It was great to hear his story and how he came to the seminary. Even more so, however, it was thrilling to hear about his vision for the institution and heart for ministry. He truly is a forward-thinking Christian leader who recognizes the need for contextualizing the gospel, while remaining orthodox and rooted in historical ecclesiology. He is also massively convinced of the need for churches to be missional in their approach to culture, not as a means of simple relevancy, but in obedience to the teachings of Jesus and participation of His kingdom-movement.

Anyway, as the summer moves on and school draws closer, I am thankful and happily convinced of my move and new chapter…

-jeremy

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I knew I was going to spend at least a year back home with my family in Grand Rapids, so I would have started my program from home and then moved. And while Gordon-Conwell is certainly a great school and would even have offered some advantage over GRTS, I realized that part of graduate school experience is the relationships with professors and other students, sitting in class, and the general dialogue and interaction that happens in an academic setting. That coupled with a realization that it was God who was drawing me back to Grand Rapids longterm helped me make my decision.

So this August I will begin a Master of Divinity program, with a concentration either in Pastoral Studies or Church Planting. I am also considering doing a dual program and add a Master of Arts in Historical Theology. Doing so would basically add another semester, taking me until the end of 2010, and give me more rounded, historical rootedness in my theological studies that I don’t think I would get in straight MDiv and pastoral studies.

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