Ice cream! Everybody
loves good ice cream after supper, but where should we go if we want to make it
a special treat? Walmart, right? Of course, Walmart has ice cream. Walmart has
everything (and we love Walmart because it has everything); however, when we
have a hankering for some really good
ice cream, Walmart is not where our minds venture. Most likely, it’s Coldstone
Creamery, Marble Slab, Baskin Robbins, or that special place that does ice
cream like nobody else. Why? We’d all agree that these places specialize in ice
cream, and they just do ice cream better! They can focus their energies on preparing
that ice cream in a way that no one else can prepare it and on making your
experience the best you can possibly have. A significant amount of their
valuable resources are invested in finding out what people need in a specific
area of life and then making or doing it better than anyone else.
In case my example is from substantial personal girth alone and doesn’t
resonate completely with everyone, another example also comes to mind. In each
branch of the military, there is a group of soldiers known as the “Special
Forces.” These men and women are specifically trained to accomplish the most
dangerous and difficult missions that our government will assign. The Special
Forces units get the same basic training that all of the other soldiers get,
but additionally, they receive highly specialized training that prepares them
physically, mentally, and emotionally for the worst possible conditions and
scenarios they could encounter in the heat of battle. This specialized training
puts them far beyond the average soldier and gives them and their country a
distinct advantage in the face of war.
It is this same type of specialization—from
my examples of overly simplistic ice cream to the critically important Special
Forces of our military—that makes the traditional Bible college intrinsically
the best place to prepare full-time servants for the harvest. The traditional
Bible college does include a general education component that rounds out the
knowledge base of each student so they can adequately minister to people in of
all walks of life, but it is in the training after the “Gen. Ed.” classes where
the depth of a Bible college really shines. Please understand, not every
student training for ministry can or should attend a traditional Bible college,
but it is an outstanding choice to prepare them for a lifetime of battle
against Satan and his powerful army. Training in a traditional Bible college is
not for the faint of heart! Just like the Special Forces require rigorous
training to prepare the soldier, a traditional Bible college must work equally
hard to equip its soldiers for the most important battle with eternal
implications—the battle for souls! The Bible college setting must create an
attitude of total abandonment and life patterns that produce a self-sacrificing
mentality for the sake of the Cross.
The traditional Bible college does not have to spread its resources out to
train young people to make money, argue law, practice medicine, build
buildings, or a host of other good things. It only has to focus on one thing,
which in Northland’s case is preparing the next generation of servant-leaders
for Great Commission living. Many parents send their children to Bible
college for the first year or two since the core curriculum is similar in any
bachelor’s program of study, resting assured of a good Bible base for their
child’s education while not falling behind in becoming a doctor, lawyer, or
some other good church layman. The traditional Bible college is thankful for
sister colleges with liberal arts emphases that are called to train laymen to a
host of worthy and godly occupations, and gladly it helps point the students
that come for a couple years of solid Bible grounding toward a Christian
liberal arts education. But specifically, the traditional Bible college model
works from a position of strength in ministry training, and because of
specialization, it proves to be an exceptional place to prepare for a lifetime
of ministry.
Secondly,
the traditional Bible college curriculum
is designed to fully prepare the student to handle God’s Word effectively and
efficiently. The model is designed so that every student completing a four-year
bachelor’s degree has taken coursework covering every book of the Bible. Another
place you may see this model today is in the Master of Divinity programs around
the country; in today’s culture, many schools are even considering a lesser
path for the MDiv student, suggesting it is too long of a program to come out
with just a master’s degree. A full, comprehensive view of God’s Word is
necessary to build a solid hermeneutic and prepare the future minister for the
battlefield that he will face. The traditional Bible college curriculum is
specifically designed as specialized training that is necessary for successful
spiritual warfare.
Finally, the
atmosphere of the traditional
Bible college is unique and unattainable at a liberal arts or any other
institution of higher learning. If you have not seen this model, there is no
way to adequately describe a place of single-minded, ministry preparation in
large numbers. Iron-sharpening-iron, life-touching-life, out-of-your-comfort-zone
discipleship, and ground-swelling passion for ministry are just a few ways it
has been described. Imagine a single-minded faculty and staff who are willing
to sacrifice to serve in a place that prepares only ministry-minded students—the
kind of student that won’t land high paying jobs and give big support checks as
alumni. Imagine that faculty and staff having students in their homes and
offices on a regular basis for discipleship purposes. Imagine a student body
that sincerely hungers for God’s Word and readily talks about being willing to sacrifice
all for the cause of Christ.
You might ask, “How important is this atmosphere in training the next generation of servant-leaders for
Great Commission living?” To further develop the specialization concept, envision
a third grade math class of twenty students who are taking their first shot at
fractions. Undoubtedly, there are eight students who pick it up on the first
pass and are ready to move on. Those eight proceed to teeter on the brink of
boredom as you revise your plan of attack and make a second attempt at getting
the concept into each of their minds. Now, after a diligent second pass, you
have twelve to fifteen students who have a decent grasp on the broad idea. Next,
you assign seatwork, practicing the newly found skill, so that you can spend
individual time with the five to eight students who still sit with their eyes
glazed over, wondering how they will ever use this meaningless tidbit of
knowledge called fractions. You get the idea, and you’re likely familiar with
AP (Advanced Placement) classes, designed to take the sharp kids, who get it
right away, and propel them to greater heights than they could achieve in a
regular classroom. While not a perfect example, in some aspects, the
traditional Bible college also uses this model. It attempts to take the
Christian student and spiritually equip and propel them farther than would be possible
in a typical, liberal arts setting. In a traditional Bible college, you may see
almost two percent of new students figure out in the first week or two that
they really don’t fit. These kids stick out like a sore thumb and feel very
uncomfortable until they decide to pack their bags and move to some other place
of training—not necessarily out of God’s will for them. Remaining are the
students that are ready, willing, and open to learn . . . the so-to-speak “AP”
ministers-in-training. This group is whom the traditional Bible college is
called to train. The few, the elite, the persistent, the unrelenting, those purposing
to live a life extraordinary . . . such a model is not designed to be big.
It is designed, just like those specialized ice cream shops or Special Forces
of the military, to humbly do purposeful ministry training—reassuringly better at
what they do than anyone else!
After being
very well-trained in a Christian liberal arts model, receiving specialized
training in a secular state college model, and now working in a traditional
Bible college model, I have been completely sold on the traditional Bible
college being the intrinsically best model for ministry training. The model
does not come without its unique set of challenges, but God is gracious to
allow places like Northland to continue to exist. Please pray with us that God
will preserve and raise up many traditional Bible colleges to specialize in
training those who are called to serve in the fields—across the street or
around the world—that are ready for harvest.
Dr. Bob M. Wood, Jr.
Chief Operating Officer
Northland Mission, Inc.