Don't call me doctor

It has been over a year since I completed my studies at Crown Seminary and earned my Master's in Ministry degree. Time sure does fly when you are having fun (and even when you aren't...). I really didn't think I would be longing to hit the books again for quite a while, but I was wrong. It's kind of strange the way I have gotten my education. I graduated in 1990 with an A.S. then I graduated in 2003 with my B.S. and in 2014 with my Master's, so they have come every ten years. But this time I just have a sense of urgency to get back to it. So a few weeks ago I applied and was accepted at Andersonville Theological Seminary in their Th.D program in Pastoral Theology. The only problem was that I didn't have the money to pay for it.

I began praying for the Lord to make a way for me to attend. The next week I was sitting at work and suddenly it was like the Lord just knocked me in the side of the head and reminded me about an IRA account that I took out around 10-years ago with H&R Block. I had completely forgotten about it. So I got to looking into it and discovered that there had been some kind of class action lawsuit against H&R Block concerning the type of IRA accounts that I had taken out. All of my money that I put into it was still there and accessible. I made a few phone calls, faxed some papers and am happy to say that the money went into my bank account this morning. So, along with those funds and some money I received for Pastor's appreciation and a scholarship that I received in the mail, I am able to begin my studies!

Some have asked me with working full-time, pastoring full-time, and my family responsibilities, how I have time to do anything else? My answer is, the Lord works it out. All through my Master's studies the Lord greatly used my study times as an aide to my sermon preparations. He was always leading me to preach messages from the Scriptures that I was studying at the time. So, it's almost as if I'm not doing anything extra, I'm just leveraging all of my resources effectively.

I'm really excited about getting started, the topics of study for this course are right up my alley:

30 Semester Hour Curriculum Overview

Section One

• THEO8100 OT Theology
• OTBB8865 Exposition of Daniel
• NTBB8525 Exposition of Galatians

Section Two

• THEO7200 NT Theology
• NTBB8870 Epistles of John
• NTBB8101 Exposition of Matthew I

Section Three

• THEO7330 Doctrine of the Holy Spirit*
• NTBB8102 Exposition of Matthew II
• THEO7340 Doctrine of Christ
• NTBB8538 Exposition of Thessalonians

Please pray for me and my family as I go through this program. One thing I do ask of you though, after I graduate I will have a Doctorate degree, but please don't call me Doctor...