not asking merely for himself. He has a passion for the corporate presence of God. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people?

Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

Without you, we are just like every other group of people on planet earth. This should be a cause for passionate prayer in our churches–may our distinctive quality be that we are a place that enjoys your presence. That is what we want to be the chief characteristic of our college and seminary. In the classroom, hanging out with a cohort, or the dorms, God’s presence is here.

17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”

If you think the chief end of education is money and job opportunities, it means you will approach every class with one question: “What will this do for me?” But a better question would be: “What will this do to me?”

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Look at how willing God is to keep answering these requests. Do you know the heart of God this way? Knowing the boundless heart of God should be the biggest incentive to pray. You are not making requests to someone who is stingy and will usually say “no.” Someone that has to have their arm twisted and be badgered with continuous requests and annoy them until they relent. Jesus taught us about the Father by comparing him with how we are as fathers. We would not dream of giving our bright-eyed, beautiful children stones and snakes and scorpions when they ask for bread or fish or eggs. Then he gave us the “how much more” comparison to understand the loving heart of our Father. If you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give what is good to those who ask?

God is passionate for His own presence. He wants to give Himself to his church.

Show Me Your Glory 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”

Now we have come to the point where I feel that I stagger a little bit as I read this text. It takes my breath away and puts me back on my heels. Why? Moses is always asking for more. Remember back when I said that this is a man who met God at the burning bush, who met with God on the Mountain for 40 days, but he is still not satisfied. God has told him that Moses can learn his ways, and that God’s presence will go with them. But that is not enough. He wants more. He is not content with the grace he received one minute ago.

Notice that Moses is no longer asking even for the particular blessings of God for the people. He has done that, but now he has moved beyond God’s gifts and God’s blessings right to God himself. He wants personal knowledge, direct knowledge. He wants a greater glimpse of God’s glory than he has ever seen before.

It is almost inconceivable to me that this prayer would not be our prayer. Who is really satisfied with the way things are now? Do you have this thirst for the living God? What is the cry of your heart–more money, more success, bigger house, car, retirement, or more of You, God!

The Provision of God’s Glory 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

God once again says, “yes.” He desires to give himself more than we desire to receive him. But I love it that God also has to correct our finite limitations in our understanding of his infinite glory. God tenderly corrects Moses and tells him what he can have and what is not possible.

God will cause his glory to pass by Moses. But there is a limit.

20 “But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

God’s heart is so great that there is a revealing, but his glory is so great that there always has to be a concealing at the same time. We see this pattern at work many times in God’s plan for his presence to be with us.

How can any sinner come to God and not be destroyed? Moses could not see his face and live. In the incarnation, Mary could kiss his face and not die. At his death, people slapped and punched his face and did not die–rather through it we live–by his wounds we are healed. We don’t have to hide from him–we can hide in him.

Augustus Toplady got it right in his hymn: “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy Cross I cling.

Naked look to Thee for dress.

Helpless look to Thee for grace.

Foul, I to the fountain fly.

Wash me Savior or I die.”

“While I draw this fleeting breath when my eyes will close in death and I soar to worlds unknown, see Thee on Thy judgment throne.

Rock of Ages Cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.”

Thinking and Prayer

Hebrews chapters 4 and 10 exhort the believer to come boldly to the throne of grace based on confidence in Christ and his atoning work.

Because we have a great high priest who can sympathize with us in our weakness…

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:19-22).

The exhortations to boldly come are the result of the argument of the atonement. Therefore, one does not try to whip up oneself into a state of boldness or carnal confidence. Lloyd-Jones said it well: “you take the doctrine, you accept it and work it out, and then you find that it leads to this confidence.”

Spirit-wrought prayers urgently plead the promises of God with God in the very presence of God. Pleading the promises with God also means that we are preaching the promises to ourselves in prayer.

I am more than ever convinced that the trouble with many Christian people is that they do not preach to themselves. We should spend time every day preaching to ourselves, and never more so than when we get on our knees in prayer.

Lloyd-Jones labeled this boldness as “holy” or “spiritual” in order to distinguish it from a presumptuous, carnal kind of boldness. How does one know if he or she has crossed the line into presumption? Holy boldness ends and sinful boldness starts when the element of demand enters the prayer. Claiming or demanding is presumptuous and dangerous; it has no place in prayer.

Do not claim, do not demand, let your requests be made known, let them come from your heart. God will understand…Pray urgently, plead, use all the arguments, use all the promises; but do not demand, do not claim. Never put yourself into the position of saying, “If we but do this, then that must happen.” God is a sovereign Lord, and these things are beyond our understanding. Never let the terminology of claiming or of demanding be used.

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Thinking and Illumination/ Transformation 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything (2 Timothy 2:7).

We want to avoid the ditches here at Bethlehem College & Seminary in a way that denies either half of this verse. Someone could ruin this equation by saying, “the Lord will give illumination and insight, therefore we don’t need to think!” One could deny the other half by saying, “we can gain understanding on our own. We just need to think, we don’t need the Lord to give us anything. We just need to use the brain he gave us.”

But neither of those responses would really use the brain God gave us to read what the verse actually says. The verse says, “Think over what I say,” because “the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” There is a natural work and a supernatural work. They are not independent of one another. We do the natural work of thinking because that is the natural channel through which God gives supernatural illumination–not “unaided, raw deductions.”

Reading and thinking are the God-ordained channels through which we receive God-inspired illumination. Consider Ephesians 3:1-4.

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD (1 Samuel 3:19–21).

It is hard to overstate the importance of this summary. Notice the link again between the Lord and His word. “The Lord revealed himself…by the word of the Lord” (1 Samuel 3:21; my emphasis).

This is true in God’s word, and this is true in God’s world. The classroom can be a Tent of Meeting where God’s greatness is seen and studied (not in a cool, detached, impersonal way, but with delight).

Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them (Psalms 111:2).

What Will a God‑Centered Education Do to Me? What will knowing this do to me? Paul’s answer is in 2 Corinthians 3:18.

18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

The Lord needs to grant power to know the Lord and grasp these things.

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. I have previously enjoyed the experience of hiking mountains in Colorado. We had a guide who told us not to be satisfied with the foothills. He said, “Come with me. It will be hard going, but there is more to be seen. There is a vista at the top that is worth it.”

We got up to the top of that peak only to see the rest of the mountain range stretching into the horizon. It was soul-stretching and awe-inspiring. I felt so small, and God seemed so big: like a sanctuary of God’s greatness.

That is what we do in every class that we teach. We could go the easy route.

We are not here to learn a few things and pass an exam. We are here to see God’s greatness and glory. Don’t be satisfied with the foothills. There is a vista at the top that is worth it. Up on that place, you will see–you will see and hear the heavens telling the glory of God. Now let us be quick to say that not every class will feel like revival. At the seminary you learn things like textual criticism. You will learn things like Alexandrian text types and Byzantine text types and Sinaiticus and p46, and you will wonder what are those symbols and what is that apparatus at the bottom of the Greek New Testament that looks like one long confusing footnote. It won’t feel like revival when you are working your way through it, but you will be saying: “This much I want to know your word. This much I believe that your very words are breathed out by you!”

At the college, if you are learning quadratic equations, we are not saying that it will be like the glory of God is passing by you, and you are going to say “God hide me behind your hand, I can’t take this much glory.” What you will be saying in that moment is: “this is how far I am willing to go to see your bigness, your beauty, your order.”

You will have instructors saying that, “I am going to guide you. Your mental quadriceps are going to be burning at times, but it will be worth it.”

A Baby’s Hand Motion

When my girls were small we taught them to communicate before they could talk by using basic sign language. One thing we taught them was the sign language for “more,” back of hands facing forward vertically and tapping the tops of the fingers together. We only had to teach them that one time, and then it just took off from there. Why? Because when they would taste something particularly wonderful, their eyes would light up, and their hands would start furiously making the hand motion: more!

That is the hand motion of Bethlehem College & Seminary. More God! Not “Show me the money.” “Show me your glory. More!”

1. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Final Perseverance of the Saints, 155.

2. Lloyd-Jones, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ: An Exposition of Ephesians 3 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 102.

3. Lloyd-Jones, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ, 113.

4. Lloyd-Jones, The Final Perseverance of the Saints, 155.

We do the natural work of thinking because that is the natural channel through which God gives supernatural illumination.

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Steven Lee

Jonathan Parnell

MDIV CLASS

MDIV CLASS

2012

2012

CHURCH

CHURCH

Bethlehem Baptist Church,

Cities Church

North Campus

Saint Paul, MN

Mounds View, MN CURRENT SERMON SERIES

Strengthening The Core

CURRENT SERMON SERIES

Genesis M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

Cities Church is preparing

I am now serving as the

to launch her second

Lead Pastor at the North

church plant in the Twin

Campus of Bethlehem,

Cities metro. As our church

which includes leading the

and staff grows, we are

staff, preaching, teaching,

praying and working

and administration.

toward developing and deploying more leaders to deepen our witness in Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

Steven Lee

JOB ONE

Jonathan Parnell

very academic endeavor at Bethlehem College & Seminary is aimed at equipping all graduates to know, treasure, and rightly apply the Word of God. It follows then that those who ought to exhibit the best of such gifting are the men who have graduated from the Master of Divinity program, ready to undertake the responsibilities of biblical elder and preaching pastor. We asked some of those who have graduated since the school’s founding in 2009, now preaching pastors of their congregations, to give us an update on their ministries.

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Ben Collins

Neil Schindler

Josh Koehn

Dave Zuleger

MDIV CLASS

MDIV CLASS

MDIV CLASS

2012

2014

2014

CHURCH

CHURCH

CHURCH

First Baptist Church

Oak Hill Church

Bethlehem Baptist

Prentice, WI

Humboldt, IA

South Campus

CURRENT SERMON SERIES

CURRENT SERMON SERIES

FBC Vision Distinctives

Romans 8–Life in the Spirit

Ben Collins

Kevin McClure

MDIV CLASS

MDIV CLASS

2013

2013

North-central Wisconsin.

CHURCH

The focus to this point has

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

I am now entering my

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

Lakeville, MN CURRENT SERMON SERIES

Abiding Together in Christ

Serving as Associate

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

Pastor at Oak Hill, I have

I recently transitioned

the opportunity to oversee

into the role of Lead

CHURCH

children and family

Pastor, South Campus on

Grace Central Coast

Geist Community Church

ministries, student ministries,

September 4th. My role

been to build relationships

Arroyo Grande, CA

McCordsville, IN

our growth groups, and

is to oversee the areas of

with church members and

CURRENT SERMON SERIES

CURRENT SERMON SERIES

follow-up with newcomers.

congregational care, staff,

making inroads into the

Life of David

Exodus

It's a joy to see families and

and vision for the campus.

individuals take steps to

We're excited to be back at

know Christ personally, grow

Bethlehem as a family.

fourth year as a solo pastor in a small church in rural

community, all the while devoting myself to the Word and prayer. My hope for this next season is to foster a greater desire and hunger for God in worship through the vision-casting sermon series, and a renewed focus on discipleship, and leading outreach to the unchurched in our midst.

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

Currently executing a move

Within the church I serve,

to a permanent location for

God is growing a young

our Grace5Cities Campus,

Redwood sapling with a

negotiating a merger for a

strong trunk and deeply

GraceNorthCounty Campus,

connected roots drinking

transitioning current

up the word of Christ; it's

small groups to missional

a great blessing to see the

communities, contributing

slow and steady work of the

to the teaching team, and

Spirit. Outside the church,

shepherding the flock

God has given great favor

of God.

with a number of pastors in the Indianapolis area, and it is encouraging to help

A Study in 1 Timothy

CHURCH

Trust, The Gospel Coalition,

Sand Harbor Presbyterian

Indianapolis Theological

Jupiter, FL

Seminary, and the local Association. To God be the glory!

I am in my fourth year as a solo pastor of a conservative and Christ-centered Presbyterian church in south

are committed to gathering

CURRENT SERMON SERIES

weekly for God-centered

Gospel of Mark

worship and the preaching

and women are equipped to nurture the faith of others.

It’s also been encouraging to see the church deepen in her convictions regarding membership and church discipline. There is much to celebrate. Yet, personally, I’m

of the Word. I meet regularly

Charles Ackmann

with various members

MDIV CLASS

of the congregation for

2014

discipleship. Regular hospitality has been a huge focus of our family, and the Lord has used it to bring new people to our church and grow relationships

CHURCH

New Creation Church Granville, NY CURRENT SERMON SERIES

Journey Through The Torah

I currently serve as the lead pastor of New Creation Church in Granville, New York. I’m very grateful to

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

the Lord for the gift of

God has been extremely

serving alongside my fellow

gracious to our church! Over

Bethlehem Seminary grad,

the last year, we’ve had the

Brian Verrett. Our church

joy of welcoming many new

plant will be two years old at

members, starting a monthly

Christmastime this year. God

prayer gathering, preaching

has been very gracious to

through the Gospel of Mark,

us—proving himself faithful

and just recently, launching

time and time again to

men’s and women’s Bible

provide for our every need.

studies. This summer, we

He is at work in Granville,

hosted a block party and

and we continue to labor

VBS in a local park which

in hopes of rejoicing in the

allowed us to meet many of

harvest of souls. We are

our neighbors, and began

currently team preaching

hosting an English club for

through the Torah and

immigrant Muslim women.

really enjoy the process of

I currently am discipling

preaching and serving our

two young men pursuing

congregation together.

possible calls to ministry,

CHURCH

and we’re starting a series in

The Road Church

1 Timothy looking at God’s

Blue Springs, MO

design for his church.

CURRENT SERMON SERIES

Philippians

within the church. Each year

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

through the sorrows and

I am working as Associate

the joys, we have tasted and

Pastor with The Road. My

seen that the Lord is good.

ministry responsibilities are

Dan Weller

in administration, youth,

in one of the most sustained,

children, education, building

trial-filled seasons of my

committee, website, small

first six years of ministry. I

groups, outreach, and

struggle to trace God’s hand, but I’m learning to trust his

Kevin McClure

2015

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

like the Charles Simeon

Pierz, MN

that is forming as more men

Indianapolis, IN

2013

sweet and very simple. We

the culture of discipleship

Chapelwood Baptist Church

the Church –

Fellowship Bible Church

and obvious work of God is

CHURCH

level through ministries

Florida. The church is very

Perhaps the most beautiful

2014

MDIV CLASS

CHURCH

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

MDIV CLASS

Blueprint: God's Design for

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

2013

Dan Weller

together on a city-wide

SBC Crossroads Baptist

Joel Aubrey MDIV CLASS

Andrew Jacobson

of Israel

MDIV CLASS

and globally.

CURRENT SERMON SERIES

Seeing Jesus in the Feasts

Brandon Bellomo

family, and sow Christ locally

foster churches partnering

CURRENT SERMON SERIES

Neil Schindler

in Christ with their church

Brandon Bellomo

heart. Please pray for God to

discipleship. Being a pastor has been both rewarding and hard in many ways, but

purify my heart and mature

I believe that the Lord is

my character for his glory.

with us.

Andrew Jacobson

Josh Koehn

8

BETHLEHEM COLLEGE & SEMINARY

Jonathan Davis

Daniel Souza

Ryan Eagy

MDIV CLASS

MDIV CLASS

2015

2017

CHURCH

CHURCH

Comunidade Horizonte

Table Rock Church

Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Boise, ID

CURRENT SERMON SERIES

CURRENT SERMON SERIES

Galatians

Psalms: The Character

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

of God

I am currently ministering

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

in Belo Horizonte, Brazil,

God has graciously brought

where I pastor a church

our entire team (Don &

revitalization effort in

Jacque Straka – MDiv ‘18;

partnership with Campus

Luke & Andrea Salik – MDiv

Outreach Ministries.

‘18; David & Kimberly Lund

Comunidade Horizonte

– MDiv ‘18; and Andrew &

(translated “Horizon

Sara Knight – BBC CO) to

Community Church”) was

Boise, and we are in the

planted with a view to reach

"Hard Launch" phase of our

the growing numbers of

church plant. Praise God for

non-religious people in the

his faithfulness!

city, with a special focus on the next generation of young people and young families. In the last three

Board of Trustees Approves Cameroon Extension Site The Bethlehem College & Seminary Board of Trustees, at its September 2018 meeting, approved

Adam Pohlman

the establishment of an Extension Site in Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon. The site is to be

years, God has been pleased

MDIV CLASS

established in conjunction with a new French-speaking church planted by Jubilee Community

to continue to grow this

2017

Church, Minneapolis and the Treasuring Christ Together church-planting network founded by

church in the gospel and to

CHURCH

overcome the resistance of

Redemption City Church

hard hearts with the grace of

Rochester, MN

Jesus Christ.

Bethlehem Baptist Church. As the Lord may will, the church and seminary will be led by Dieudonné Tamfu, PhD (The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) a native Cameroonian who came to the U.S. to be taught at The Bethlehem Institute, the predecessor institution to Bethlehem College &

CURRENT SERMON SERIES

Gospel of Matthew

Jonathan Davis

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

MDIV CLASS

from a core team of 20

MABPS 2017

people to attendance

CHURCH

Grace Baptist Church Waverly, IA CURRENT SERMON SERIES

1 Peter: Persevering in Grace & Peace

Seminary. Dr. Tamfu has recently completed tenures as a Pastor at Jubilee Church and Adjunct Professor at Bethlehem College & Seminary in the Twin Cities. He has more recently been named Assistant Professor of Bible and Theology and Cameroon Extension Site Coordinator. Both the church and school will, with God’s favor, be active in 2020.

In one year, we have grown

averaging over 100. We are training up leaders through

Dave Zuleger

our lay person School of Theology to plant another church within the next couple of years and send missionaries overseas.

M I N I S T R Y U P D AT E

Members are thrilled to

We just hit the 2-month

share their lives together

mark in ministry here in

and serve this community in

Waverly and are thrilled

Christ. We are connecting

at how we are seeing God

to the medical community

at work. His faithfulness

equipping medical staff to

is proven in the joy found

share Christ with patients

in daily ministry and open

and coworkers.

doors for the gospel in the area. This week I was visiting one of our members in a rehabilitation facility and

Daniel Souza

Ryan Eagy

was invited to pray with another patient there who is dying of cancer. After praying for him he asked to pray as well and at that moment prayed confessing his sin and believing on Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

Joel Aubrey

I got to go back a few days later and share his first communion with him. What a joy!

Adam Pohlman

FALL 2018

Charles Ackmann

SERIOUS JOY

9

TO STUDY, PRACTICE & TEACH: FACULTY

McGlothlin has taken a keen interest in the athletic sport focused on the mastery of the longsword and includes practice with the saber, the dagger, and buckler.

James McGlothlin: Man-at-Arms

J

ames McGlothlin found his way into ministry by means of a rather unexpected route: a philosophy PhD program at a secular, R1, Big Ten school.

McGlothlin entered college preparing to eventually go into pastoral ministry. His professors encouraged him to pursue further schooling, so once McGlothlin finished his BA in theology, he began his MDiv at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Although he loved studying the Bible–its structures, its contexts, its compelling claims on our lives–he noticed that he did not share with his classmates the same strong desire to preach. As he completed his seminary degree, McGlothlin became more and more sure that his role in ministry would be different than that of a pastor. Instead he followed his interest in apologetics into the field of philosophy, beginning with an MA at Western Michigan University. “The start of my PhD program in Philosophy at The Ohio State University officially signaled a vocational shift for me,” says McGlothlin. “How many pastors do you know with degrees in philosophy?” Although McGlothlin wasn’t sure what ministry might look like for him in this new vocational direction, he fully expected to continue to serve the local church by harnessing his philosophical training for the gospel.

As it turns out, pursing a degree in philosophy opened other doors for McGlothlin: doors in higher education. It was during his PhD program that McGlothlin first heard about Bethlehem College & Seminary.

“When I first found Bethlehem online, I was so excited by their vision and mission. I reached out to the school asking them to keep me in mind if a position opened up in the future.”

Several years later, Bethlehem College & Seminary’s Academic Dean, Brian Tabb, reached out to McGlothlin to invite him to apply for an open faculty spot in the undergraduate Omnia

McGlothlin much room to make the topic of his dissertation, the relationship between God and logic, more accessible to students.

According to Omnia faculty member Brian Hansen, who is currently teaching the sophomore students with McGlothlin, “James is gifted in taking the most esoteric of philosophical conundrums and making it accessible for all students with his earthy examples.”

McGlothlin delights in the fact that at Bethlehem, he can teach his subject “with his full Christian convictions on the table.”

McGlothlin’s other research interests include the relationship between Christian Hedonism and ethics, the overlap between ethics and aesthetics, the work of Jonathan Edwards, and the novel subgenres of sci-fi and fantasy, which he often blogs about at Blackgate.com. McGlothlin has taught upper-level undergraduate courses on theories of beauty as well as ethics and apologetics. Preparing his students for an integrated Christian life beyond the classroom, McGlothlin designed this latter course with a particular emphasis on arguing for Christian ethical positions within a larger non-Christian context.

Far from allowing philosophical study of theology to be a mere mind game, McGlothlin seeks to turn

in the King’s Friends Sunday School, Bethlehem church’s fellowship group for the church’s oldest members.

McGlothlin and his wife Cindy also welcome students into their homes and into their lives as a means of extending the conversations from the classroom and as a means of discipleship and mentorship. As Cindy says, “We love hanging out with students.” When they moved to the Twin Cities, they searched for a home close to the downtown campus to be near students, and they have had a Bethlehem student live with them for the past year an a half, while also developing a close Christian community with two other believers that live in the apartment below them.

Recreationally, McGlothlin practices the art of swordsmanship.

After reading a New York Times article on Historic European Martial Arts (HEMA), McGlothlin has taken a keen interest in the athletic sport focused on the mastery of the longsword and includes practice with the saber, the dagger, and buckler. Though McGlothin practices HEMA primarily for exercise, he is also drawn to its intrigue and historical longevity. It has become a unique way of engaging with a part of the tradition he teaches in the Bethlehem classroom.

. . . he continues to bring his research to bear in helping students synthesize and arrange an array of theological, philosophical, and literary arguments from five thousand years of written human history. program, and soon McGlothlin joined the Bethlehem faculty in Fall 2015.

In the Bethlehem classroom, he continues to bring his research to bear in helping students synthesize and arrange an array of theological, philosophical, and literary arguments from five thousand years of written human history. Integrating disparate ideas alongside students in class, rather than leaving students to do so on their own between their classes, is one of McGlothlin’s favorite distinctives of the undergraduate program, and the college’s twoyear associates degree has given

careful thinking into compassionate service to others. For Omnia faculty Johnathon Bowers, McGlothlin “embodies the marriage of head and heart that we so value at our school.”

Current senior, Patrick Claytor described an independent study with McGlothlin as characterized by its emphasis on application: “He sought to help me grow as a Christian leader, not just through study (though that was valuable), but also through opportunities to teach and lead.” As a result, McGlothlin encouraged Claytor to begin to teach

McGlothlin is the sort of pastoral professor who can be “opining on the relationship between God and logic in one moment,” says Johnathon Bowers, “while in the next, he can be praying that God would comfort a student in crisis. He is ready with a laugh, a clarifying question, or an attentive stare over the rims of his reading glasses, whatever the situation calls for.” James McGlothin is Bethlehem’s man-at-arms.

New By Faculty Authors

“Zephaniah”

“Philippians”

JASON DEROUCHIE

JASON MEYER

That Little Voice in Your Head ANDY NASELLI

Expository Exultation: Christian Preaching as Worship

The Genesis of Marriage

2 Peter and Jude

RICK SHENK

DIEUDONNÉ TAMFU

JOHN PIPER

Make Bethlehem College & Seminary your charitable beneficiary. Go to www.smile.amazon.com to learn how.

10

BETHLEHEM COLLEGE & SEMINARY

THE BETHLEHEM BOOKSTORE

Buy over-the-counter and the school benefits even more.

The Serious Joy Scholarship A Personal Ministry for Jesus Christ

With your help, graduates without debt are free to answer immediately God’s call on their lives and are made affordable to churches and ministries that need them.

THE BURDEN OF DEBT IS IMMENSE.

FINANCIAL RESOURCES ARE CONCENTRATED ON STUDENT INSTRUCTION

As the price of higher education has risen so has the amount of debt required to fund it, leaving many burdened with substantial financial obligations well beyond the college years.

44 MILLION AMERICANS NOW OWE $1.4 TRILLION DOLLARS IN STUDENT LOAN DEBTS.*

Two-thirds of tuition at Bethlehem College & Seminary is paid by someone other than the students or their parents.

Generous contributors have rallied to make this robust academically rigorous, high quality education available and affordable.

Bethlehem College & Seminary operates in a lean, no-frills way on the site of a local church.

Graduates without debt are free to answer immediately God’s call on their lives and are made affordable to churches and ministries that need them.

82.5% STUDENT INSTRUCTION

AVERAGE U.S. STUDENT DEBT * UNDERGRADUATE

EVERY RESIDENT STUDENT RECEIVES THE SERIOUS JOY SCHOLARSHIP.

GRADUATE

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The Serious Joy Scholarship

PERCENTAGE OF U.S STUDENTS GRADUATING WITH 2000

$10,000

DEBT * 2017

28% 71%

9.3% ADMINISTRATION

Full annual tuition

8.2%

$16,000

AVERAGE YEAR TO STUDENT LOAN DEBT RETIREMENT *

ADVANCEMENT

21 43 YEARS

AGE

Student pays only

$6,000

Bethlehem College & Seminary depends entirely on God and the generosity he stirs in the hearts of his people. No funds are received from the state or federal government, the church’s denomination, or Desiring God Ministries. Bethlehem Baptist Church does support the school through the use of its facilities, staff support, and through the funding of several Serious Joy Scholarships.

Pray that God might lead you to either be or help identify: A few who might permanently

Several who would gladly under-

The many who will supply at least

Those who will join the growing

endow one or more scholarships.

write the scholarships for multiple

one Serious Joy Scholarship for

community of friends who fund

students in the coming years.

the current year.

fractions of scholarships.

EMAIL: INFO@BCSMN.EDU PHONE: 612-455-3420

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720 13TH AVE. S. MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55415

FALL 2018

SERIOUS JOY

11

Serious Joy

IN THIS ISSUE From the President Woven Together Show Me Your Glory: The Heart Cry of Bethlehem College & Seminary Job One: Equipping Preaching Pastors To Study, Practice & Teach James McGlothlin: Man-at-Arms

BETHLEHEM COLLEGE & SEMINARY 720 13TH AVENUE SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55415 WWW.BCSMN.EDU

We Thank God for You Looking back on the four years I spent at Bethlehem College & Seminary, I am filled with gratitude. Though no longer a student, every role God has given me in this life—daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend—has been influenced by my education at Bethlehem College & Seminary.

The History of Ideas program gave me an excellent education, but more significantly it pointed me towards Christ. It opened my eyes to God’s hand in the world, and changed the way I process everything around me. It reached into the mundane of my everyday and changed the way I interact with everything—the news on the radio, the way I think about raising my daughter, the way I fill our home, the way I support my husband in ministry, and the way I execute my job.

In opening my eyes to the beauty around me, it helped me focus on honoring Christ in all I do.

Bethlehem changed me, and I’m grateful for the person I’ve become.

As a young couple with a new child, the affordability of my education has enabled my husband to pursue further schooling and allowed us to start a family without debt. I thank God not only for this financial gift, but even more so for this formative, life-enriching gift. I thank God for you.

Mackenzie Kresge, BA ‘17 Wife, Mother, Life-long Learner, Richfield, MN

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