This Is Bible College

April 29th, 2010 by Dan Nichols

Naps are always needed, but usually dorm life keeps you up. Play some beach volleyball. Stay up till 6:00 AM working. Go to class from 6:30 AM till 9:00 AM. Sleep till 2:45ish. Go to meetings, meetings, and more meetings. Pick on the freshmen as much as possible.

Learn some Greek – talk some end times. Learn some evangelism – talk some church education. Hangout at your friend’s house – watch a movie. Watch your school’s baseball team play at the nearby stadium. Lead worship after curfew. Go work in the office for a little bit. Spend time in prayer.

Miss out on the cafeteria food you already paid for and eat Chinese buffet food that costs a lot just because you want to. A date here, a date there. Homework everywhere. Agendas, meetings, good conversations, dumb conversations, social overload… accomplishments, failures, lessons learned, friendships made, money lost, life goes on and life is good.

THIS IS BIBLE COLLEGE.

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Delightful

April 28th, 2010 by Catie Prinzing

This spring has been a little chilly, but there are these rare and shining days that are impressed into my memory forever. These blissful, 73 degree afternoons when the sunlight glimmers against the ripples of the pond and the warmth of the campus atmosphere is actually tangible. Students can be found reading by the waterfront, singing with guitars by the cafe, and playing football on the quad. The campus is simply captivating. Nowhere else have I noticed the vivid pink of young tree blossoms, the soft sunlight flashing through the windblown treetops, and the coolness of shaded grass between my toes.

I can walk along the sidewalk with my flip-flops and friends, forgetting the stress and demands of class (if only for an hour).  I cherish these times, and the loveliness of it makes the winter worth the contrast.  

Sometimes I neglect to be grateful for such afternoons, while it is the Heavenly Father who creates them and allows us to enjoy them. I cannot help but praise Him with blessings like these.

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Loving God

April 27th, 2010 by Dan Nichols

In his book Crazy Love, Pastor Francis Chan claims, “When we love God because we feel we should love Him, instead of genuinely loving out of our true selves, we have forgotten who God really is.” He goes on to say, “In our world, where hundreds of things distract us from God, we have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of Him.” 

I find myself falling short of this charge from Pastor Chan – over and over again. Loving God is not something we chase after only out of obligation. We love God because He first loved us – yes, but that is not the only reason we love God. We should love God with mind, soul, body, spirit, heart, will, emotion, intellect… you name it. All of it – dedicated to loving God. Completely.

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Seeker Sensitive vs. Seeker Sensible

April 26th, 2010 by Dan Nichols
Parker Hill Community Church has been my local church for almost four years now, and I’ve been a member for almost two years. When I walked onto BBC’s campus as a freshman, Parker Hill was called by many different labels. “Emergent.” “Catholic.” “Park-and-Chill.” Those labels haven’t stuck as well as the “seeker-sensitive” label has over the years. I recently heard Pastor Mark Driscoll define the term “seeker-sensitive” by bringing another term to the table: “seeker-sensible.” Here are his basic definitions:

Seeker-Sensitive = bowing to the whims of American culture, giving people what they want, and avoiding the hard truths of God’s Word.

Seeker-Sensible = refusing to bow to the whims of culture but communicating the hard truths of God’s Word in a way that connects with a 2010 culture.

Parker Hill Community Church is seeker-sensible rather than seeker-sensitive, and Saturday’s message is the perfect illustration. We are in the middle of a sermon series called “Welcome to my Dysfunctional Family.” The Clarks Summit area is a suburban culture with typical family units – so the sermon series connects with the sub-culture of Clarks Sumimt. We are studying the stories of Jacob, Lot, Samson, Eli, and Timothy.

Tonight’s message was on Samson – we studied passages like Judges 14:1-3 which says, ”Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, ‘I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.’ His father and mother replied, ‘Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?’ But Samson said to his father, ‘Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.’”

I would imagine that a seeker-sensitive church would just stop at these three verses – give a point – and move on – because verse 4 of Judges 14 is a very hard verse. It says, “(His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)”

Parker Hill refuses to be seeker-sensitive in our teaching because we deal with hard passages like this verse. Pastor Mark Stuenzi’s point on verse 4 was this: “God’s sovereignty is greater than any mistake in our (kids) lives.” Seeker-sensitive churches would probably skip verse four. Seeker-sensible churches teach the truth of verse four, but they communicate it with wisdom knowing that we are called to be wise communicators in the middle of a 2010 culture. And the conclusion of the message was a review of the fact that Jesus Christ died on a Roman cross and rose from the dead to reconcile men and women to God. Jesus Christ is the only hope that any dysfunctional family has in this life.

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How He Loves Us

April 8th, 2010 by Dan Nichols

David Crowder*Band is my favorite “Christian” group in the music industry. They’ve popularized this song, and I hope it’s an encouragement to you:

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me.
Oh, how He loves us so
Oh, how He loves us
How He loves us so…

So we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If His grace is an ocean we’re all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way…

That he loves us,
Woah, how He loves us
Woah, how He loves us
Woah, how He loves

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For or Against?

February 5th, 2010 by Dan Nichols

What are Christians known for? Are we known by what we promote or what we are against? This summer I read a book entitled Lord, Save Us from Your Followers. The basic premise of the book is that we Christians have become more infamous than influential in the eyes of the world around us. We believe in the love of Christ, but we tend to come across as the most hateful people in society. We stand for life in Christ, but our energy is either lacking or misused. We stand for freedom, but we can tend to create so many rules that no one is free.

How do we deal with this image?

At Baptist Bible College, students want to be known by what we stand  for and not only by what we oppose. BBC students are trained to be lovers of wisdom. We want to be known as compassionate people as well – not simply for evangelistic trophies. Our compassion should flow out of our deep love of people made in God’s image whether they believe in Christ or not. BBC students are trained to be effective communicators of God’s Truth as well. We stand for God’s Word and the authority that it gives to our lives. BBC students also desire to be known as hard workers – students who give all we have in order to help our employers and glorify our God. These are only a few examples of the training we receive in living as disciples of Christ who are known by what we stand  for.

Follow Christ in such a way that people know what you stand for – not only what you oppose.

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Kenyan Excursions: An Interview

January 21st, 2010 by Dan Nichols

Summer Kinder works in the Admissions Department at BBC. She attended Bowling Green State University and Ohio State University before arriving at BBC in 2001. Summer joined BBC  Admissions in 2008 and has loved every minute of it! She enjoys being involved in student ministries with both teens and elementary-age students. She recently returned from a missions trip to Kenya, and I wanted her to share a few thoughts on her trip.

DN: Summer, tell us when and why you traveled to Africa.

SK: December 26-January 3rd – I went with my local church, Parker Hill Community Church (www.parkerhill.org). It’s only 1.8 miles from BBC’s campus. We partnered with the 410 Bridge (www.410bridge.org) – an organization that partners American churches with churches in Kenya.

DN: What were some of your goals? Did you accomplish them?

SK: Our primary goals were to build relationships and help with school projects. We worked with Kenyans to make sidewalks and level the floor in the elementary room, but it was not a very “work-oriented” trip. We did whatever they needed and spent time building relationships with the Kenyans during the times that would normally seem “unproductive.”

DN: How did BBC prepare you for a trip like this?

SK: BBC helped me develop a heart of compassion for those in need and for ministry in general. Education courses helped me interact with kids better. Courses like Defending the Faith and Proclaiming the Gospel helped me interact with Kenyan believers and discuss our faith more intelligently.

DN: Are you going back to Kenya?

SK: If the Lord allows, YES!

Baptist Bible College encourages students to take short-term missions trips. We provide short-term trips for students during the summer, and we also encourage students to work with their local churches’ short-term trips as well. Learn more about our Missions program here: http://www.bbc.edu/college/academics/program_missions.asp.

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