Weekly Email: June 8, 2026
We are now in Week 2 of the Summer term. This week I want to share a few reflections on time, change, and what keeps you going when the road is long. I also want to tell you about a way the ministry you're already doing in your church might count toward your degree.
In this email:
- Student Tip: Time Marches On
- Program News: Earn Credit for Ministry You're Already Doing
Student Tip: Time Marches On
As I write this, I'm sitting in the Louisville airport waiting to board a flight (currently a 43 minute delay) to Orlando for the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting. I'd been thinking about what to write to you this week. The thing that kept resurfacing was simple…time marches on.
This morning I listened to an old 90s country song, Tracy Lawrence's "Time Marches On." He states the obvious, as many country songs do, "The only thing that stays the same is everything changes, everything changes." It took me right back to being sixteen or seventeen, sitting in high school, already struck by how fast life moves. Now I'm thirty-eight, sitting in an airport, thinking the very same thing.
Part of why it's on my mind is that my father-in-law passed away a week and a half ago, after a five-year battle with esophageal cancer. Seasons like this slow you down and make you reflect, on your own life and on the people around you. For me this week, that reflection also kept turning to you, to my own years as a student, and to the graduates who walked just a couple of months ago.
For all of us, the one constant is change. Think about the graduates who walked this spring. Many of them started this degree as a family of two and finished as a family of three, four, or even five. Some began single and are now married. Some came in with a house full of kids and finished as empty nesters.
You know better than anyone that this is a long, hard degree. Over the years it takes, you will go through far more than coursework. Some of you will welcome new life. Some of you will walk through loss. There will be hardships you never saw coming. Maybe you're in one of those seasons right now.
So this morning I want to encourage you to keep pressing on and to reflect again on the why behind your degree. Why did you start this in the first place? As we move into summer, it might be a good week to sit down and write out a few of those reasons.
What are you equipping yourself to do? Maybe you want to counsel the people in your church more faithfully, to be a steady voice for those who are hurting or walking through something hard, trusting that Scripture is equipping you for every good work. Maybe you're a lead pastor who has realized your preaching needs deeper roots, here to better equip your congregation for gospel work. Maybe you teach a Sunday school class or lead a small group, week after week. Or maybe it's your everyday job, where people keep asking questions you can't yet answer. This degree is bringing you face to face with hard questions and harder realities.
Whatever it is, hold on to it. That why will carry you through the difficult stretches and through the weeks you want to give up.
And if God has called you to this, He will equip you for it. That doesn't mean the road gets easy or that the challenges disappear. It means that by His sustaining power, the Holy Spirit will guide you and give you what you need for the way forward.
This week, thousands will gather in Orlando, many of them carrying seminary degrees that cost years of work and sacrifice. You are part of that same story. Right where you are, in your own context, you are being equipped for faithful gospel ministry.
True formation, whether it's your character or your foundations for ministry, is usually built on the long journey, not the short and quick road. I was listening to The Everyday Pastor podcast the other day and they had H.B. Charles on it. He was reflecting on ministry and 2 Timothy 4:5 when he said, "We don't get any credit for how well we start. Anyone can start fast. The question is, can you finish strong?" The same is true of the degree in front of you.
So stay strong. Not by your own strength, but through the Spirit's power. Remember why you started. Put in the work. And press on.
Program News: Earn Credit for Ministry You're Already Doing
Earlier this year we launched our new Church Partnerships, our effort to come alongside local churches and partner with them in ministry, specifically through theological education. We've been encouraged by how many churches have wanted to be part of it.
One piece of this has gotten a lot of students excited, the Ministry Apprenticeship Program, or MAP. If you're already serving in your church, whether in an internship, a residency, or a part-time or full-time ministry role, MAP lets that supervised work count for academic credit toward your degree. You serve under a qualified supervisor who guides and evaluates you through the term. That ministry becomes part of your education instead of something competing with it.
By default, MAP counts as elective credit. But many churches are already training and mentoring in the practical areas at the heart of ministry, things like preaching, evangelism, leadership, counseling, and missions. Where that's the case, we can often apply your work toward core courses, not just electives.
You can read how it works on the Ministry Apprenticeship Program page. Fill out the short form there and our Director of Church and Alumni Engagement will reach out to you.
Quick Reference of Upcoming Term Dates:
- Current Week: Summer, Week 2 (June 8-15)
- Fall 1 Term Begins: August 3, 2026
- Fall 2 Term Begins: October 5, 2026
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