April 8th, 2010 by Jamie Knowles
Have you ever had a class that talked about things you thought you would forget about, but you thought back on it after the class was over? It’s second semester, and today I started thinking about the American Literature class I took last semester.
We had been reading a good number of works from Nathanial Hawthorne, such as “The Blithdale Romance,” and “The Minister’s Black Veil”.
Most of Hawthorne’s writing is about sin and, more specifically, secret sin. Like in “The Minister’s Black Veil,” we all wear invisible veils that hide the sin within. We think because others do not know about this sin, no one knows. We forget there is one that will always know – one that will see beyond the veil that we put on in hopes no one will find out.
I never thought Literature would impact me as much as it did this year. The class has challenged me to think deep and more biblically than I could ever imagine. My teacher, Dr. Hicks, challenged my thought process almost to the extreme, and I loved it.
It is my hope you to will find a class that will challenge your thinking in ways you could never imagine just as I did.
Have a wonderful unveiled day,
Jamie ~ Proverbs 14:15
Tags: American Literature, BBC Classes, Classes, Professors
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February 23rd, 2010 by Jamie Knowles
If I had to list the godly women who have influenced me, and pushed me forward in my walk with Christ, I have no doubt that Faye Moore would be on that list! Faye is a great woman of God, and she brings all the passion possible to her role as a counseling professor on campus. I am taking her class Women Counseling Women, and it is transforming how I view myself and my role in ministry in an incredible way.
Until I began to learn from Faye, I never realized how important understanding ourselves would be in order for us to minister to others. I guess I always thought that ministry was simply helping others. I never made the connection that our advice to others is so intimately tied to our personal walk with God. It should have been a no brainer, but for some reason, I missed it…
I am beginning to learn that how I view God (and how I-think-He-thinks-of-me) determines how I view others, and that I can only love others to the extent that I understand His love. The more I understand just how much God loves me, the more I will love others. Maybe these things seem simple, but it’s the simple things that make us who we are.
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February 15th, 2010 by Jamie Knowles
In the beginning of the semester, I wrote about my goal of Personal Discipline. Well, that’s being tested more than I had anticipated. For the class The Church’s Ministry, a group of individuals are selected to be small group leaders, they call us facilitators. I was happy to be chosen to be a facilitator, but less than happy to know that Friday mornings I had to be in class at 7am!
When the alarm blares in my face at 6:30, I keep reminding myself “It’s part of discipline, part of discipline…” The problem is – at 6:30 am on a Friday morning, the last thing I care about is discipline!!
Thankfully I have made it to both of the 7 am classes, and hopefully, that will continue to be the case. But, as our professor Dwight Peterson reminds us during that 7am class, “BBC is a ministry leadership training school.” Of all places to learn to develop discipline, this is it!
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January 25th, 2010 by Dan Nichols
What typically happens when your teacher catches you goofing off in class? In most cases your teacher will either throw a very long glare from the front of the classroom or call you out in the middle of the lecture. Normally you wouldn’t expect your teacher to take you out for lunch after you’ve been goofing off during the lecture.
Mine did.
Greek III is the kind of class where you start to delve into the more minute details of language study, and during one particular class hour I started to move into “ADD” mode. I don’t usually have an attention deficit, but once we started talking about “aspect” and “aktionsart” in relation to the Greek verb – my attention plummeted. This sudden plunge of attention to Dr. Decker’s lecture eventually culminated in reaching for my iTouch during the lecture (again, not characteristic for me at all).
My Greek professor Dr. Rodney J. Decker is a genius. You can find his Greek textbooks on Amazon.com. He knows Macbooks better than anyone I know. He wrote his doctoral dissertation for D.A. Carson, one of the top theological scholars in America today. And he can also spot a student using his iTouch during his lectures.
Dr. Decker calmly said my name once. I looked up sheepishly, and put my iTouch back in my pocket. Dr. Decker said no more about the incident until a few days later. I was hanging out with a friend of mine in the dorm one night when I got a new e-mail in my inbox. The sender line said “Rod Decker,” and I thought that I was about to receive a polite but firm e-mail of positive reprimand. This was not the case.
Instead, Dr. Decker told me how uncharacteristic it was for me to not pay attention in class. He asked if there was anything wrong and offered for me to reply with any questions I might have – which I did. I was honest with him and told him that I had been struggling to understand why an M.Div. degree was considered profitable for pastors. I didn’t quite understand. His response was an invitation to lunch that following Wednesday.
Dr. Decker took me out to Quizno’s and answered my questions. He asked me what God was doing in my life and what I perceived to be my future in ministry. That was how I was rewarded for goofing off in class, something I never plan on doing again… maybe.
Tags: ADD, Classes, Forgiveness, Learning, Professors
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January 24th, 2010 by Jamie Knowles
One of my favorite Professors at BBC is Dr. Don McCall. Those of us in his program affectionately call him “P.D.” or “Pastor Don.” I had the privilege of serving in ministry with PD during my Freshman Year of College, and there is one phrase he repeated to us over and over that has stayed with me.
“Expectations destroy gratefulness.”
What does that mean? Well, exactly what it says. It is no more simple or complicated than it sounds.
“Expectations destroy gratefulness.”
I have thought about that a lot this last week. See the phrase has been so cemented in my brain this last year, and I have used it when admonishing friends, or the teens in my youth group. But never before had I really allowed the concept to apply to my own life.
“Expectations destroy gratefulness…”
Finally, I am beginning to understand just how my expectations of people, or classes, or ministries have caused me to demand certain things out of my experiences. When, the reality of the situation is, God is the one who has sovereignly ordered my life and my experiences to teach me what He wants.
Why does it always take me so long to catch those things? I don’t know, but thankfully God has me here where I can be under the influence of people like Pastor Don. So, thanks PD!
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January 22nd, 2010 by Jamie Knowles
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ~ George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905, US (Spanish-born) philosopher (1863 – 1952)
This year I am taking American History II. My teacher Miss Cagley is one of the reasons I love history so much. Honestly! For me history is one of the greatest subjects that one could ever learn. If we did not have our past, we would not know where to go from here. The past is the starting point of the decisions that will be made in the present.
Now some think that they cannot learn anything from History. I disagree. History is filled with advancements and with failures that we can learn from. One of the biggest and funniest lessons to be learned from history is to never try a land invasion of Russia. Okay you might think well duh of course, but think of how many times it has been tried.
Napoleon. Hitler. Both tried. Both failed. Miserably I might add.
However, my point is no matter how silly it may seem we can learn from history. If we do not glance back every once in a while how will we know not to make the same mistakes?
I encourage you to get into history and find something new that you can take with you in the present. For me? Well let’s just say that my lesson from history is there is nothing new under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9- “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”
Tags: American History, BBC Classes, Professors
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January 21st, 2010 by Jamie Knowles
The great aim of education is not knowledge but action. ~ Herbert Spencer
English philosopher (1820 – 1903)
How true is that quote? In my opinion, it is exactly right. The reason why I am here is not just so I can learn all that there is, but I am here so that I may learn how to take that information and put it into action.
What good is knowledge if we do not know how to use it and what good is it if we know how to use it but don’t. That is why I love my professors here at BBC. They are first giving me knowledge then they teach me how to use that knowledge. Moreover, they even go as far as giving me opportunities to use what I have learned.
My Theology class this year is the perfect example. I am taking Theology IV with Dr. Cragoe and his wife. I just love the class. Today we looked deeper into Baptist distinctives and as the class progressed, he gave us examples of other churches’ standings on the Bible and how church is to run. He then asked us to look for the differences and for the Biblical inaccuracies of the statements.
This will help me in the future as I search for a church to settle down in or even how to communicate the Gospel to someone who wants no part of it. This knowledge will also help me in every aspect of my life, but only if I actually use it.
Training men and women to put into action what they know – that’s BBC. That’s one of the many reasons that I love it here.
Is there a class that actually challenges you to use the knowledge you have? Better yet, do you take up the challenge when it arrives?
Tags: Baptist distinctives, BBC Classes, knowledge, Professors, Theology
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