The Master's Seminary 2024 Annual Report by The Master's Seminary

A LETTER FROM OUR CHANCELLOR

In God’s good providence, I have faced a few health setbacks in recent years. For that reason, I’m often asked how I am doing. My response is always the same. THANKFUL.

I’m thankful for Christ, who redeemed me and continues to sustain me and grant me perseverance in the ministry. I’m thankful for my family. I’m thankful for the co-laborers in the gospel I have the privilege of serving alongside. And I’m certainly thankful for each of you who partner with us here at The Master’s Seminary as we train men to faithfully proclaim God’s truth.

Next year, The Master’s Seminary will celebrate 40 years of ministry. I’m overwhelmed with gratitude as I think about all the extraordinary work we’ve accomplished together in our first 39 years, and I’m filled with excitement as I think about all we can accomplish, if the Lord tarries, in the coming decades.

Since 1986, we’ve sent out more than 2,500 graduates. They are filling pulpits in hundreds of churches across the United States. You’d be hard-pressed to drive two hours in any direction across this country and not find at least one TMS graduate. During the seminary’s first year, expository preaching was hard to find. Today, the majority of cities in America have at least one Master’s Man expositing the Truth and shepherding the flock of God among them.

Internationally, the story is even more encouraging. Our graduates have established a series of training centers on nearly every continent. Currently, more than 3,000 future pastors are being mentored by our graduates. The exponential impact is extraordinary and, by God’s grace, will multiply ten-fold in the coming decades.

Even as the ministry grows, there’s so much more work to do. I am committed to using all my remaining days in service to our Lord by preparing the next generation of faithful expositors. It’s an extraordinary privilege to participate in this high calling, and to do so alongside you fills me with gratitude each day.

Thank you for your partnership. May the Lord grant you grace, and gratitude, in your life and ministry.

For the Master,

ALUMNI BY THE NUMBERS

NUMBER OF TMS GRADUATES

2,537 49

STATES WHERE A TMS ALUM IS PASTORING

COUNTRIES WHERE A TMS ALUM IS MINISTERING

PASTORAL TRAINING CENTERS LED BY TMS ALUM

PASTORS CURRENTLY BEING TRAINED BY TMS ALUM

EXPOSITORY SERMONS PREACHED EACH WEEK BY TMS ALUM

4,000 Thousands Millions

LIVES IMPACTED BY TMS ALUM SINCE 1986

THE FRUIT OF YOUR INVESTMENT

Meet Three Master’s Men

One of the great surprises in the 20th century was “Christian Africa.” In one century, the continent turned from pagan to professing Christ. Yet, such rapid numerical growth far outpaced the depth and maturity of the African church, resulting in a Christianity that is “a mile wide but an inch deep.” The need for faithful Bible teaching and strong churches that train leaders has never been more urgent! Because of this, our family moved to South Africa in 1998 to provide leadership training and church strengthening. After serving at Christ Seminary for six and a half years, we have been in Johannesburg since 2005, where I (Tim) pastor the precious flock at Antioch Bible Church. I also lead the faculty of Shepherds’ Seminary, where a team of local pastors from likeminded, TMS-affiliated area churches train pastors for South Africa.

TIM CANTRELL M.Div, 1998

Greetings from Calvary Memorial Church (CMC) in Roanoke, the fourth largest metropolitan area in Virginia. God has built CMC generationally, with members in their 80s and 90s down to our ever-expanding nursery. Almost half of attendees are 18 or younger. These families come because of CMC’s Youth Bible Institute. Over the years, we have faced opposition, heartbreaks, intense counseling, cultural shifts and more. However, God has faithfully used His Word to sanctify CMC. I marvel at God’s providence to teach me His Word through the ministries of John MacArthur and train me at The Master’s Seminary. With that foundation, God’s grace has kept me at CMC for twenty-five years. All praise to Him!

MARK VAUGHAN M.Div, 1999

In 2014, I was sent as a missionary to León, Spain. My ministry here focuses on two key areas: serving at my local church, where I preach and disciple, and working at Berea Seminary, where I serve as Academic Dean and teach courses in Theology, Hermeneutics, and Bible Survey. The Catholic Church has shaped Spain’s culture for centuries. For that reason, other religions are often viewed as cults. In the early 2000s, postmodernism further secularized society, creating a challenging environment for sharing the gospel. Today, many Spaniards reject all forms of religious expression, further distancing themselves from any topic related to God. Despite these challenges, I am encouraged by God’s power to save and build His church in Spain. No opposition is too great for Him, and His work will prevail.

RUBEN VIDEIRA M.Div, 2011

FROM APPLE TO TMS

Sam Chan’s Next Chapter of Service to Christ

In the summer of 2006, Sam Chan’s manager gave him an address for a nondescript warehouse on the outskirts of Silicon Valley. He told Sam to go there the next morning. There he would be assigned to a new project, one that would be his only responsibility for the foreseeable future. Nothing like this had happened to Sam since he’d joined Apple more than a decade earlier, first as a college intern, then as a full-time Macintosh programmer.

The scene the next morning was odd and mysterious. The warehouse lot seemed almost abandoned. Though the building looked large enough to house an airplane, there were only a few cars parked outside. When Sam went inside, he first noticed the black curtains. They were seemingly everywhere, cordoning off small workspaces. Sam wasn’t sure why he was there, or even if he was in the right place, until he spotted a few coworkers. One motioned him over and explained that what Sam was about to see, and what he’d be working on, was highly confidential. Sam couldn’t speak of it to anyone, including his wife. After that solemn warning, Sam was ushered through the black curtains. On the other side, he saw a tiny device that would change the world: a prototype of the original iPhone. Over the next six months, Sam would spend nearly every working hour programming this massive cultural milestone. His job was to make sure the original iPhone could receive and send phone calls on the Cingular network (Cingular had the exclusive rights to carry iPhones at the time).

When millions bought the first iPhone after it was released in June of 2007, they were able to make calls because of Sam’s team’s handiwork. For Sam, that was the highlight of an extraordinary career at Apple, Though

he’d been part of a team of ten that designed and programmed the original iTunes music store in the early 2000s, then he’d become such a trusted programmer that Steve Job’s assistant would call Sam for help when the C.E.O. was locked out of his own Apple ID because hackers were constantly trying to break into it, Sam knows nothing in his career will top his work on the original iPhone.

As significant as Sam’s contributions were to the company, it was a bit surprising that they weren’t what his coworker’s wanted to talk about at his retirement party in January of 2025. Each time someone from the crowd of several hundred rose to honor Sam, they spoke of his consistent joy and calm, steady demeanor, even in stressful situations. His character impacted them far more than his accomplishments. When it was Sam’s turn to speak at the end of the event, he sensed an opportunity to share his faith.

“I thanked my friends and coworkers for their kind words” Sam said. “Then I told them that I was not calm and joyful in my younger days. But I have joy and peace now because of my faith in Jesus Christ. He transformed me from my old self. He made me a new person. Then I ended by letting them know that after leaving Apple, I was going to study for the ministry at The Master’s Seminary.”

After the party ended, Sam’s manager asked him if the two could have dinner together that night. Sam assumed this was work related and they’d talk about who would be taking over his responsibilities when he left. But that wasn’t at all what his boss had in mind.

“He took me to a nice restaurant that evening” Sam said “and to my surprise the only thing he wanted to talk more about was what I’d said at my retirement party. He asked me how I became a Christian. He wanted to know more about how my life had been transformed. Most importantly, he asked me how he could experience this transformation. The whole time I’m explaining the truth of the gospel and sharing my testimony with him, my heart is saying hallelujah to God. The next morning, the last time I saw him before my manager returned to Texas, I gave him a booklet from Grace to You on salvation and told him I’d pray for him.”

As his last act at Apple, Sam sent an email to every employee in his division, expressing his gratitude for his years at Apple, and letting

them all know that he would be attending The Master’s Seminary and continuing his ministry at San Francisco Bible Church. In the coming days, dozens of Apple employees replied. Most were fellow believers. They told Sam that his boldness in sharing his faith had encouraged them to be more open about their faith in Christ. Sam was even able to connect with a believing coworker that could follow up with his manager and continue to minister to him.

For Sam, these final days at Apple were a sweet providence from the Lord, filled with reminders that every day, every word, every attitude and response to circumstances is an opportunity to testify of Christ’s work. And while Sam was grateful for how the Lord had used him through the years at one of the largest, most influential companies in the world, he was eager to begin the next chapter and devote himself entirely to the work of the ministry.

“I don’t know a time in my life that didn’t include ministry” Sam said. “While I worked at Apple, I also served as a lay elder at San Francisco Bible Church. Even when I was a child, my father was a pastor back in Hong Kong. So, in God’s kindness, ministry has always been part of my life.”

Sam’s family moved from Hong Kong to San Francisco when Sam was fifteen years old. They came to San Francisco Bible Church a year after immigrating to the States and Sam’s father became the pastor of the Cantonese congregation. He served there faithfully for more than 30 years. When he retired, Sam and two other elders at the church began teaching on a regular basis. As Sam began to teach more, he quickly realized

that he wanted, and needed, training if he was going to faithfully exposit God’s Word. So, in the fall of 2016 he began taking classes online at The Master’s Seminary. Because of family commitments and his ongoing work at Apple, Sam wasn’t able to finish his degree at that time. But now that he is retired, he is eager to return to school and fully prepare himself for ministry.

At the moment, he is an online student. But in the coming years, he will finish his degree at The Master’s Seminary’s Walnut Creek distance location.

“What I was doing at Apple was really exciting, but as I look at it, there’s no eternal value” Sam said. “Particularly when a new version of a product comes out, the old one is immediately obsolete. So all the code I poured into that product doesn’t matter anymore. Praise God, I don’t have to worry about the work of the ministry ever being obsolete. That’s why I’m excited about this next chapter of my life. The Bible is eternal. The truth will always endure.”

In that parting email to all Apple employees in his division, this was Sam’s final paragraph.

“I PRAISE GOD FOR HIS WONDERFUL AND AMAZING GRACE THROUGH THIS JOURNEY. I WILL CONTINUE TO “CHANGE THE WORLD”, BUT THIS TIME, I’LL BE SHARING GOD’S WORD TO BRING TRANSFORMATION TO PEOPLE’S LIVES.

WITH GRATITUDE AND LOVE, SAM.”

TMS FINANCIALS

THROUGHOUT THIS REPORT, YOU WILL MEET THREE RECENT GRADUATES OF THE MASTER’S SEMINARY—STEPHEN, NATHAN, AND CALEB—WHO ARE STEPPING INTO LEAD PASTOR ROLES IN 2025. THE INVESTMENT OF OUR MINISTRY PARTNERS HAS PREPARED THESE MEN FOR THE MINISTRY AHEAD. THEY REPRESENT DOZENS MORE WHO WILL ENTER THE MINISTRY THIS YEAR, FULLY EQUIPPED FOR THIS HIGH CALLING. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTNERSHIP IN THE WORK OF TRAINING THESE PASTORS.

In last year’s annual report, we introduced Stephen Futrell, a TMS student with one semester remaining in his pastoral training. This spring, Stephen—now an alumnus of TMS—became the senior pastor of Grace Bible Church in Miles City, in eastern Montana. The church is the kind of congregation Stephen and his wife were hoping, and praying, God would send them after graduation. Though its location is more rural, it serves as a hub for the agricultural community surrounding it. And there’s a clear hunger for God’s Word and sound theology among the people. That became clear to Stephen during a series of visits he made to Grace Church in early 2025. Stephen is eager to pass along the training he’s received, training that he knows wouldn’t be possible for men like him if not for The Master’s Seminary’s ministry partners. Pray for Stephen as he begins his ministry in Miles City.

2025 Total Donations to TMS Annual Fund:

2.87M 3.74M

2.679M 3.884M 2024 Total Scholarship Awarded 2025 Total Scholarship Awarded

Specific Scholarships Awarded:

Spanish Scholarships

Project Timothy

Dr. Irv Busenitz

Project Timothy

Current Students by Degree

MASTER OF DIVIN ITY (M.DIV.) ∙ 410

BACHELOR OF THEOLOGY (B.TH.) 65

DIPLOMA OF THEOLOGY (DIP.TH.) 15

MASTER OF BIBLICAL MINISTRY (M.M.B.) 154

MASTER OF THEOLOGY (TH.M.) 42

DOCTOR OF MINISTRY (D.MIN.) 88

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PH.D.) 11

M.Div./B.Th./Dip.Th. Students by Locations: 276 74 36 104 LOS ANGELES

Distance Location Students

DISTANCE LOCATIONS

MENTOR MODEL

ONLINE HEAD START

Students Currently Enrolled ∙ 819

Number of 2024 Graduates ∙ 107

ANCHORAGE, AK 7

CENTRAL VALLEY, CA ∙ 23

WASHINGTON D.C. ∙ 17

BOZEMAN, MT 3

SPOKANE, WA 15

DALLAS, TX 17

WALN UT CREEK, CA ∙ 16

MURRIETA, CA ∙ 6

In the summer of 2025, Caleb Cunningham will become the pastor of Cedar Baptist Church in Archibald, Louisiana. TMS donors who attend Cedar Baptist have prayed for nearly a decade for a Master’s Man to become their pastor. Caleb first connected with the church in the summer of 2023. After Caleb guest preached at Cedar, the leadership asked him to consider coming to Archibald to shepherd the congregation. At first, Caleb told them no. But over time, the desire to preach and care this congregation grew so when Cedar asked a second time, it became clear that this was the Lord’s providence working in his life. As a fellow southerner (Caleb was born and raised in Georgia), Caleb understands the culture, the pace of life, the challenges and blessings of the region. He is eager to take all the Lord has taught him while at TMS and apply it as he preaches and loves the people at Cedar Baptist.

THE MASTER’S SEMINARY ON YOUTUBE

In recent years, YouTube has become the largest video sharing website in the world. It’s estimated that around 2.5 million videos are uploaded onto the website every day. Much of the content can be harmful or frivolous, but the website also provides unique opportunities for gospel ministry. That’s certainly been the case at The Master’s Seminary. Since joining in 2010, nearly 140,000 people have subscribed to the seminary’s channel. Each week, thousands watch chapels sermons, student testimonies, class lectures, and other content. We are thankful that amid so much darkness, the Lord is using the seminary’s YouTube page to introduce people to the seminary and edify the church.

CURRENT YOUTUBE SERIES

2025 Chapel Messages

Class of 2025 Senior Testimonies

“What

Every Preacher Needs to Know About . . .”

A SERIES WHERE TMS PROFESSORS EXPLORE THE KEY THEMES, CHARACTERS, AND PASSAGES OF ALL 66 BOOKS OF THE BIBLE.

Faculty Spotlight with

DR. JOSIAH GRAUMAN

HOW DID YOU COME TO FAITH IN CHRIST? WERE YOU RAISED IN A CHRISTIAN HOME OR DID YOU ENCOUNTER THE GOSPEL LATER IN LIFE?

I was blessed to be raised by godly parents in an evangelical Mennonite Christian home. We were part of the largest Mennonite church in the world in Reedley, California. I was taught the gospel in home and at church and came to faith in Christ at a young age.

YOU’VE FACED A SERIES OF MEDICAL CHALLENGES THROUGHOUT YOUR LIFE. TALK ABOUT HOW THOSE HAVE SHAPED YOU PHYSICALLY AND SPIRITUALLY.

The Lord only gives us good gifts. I’m absolutely convinced I would not be a Christian if not for my

physical condition. I certainly wouldn’t be a minister. I have a genetic condition called Loeys-Dietz syndrome. It’s pretty rare. It weakens the connective tissue in the body—tissue, ligaments, tendons, and arteries. They call it the ticking time bomb syndrome. From a pretty young age I was weaker than others around me and learned to start living each day as if it could be my last.

WHAT AFFECT HAVE THOSE MEDICAL CHALLENGES HAD ON YOUR MINISTRY?

One of the ways the Lord has used my medical challenges is to keep me in study. I’m very much a people person, but there are times when I have to stay in bed, studying. I don’t think I would be inclined to

do that as much if I was fully healthy. So, my LoeysDietz syndrome causes me to prepare more and that’s a blessing.

HOW DID YOU COME TO MINISTER PRIMARILY IN THE SPANISH SPEAKING WORLD?

I went through a lot of difficult medical issues in college. I had a couple strokes my junior and senior years at The Master’s University. I also had open heart surgery. Dr. Varner, my closest professor at the university, thought what I was going through would equip me to minister to those facing medical challenges so he suggested I become a chaplain. I applied at L.A. County hospital and was hired full-time right after graduation. I quickly learned I couldn’t talk to people because 87% of patients spoke Spanish only. So I learned Spanish. I even went to Mexico for a few months to immerse myself in the language. My commitment to Spanish speaking ministry eventually led me to Mexico City, where I ministered for several years.

SINCE COMING BACK FROM MEXICO CITY IN 2009, YOU’VE LED THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A SPANISHSPEAKING DEGREE AT TMS. TALK ABOUT HOW YOU’VE SEEN THAT PROGRAM GROW AND HOW IT’S SERVING THE SPANISH-SPEAKING WORLD. The earliest version of Spanish education here was actually a TMAI training center. We called it EDEX. The Lord blessed it almost immediately. We had 97 students join the first class in 2009. I was the only professor. I did a cohort model and taught 48 units, covering the classes I thought should be the most essential elements of an M.Div for lay pastors. Bible Survey, Theology, Historical Theology, Life of Jesus were some of the core classes. A couple years later, we started putting these courses online. We had 10,000 people sign up in 2011. Some of those guys wanted to come to campus and study at TMS so in 2015 we started the bilingual M.Div. Six men signed up. All are great men, serving the Lord today around the world. From there,

we were able to launch the Spanish M.M.B, which provides a full seminary education in Spanish here on campus.

THERE’S BEEN A SURGE OF INTEREST IN REFORMED THEOLOGY AND EXPOSITORY PREACHING IN RECENT YEARS ACROSS THE SPANISH SPEAKING WORLD. FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, WHAT’S THE MOST EXCITING, AND ENCOURAGING ASPECT OF THIS RESURGENCE?

When church history looks back at this moment in time, I think it will see that God used John MacArthur to bring expository preaching to the forefront of people’s ministries. Even those who disagree with John MacArthur’s theology will concede that the preacher should talk about the text. Before MacArthur, not many churches were doing expository preaching. That was certainly true in the Spanish speaking world. Because of Pastor John’s Spanish-speaking radio ministry, Gracia a Vosotros, he’s had a massive influence throughout Latin America so that now Spanish-speaking evangelicals of all stripes are doing expository preaching. That’s because of MacArthur and it’s a huge blessing to the church. There’s a lot of false doctrine in the Spanish-speaking world, but it’s a lot harder to hold onto false doctrine when you’re confronted with the text week-after-week. So the renewed emphasis on expository preaching is truly having a purifying effect on Spanish-speaking churches.

DR. JOSIAH GRAUMAN is the Dean of Spanish Education and Associate Professor of Bible Exposition at The Master’s Seminary. He also serves as a Spanish ministry elder at Grace Community Church.

2024 GRAD STATS

This summer, Nathan Myers, a member of the 2025 graduating class at TMS, will become the pastor of Highland Baptist Church in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania. The town of Parkesburg is 50 miles west of Philadelphia. Nathan saw Highland Baptist’s open pastoral position on the TMS job board, applied, and quickly connected with the leadership at Highland Baptist. He’s thrilled to go to a church that is committed to expository preaching. As Nathan takes up his ministry post, he knows there will be challenges in ministry, but he truly believes TMS has done its part to train him well. He knows his Bible better, and also knows that the mentors and friends from TMS are a resource he can depend on for years to come.

the MACARTHUR Master Class on Expository Preaching

In March of 2025, The MacArthur Center at The Master’s Seminary released the first of its kind, MacArthur Masterclass on Expository Preaching. In these 10-lectures, Austin Duncan, chair of the pastoral studies department at TMS, walks through how to prepare and preach any expository sermon. He does that by examining how Dr. MacArthur builds his messages, looking at the tools he’s used to preach effective expository sermons for more than a half-century. Anyone, from experienced pastors to aspiring students of the craft will benefit from this free masterclass.

EPISODE TITLES:

1. WHAT IS EXPOSITORY P REACHING?

2. WHO CAN BE AN EXPOSITOR?

3. ANALYZE THE TEXT 4. STRUCTURING THE SERMON

5. GETTING THE MEANING RIGHT 6. THE SERMON’S INTENT 7. OUTLINING THE SERMON

8. INTRODUCTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

9. ILLUSTRATIONS 10. APPLICATION

ANYONE CAN SIGN UP FOR THE MASTERCLASS AND WATCH ALL TEN LECTURES FREE OF CHARGE. TO REGISTER, GO TO MACARTHURCENTER.ORG/MASTERCLASS.

GLOBAL IMPACT THROUGH TMS SPANISH

164 current students in the M.M.B. Program

COUNTRIES

STUDENTS

M.Div. Online

STUDENTS

represented in our M.M.B. and M.Div programs. in the Spanish M.Div.

Countries Where a Spanish M.Div Graduate is Serving

UNITED STATES

MEXICO

COLOMBIA

SPAIN

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

COSTA RICA

ECUADOR

ARGENTINA

At The Master’s Seminary, the Spanish Education Department has a faculty of highly trained pastor-theologians dedicated to preparing men to teach the Scriptures around the world. By God’s grace, many of these men that are studying with us are from America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania, and are involved in our many programs. These programs include the Institute of Expositors (IDEX), Master in Biblical Ministry (MMB), and Master of Divinity (MDiv).

IDEX provides high-level education at an affordable cost that seeks to train current and future church leaders. This year alone more than 700 new courses were purchased. A highlight of this non-accredited program is the support that local pastors find to train their leaders at their own pace and in their own context. Currently, there are 5 local churches that we know of that are using IDEX in this way.

The MMB started back in Fall of 2017 with 40 students enrolling, surpassing our initial goal of 25. For Fall 2024 there was a total of 154 online students. Retention has been the focus of our efforts in this program, and recently, though personal contact with the students, we have been able to track and minimize the margin of drop-offs, which is a common problem in any online program.

The online MDiv Spanish program was prompted by the need to continue training at a higher level for our MMB graduates. As of Fall 2024 we have a total of 45 students. Out of these 45 students, six international and one local student were able to come to study on campus.

We seek to encourage Spanish-speaking men, through conferences and social media, to consider our Spanish program at TMS to further their knowledge in sound theology, expository preaching, and biblical philosophy of ministry. The faculty and staff have participated in more than 30 conferences throughout this year, equipping and encouraging our students and their churches. Locally, TMS in Spanish assists churches with training. We have developed two initiatives known as Intensivos Ministeriales, and Sociedad Teologica Cristiania (STC).

It is clear that the Spanish education department is making a big impact both locally and globally. Recently, four international students who graduated from our programs have been placed in churches around the world to supply the need of preachers and pastors with sound doctrine and biblical ministry.

TRAINING 10,000 PASTORS

Abera Ajula’s Big Responsibility and Glorious Calling in Ethiopia

For most men in Abera’s situation, the scholarship would have been a dream come true. It provided tuition and a visa, paving the way for him to attend a well-known American seminary. Abera’s denomination, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, assumed Abera would say yes. He was a young pastor in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The training would be invaluable not only for him, but also for the denomination, which had more than 13,000 churches and 12 million believers. Also, it was the United States. Most citizens of Ethiopia would have eagerly taken the opportunity to move there. Abera did, in fact, want to move to the United States. But he did not want to attend the seminary where he was receiving a scholarship and visa. If he was going to study in the United States, it was going to be at The Master’s Seminary. If he couldn’t make it there, he wasn’t going to come to the United States at all.

“I first heard about The Master’s Seminary around 1995” Abera said. “I don’t remember why, but my Bible college professor at the time gave me a copy of John MacArthur’s book The Anatomy of the Church (updated title is The Master’s Plan for the Church). In another class I had to read Introduction to Biblical Counseling, as well as Pastoral Ministry and Expository Preaching. I loved those books. They shaped my understanding of pastoral ministry. After reading those books, I started to pray about one day attending The Master’s Seminary. It was the only school I wanted to attend.”

Fast-forward six years and Abera is offered the scholarship to another seminary in the United States. He says no and continues to pastor in Ethiopia and pray about attending TMS. In the meantime, he gets married and his wife and him begin having children. Yet as his life becomes more and more grounded in his ministry in Ethiopia, he became more and more convinced that he needs to train at The Master’s Seminary.

“I prayed that the Lord would preserve John MacArthur’s ministry until I could sit under it” Abera said.

Through a series of remarkable providences, a friend of Abera’s met Dr. Irv Busenitz, the Executive Vice President of The Master’s Seminary at the time. When this friend mentioned Abera’s ongoing interest in TMS, Dr. Busenitz told him about a few recent scholarships that would likely make it feasible for Abera to attend. When Abera’s friend passed along Dr. Busenitz’s words, Abera immediately sent in an application and applied for financial aid. A few weeks letter, he received his acceptance letter and a financial aid package. Sixteen years after first reading a John MacArthur book, and eleven years after turning down an opportunity to study in the United States, Abera was finally going to attend his dream school, The Master’s Seminary.

Abera certainly had high hopes for his upcoming education at The Master’s Seminary and his time sitting under the teaching of John MacArthur at Grace Community Church. Thankfully, his experience exceeded his expectations.

“What I loved most about The Master’s Seminary was that each professor was not only an academic and theologian, he also was a pastor” Abera said. “Before I came to TMS, I loved to preach, but I wasn’t skilled as an expositor. Now I can not only faithfully explain the text, I have many opportunities to help others become more effective preachers.”

Now that Abera is back in his home country (he returned in 2018) he can confidently say that the education at TMS was worth the wait. In the last few years, he has taken on a key role in his denomination, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. He is responsible for pastoral training and education for the more than 13,000 pastors

in the denomination. So the training he received is being channeled through him to thousands of men, who in turn minister to millions.

“The feedback we receive from the pastors is wonderful” Abera said. “There is a massive hunger for pastoral training. Men want to know how to exposit the Bible.”

Because there’s such a high demand for the training Abera provides, he spends most of his days travelling across Ethiopia, meeting with pastors, leading seminars on preaching, helping men understand how to exposit the text.

“Preaching is mandatory” Abera said. “Paul makes that clear in 1 Timothy 4:1 when he charges Timothy to ‘preach the Word.’ In Ethiopia, thousands of pastors in our denomination have been called into the ministry, they have a conviction to preach, but they have no training. No one has shown them how to rightly divide the word of Truth.”

Abera loves his current ministry. He also knows that, alone, he cannot meet the extraordinary need for training. For that reason, he has identified six young men in Ethiopia that have the conviction and competence to start a TMAI training center in the country. But they need the same training Abera received. He’s praying that in the coming years, all six will be able to attend The Master’s Seminary in Los Angeles. When those six men have received the same in-person, dynamic education he did, they will be ready to become the first generation of faculty at the training center. For Abera, it’s the most strategic way to raise up the next generation of faithful expositors across Ethiopia. He is thrilled at what’s ahead. He is prayerful. And he is thankful for all he’s received through The Master’s Seminary.