Weekly Email Archive
Every Monday, I send a note filled with encouragement and/or study tips, updates about our program, and a devotional from our faculty to online students. My hope is that these emails will support and inspire you on your academic journey here at Southern. - Brian Renshaw
At our new student orientation, Dr. Vickers was asked what advice he had for seminary students. He answered by asking about the two greatest commandments and then connecting the second one to your calendar. When you don't study when you said you would, the work moves later in the week and crowds out the very people you're being trained to serve.
Knowledge and wisdom are not the same thing but they are closely related. Seminary has a way of tempting you toward pride, whether you realize it or not. God has called you to learn these things so you can teach and lead his church, so pray that he would keep you humble along the way.
Two years and 104 emails in, what you've taught me is that every situation is unique and the struggles underneath are remarkably consistent. What gets people to graduation is resilience, showing up week after week. Seminary is hard and you're not alone in that.
Our limits expand one comfortable decision at a time. Good decisions made without a plan to get back can leave you somewhere you never intended to be. A word for students heading into the fall semester.
You can watch every video out there on how to ride a bike and it will only get you so far. Some things you only learn by doing. Seminary works the same way.
Reflections on the mercy of God from Psalm 103 and Spurgeon, and a question about where you're running on your own strength. Plus a look at Preview Courses.
One of your fellow online students tested studying with his phone in another room and the results were hard to argue with, plus a first look at this fall's electives.
What editing photos taught me about how easily we deceive ourselves in our studies, and the simple habits that keep you honest. Plus two new fully online master's degrees from Boyce College worth passing along.
What real excellence looks like in seminary and why your worth was never the thing you were studying to earn.
What the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history says about pressing on in seminary, one small decision at a time. Plus, library research guides to jump-start your next paper."
On time, change, and what keeps you going when a seminary degree feels long.
You are not studying alone. Celebrating two recent graduates from our online learning office, and the team whose work makes the program possible.
You are more than a screen and a heads up on fall/winter sabbaticals
Its not about your ability and a recroding from the Jenkins Center
Wisdom in seminary plus SBTS Preview Day and Graduation
Planning for tomorrow and fall experiential modular registration
You’re already in it and complete guide to online options for students
The Bob Gibson rule
Reflections on an essay from 1942 and introducing Live Seminary classes
Where is your heart and announcing church partnerships at Southern
Facing death and resetting your priorities and SBTS Preview Day on April 17
Thinking about the environment where you study and Dr. Shawn Wright’s faculty address
Wisdom is greater than recognition and Boyce Preview Day 2026
Studying efficiently to protect your time for others in your life and registration is open for the Preaching Workshop on March 23-25
The long-haul of seminary and Dr. Mohler’s new course