This
week the ACTS DMin in Preaching Program installed a new dean - Rev. Dr.
Gennifer Brooks of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. As part of
the program I brought before Dr. Brooks a charge from the students. Here
is my charge:
Dr.
Brooks, Dr. Edgerton, Bishop Satterlee, esteemed guests, visitors, friends and
students, it is an honor to be a part of this momentous occasion with you. I thank God for the grace and mercy and
blessings of this day. My name is
Patrick Schultz. I am a third year
student here and on behalf of the students – Dean, I give to you this charge.
Some
years ago I was asked the question by Dr. Ellsworth Kalas, “what arrogance
drives us preachers if we feel we have a right to take twenty or twenty-five
minutes of time from thirty or one hundred or four hundred people and leave
them with no new insight, no quickening of mind or spirit to repay them for the
time they have invested?”
This
is a question not only appropriate for the preacher, it is entirely appropriate
for the ACTS Doctor of Ministry in Preaching Program as well.
Dean
Brooks on behalf of the students, both now and to come, who attend from parts
of the world, both near and far, you are asked, “How is God directing you and
the leaders of this program so that, as your students take hours and days and
weeks of their time here, they leave with new insight, quickening of mind and
spirit, to repay the time and money they have invested?”
You
are charged on behalf of all your students to ask yourself this question each
time you hire a new teacher, evaluate a class or an advisor, or introduce a new
curriculum. You are charged to ask
yourself this question each time you receive a new wave of students. You are charged on behalf of the churches and
communities and families these preachers serve to continue developing a program
that repays the investment that has been made.
You
are charged to continue moving this program in such a way that when you stand
before God, God will have no choice but to say – well done good and faithful
child. You have helped shape faithful
and better preachers out of your students.
Praise
God.
No comments:
Post a Comment