Mentored From Afar – Online Seminary, Semester 1

John, , , , , ,

In this age of technology, we have unprecedented abilities to see and send information quickly and across great distances. While this of course has the potential to be abused and can be simply one more avenue for sin in our lives, it can also be a wonderful vehicle for learning.

As a preacher, I am amazed at how easy it is now to sit under the preaching of spiritual giants, both living and dead. Again, there is a potential for temptation here. For example, it would be far too easy to simply take sermons we here, tweak them, and call them our own. This would a shame. First, it would be deceitful to a congregation that believes we spent the time necessary in the study to craft such a sermon. Secondly, though, it would mean that neither we nor our congregations are getting the fed the way they should. The sermons of others can never really be our own. Moreover, we will not grow the way we should if we are not dedicating ourselves to the hard, but joyful task of being in the Word.

Despite the potential for sin, there is also amazing opportunities to have more mature and experienced men in the ministry mentor us younger men from afar. By podcasting and downloading the sermons of faithful expositors, we can see how to build a preaching ministry. We can see what the fruit of years of labor in the field of ministry looks like.

Furthermore, we can benefit more directly from teaching on pastoral ministry. Hearing the wisdom of those that have had biblically successful ministries will have much to say to us about practical issues in ministry.

But what about the basis for pastoral ministry? Supporting any good minister should be a solid understanding of the Bible and its theology. Today more than ever, through the internet, we have access to great teaching from scholars and teachers; the kind of information you could only get by attending a seminary.

Many will not have the opportunity to be mentored by an elder minister, or go to a seminary. Even for those who attended seminary, the learning shouldn’t stop. No one learns all they can! So, I intend to cull from the internet the best lectures, talks, seminars, sermons, etc that address both theology and practical issue of ministry. The idea being that for those that desire to continue learning, growing as pastors there will be a place to essentially attend seminary online.

Every ‘semester’ will include resources on Theology, Ministry, Personal Growth, and Church History (often the topics in each of these categories will be related). Beyond the free audio links will also be suggested resources for further study (usually a book list). Typically, a real seminary semester will consist of 3-4 classes that require 3 hours per week. That’s about 108-144 hours of lecture over a 12 week time period. While there will not be that much material listed in this ‘online seminary,’ nor should it take you an entire semester to go through (unless you choose to go slowly), there will be enough that one will likely have to spread it out over a couple weeks (not a day or two!).

While I will not cover every conceivable topic, I have tried to pick ones that seem to be more needed and relevant for today. I hope you find these things helpful!

THEOLOGY 1 – God’s Word

Audio

    Books

    MINISTRY 1 – Preaching and Teaching

    Audio Resources

    Books

    PERSONAL GROWTH 1 – Communion with God

    Audio

    Books

    CHURCH HISTORY 1 – Early Church

    Audio

    Books

    Published by John

    4 Comments

    1. Pingback: Online Seminary « DEAD THEOLOGIANS SOCIETY

    2. if you’re trying to get the loftness audio from sovereign grace (meeting with God), just click on the first link and you will be able to get to the others. for some reason, i have tried like ten times and i cannot get the links – any links! – to work on the other listings. i’ve never had this problem before i’m not sure what’s going on or how to fix it.

      Reply
    3. Pingback: Resources for your spiritual education « By His grace - For His glory
    4. Pingback: Resources for your spiritual education « By His grace - For His glory

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