Don't Get Stuck At College

 

From My Mailbag: Don’t Get Stuck at College

 

Currently, on my blog, I am working my way through a long list of unanswered correspondence. Today’s question involves young men entering the ministry:

“I’d love to hear your thoughts on how to create a more effective pathway from Bible college to ministry, particularly the pastorate. A common concern seems to be that students attend Bible college but remain in that college town rather than entering ministry.”

I absolutely agree that this is a problem. It was in my Dad’s day. He graduated from Tennessee Temple University in 1973. It was in my day. I graduated from Hyles-Anderson College in 1995. I have good friends on the faculty and administration of seven different Bible colleges, and they will readily admit it is still a problem. In fact, they contend that the problem is worse now than it was in my father’s generation or in mine. As a society, we are producing young men who are more immature than previous generations. (We could discuss the causes of that in other posts, perhaps.) Nevertheless, it is factual. I believe this significantly contributes to the finish-but-never-begin trap that so many young ministers fall into.

I do not know that I have the solution, but after kicking the question around with some preacher friends, I offer the following nine suggestions to help counter it. I am going to be blunt. If you do not like it, you can be blunt back. I can take it.

 

1) Attend a local church Bible institute or similar type of program.

 

I could name a dozen off the top of my head. There are probably several hundred of these types of ministries in local churches across the country. For most men, especially married men, this is an excellent way to prepare for the ministry.

The old knock on them was two-fold. First, you cannot get a good theological education in such institutes. I disagree. I personally know many men who came out of such local church institutes. They know as much theology as I do. The internet has leveled the playing field here. Second, you cannot catch a vision for what God can do in a big way if you attend a small church. Curiously enough, the Apostles managed to catch a large vision without being schooled in a large ministry, did they not? If you get around Jesus, He will be all the vision you need.

Not every pastor is willing to undertake the enormous work required to prepare other men to pastor, nor should every pastor. Frankly, not all pastors are capable of it, in my opinion. But hundreds and hundreds of them are. Find one that is willing to take you under his wing, do your homework to make sure he will train you well, and then soak it up.

 

2) Attend a college that allows students to choose local churches.

 

Every institutional design, like every person, has strengths and weaknesses. The old Bible Baptist College (Springfield) model excelled in this area specifically. Yes, it was an independent Baptist college. No, it was not based out of one particular local church. Instead, it was governed by a board composed of pastors from several local churches. Because of this, when the student enrolled in college, he had to choose an approved independent Baptist church within driving distance of the school to attend and serve in. There are several independent Baptist colleges currently that are structured this way, including the one I will join this summer. 

This method of operation serves up two advantages, one negative and the other positive.

Negatively speaking, the student does not become entangled in the mesh of a big/successful/attractive church. Such large churches are enormously sticky. They retain drop-out college students like the Shamwow retains water. Instead, he serves in a typically sized church. In fact, he can change churches from year to year if he so chooses. The available churches are usually similar to the one he attended back home. He does not see his college church as better, let alone as the gold standard. Consequently, he never comes to look down on the church he came from.

On the positive side, the student usually retains a closer relationship with his home church as a result. He is not pressured to remain at the big college church over the holidays or the summer to maintain his ministry. (I could tell you some stories there, but I digress.) If he does not finish college, or if he finishes and cannot find an immediate place of service, it is natural for him to go back home to discover what is next. The only thing holding him in place geographically was college. College is done. Now it is time to move on.

 

3) Attend a college that does not hire its own graduates immediately.

 

One of the benefits to the large local church that hosts a Bible college is the feeder churches – I do not like that term, but it fits in this context – send their best young people to it. The leadership of the college church gets to watch as these young people develop. Such churches are always hiring staff. They often literally choose the best of the best and immediately plug them into leadership positions within the college church’s ministries.

Elsewhere, I have argued that this is a highly damaging strategy in the long term. Young men should not be trained for ministry by men who have precious little real church experience. It took me years to overcome the weaknesses aggravated in me via such training. Young men should be trained by men of deep experience in the Lord’s work. But my point here is that the potential Bible college student can choose to avoid colleges that go the route of hiring their own graduates immediately. This prevents him from even having to deal with the temptation to stick around, hoping to land the big church or college staff job. His college does not function that way; he has to move on if he wants to enter ministry.

 

4)Attend a college that prioritizes pioneering a work.

 

I am a big believer in drinking from good wells dug in previous generations, but every generation of Christians needs to dig its own wells. Every generation needs to write hymns, plant churches, pen commentaries, and birth ministries. The colleges that train our young men need to embrace this. If all we do is furnish the equivalent of replacement troops, we will never advance the cause of Christ.

Inculcating a pioneering spirit helps to inoculate young men from sitting around waiting for someone to hand them a position. Young men have energy and enthusiasm. Throw a dart on the map and go plant a work there. Okay, not really, but you get my drift, I think.

 

5) Attend a college that embraces bivocational ministry.

 

I am mystified at this, utterly mystified. Bivocational, covocational, part-time – call them whatever you will, such pastors and staff men are not second-class citizens. Paul was a tentmaker, for crying out loud.

Saint Paul Working As A Tentmaker
by Pietro Santi Bertoli, c 1550

Bivocational ministry does not hold a man back from reaching his potential. I would argue it can develop him spiritually in necessary though unseen ways. Bivocational ministry cures you of big-shot-itis. It humbles you. It teaches you to learn to deal with people carefully because you cannot afford to lose them. It forces you to learn to build well rather than quickly. And it allows the growing/struggling church to use its money to purchase property and erect buildings faster than could be done otherwise.

In my first five years in the pastorate I was bivocational. I do not look down on such men. I respect them whole cloth. When we teach young men that, we signal that it is okay for them to take that route, too.

 

6) Attend a college that highlights faithful pastors.

 

I confess I can be a bit jaded at times. I am conscious of that, and conscious that I might become one of those old, cynical men if I am not careful. Having said that, the older I get, the less I care about a pastor’s accomplishments in ministry and the more I care about his life and how well he handles the Word of God.

That last sentence may be where I am at, but it certainly is not where most of the independent Baptist movement has been for most of my life. I well remember being 17 and hearing a well-known preacher say, “In fundamentealism, if you reach 500, you have a voice; if you reach 1000, you must be platformed; if you reach 2000, you cannot do any wrong.” In entirely too many places, that mindset still exists, even if it is not expressed so crassly anymore.

Find a college that believes in bringing in men as a result of their decades of faithful service rather than the number they are running in Sunday School. The latter is hollow over time, feeds the minister's vanity, and so often brings him to destruction. It also sets before the young minister a mostly unattainable and always unbiblical model of ministry to emulate.

Young men preparing for ministry need to hear regularly from and be around veterans of such service, regardless of whether they are well-known in their circle or not. This constant stream of men who are unknown yet well known in Heaven will set before their eyes both a realistic philosophy of ministry and a biblical goal of what they ought to strive to be.

 

7) Keep your home pastor deeply involved.

 

For myself and too many of my contemporaries, when we left for Bible college, we left our home church behind. We went back only rarely to visit. When we did, we found our church had moved on without us. At the same time, we were building our own life elsewhere. Also, at the same time, our home church pastor, having more than enough irons in the fire, often lost sight of us.

The pastor and the Bible college student need to each do their part in this relationship to ensure this does not happen. The pastor needs to regularly reach out to the Bible college student while he is away and continue to prioritize spending time with him when he is back home. The student needs to continue to view his home church pastor as his pastor and consequently involve him in every decision of consequence. This prevents the student from falling through the cracks when he is struggling. His pastor knows him and knows how and when to call him on it. In addition, the pastor is invested, literally, and he wants to see a return on his investment. It is also good for the home church to see as well.

I accept that there are cases, too many of them, where the home church pastor changes while the student is away at college. But even in those situations, the incoming pastor and student can work together to build a relationship to replace the one lost. My assistant pastor is the fruit of such intentional relationship building. I am glad I took the initiative and the time to build that relationship. I am glad he reciprocated. He and I and our church are all the stronger for it.

 

8) Take as many mission trips or internships as you can.

 

Bible college students are infamous for getting tunnel vision. They often can only see what is directly in front of them. Class, class, class, chapel, class, work, sleep, repeat. Finish the projects. Find a way to pay for it. Give your heart away in a ministry on the weekend. Find a life partner. Get a diploma, by hook or by crook.

Several problems result from such tunnel vision. For one, when a student experiences a serious setback or failure in this process, he often thinks of himself as a failure en toto. Ergo, the only reasonable choice is to quit. For another, his mind and heart can be so captured by the big church ministry he is in that he fails to structure his relationship with that church as temporary. It becomes semi-permanent. Then permanent. Then concrete.

When you tear yourself away from that life for a mission trip or a summer internship, you put your college career into the proper perspective. You see it for what it is: training. You remind yourself of what motivated you to surrender to the ministry in the first place, the need of the world for Christ, and of each neighborhood and town to have a good church. You insert yourself into some such mission field or church for a period, and you return to your college life inspired to finish so you can move on to the next step.

Such things are not as easy as they sound. The student’s checking account may make this seem utterly impossible. The church’s previous experience with interns who made some serious mistakes may make them gunshy. But like the rest of the Bible college student’s preparation, though it is difficult, ‘tis eminently worthwhile.

If I had interned in a normal church post-college or even during college, it would have helped me immensely. It would have spared me some of the struggle, failure, and frustration of my early years in the pastorate. I encourage every young person preparing for ministry to do it, or something similar.

 

9) Remain nimble.

 

I could not think of a better, more succinct phrase. What I mean here is that the Bible college student’s life is usually relatively simple when he begins his preparation. He or she is single. They have no debt. They are in good health. They have support from the home front. They are set up for success. Fast forward a few years, and what do we often find? Premature serious romantic relationships that complicate everything, especially if they get married too soon. Debt from “necessary” car repairs and school bills. A stressed and insolvent emotional bank. A support system that has largely forgotten the student just when he needs them the most.

The Calling of Samuel
by Joshua Reynolds, c 1776

Every spiritual casualty is unique, but many share common traits. The largest of those similarities falls along these lines. The student struggled financially. The student married too soon. No one back home notices the impending crisis. He drops out, or “takes a year or two to get things settled”, a year or two that becomes decades.

Structure life in such a way that if God called you to the ends of the Earth, you could go almost immediately. Keep it that way.

 

In closing, I want to add that I expect your list of suggestions, if you made one, would look somewhat different than mine. I welcome hearing your thoughts on the subject, whether on the blog site, via email, or on a social media post. The conversation is bigger than me, and worth having. So speak up if you have something worthwhile to say. It will help 

Launching a Writing Ministry

 

I’m seeking your advice on starting a Substack/blog. While I’m not a great writer and don’t have much to share yet, I see value in starting now to grow. Could you share any tips or resources that helped you as you began?

 _______________________________________________________________

 

At the moment, I am working my way through some items from my mailbag on this blog. Today’s question is an interesting one. Essentially, it involves knowing whether and how to begin a writing ministry. I have previously written about whether and how to write a book, but this is a different question. The answer lies within reach of more people. I do not consider myself an expert by any means, but I will give you my thoughts on the matter.

Six thoughts. Here goes.

1) The only way to be a writer is to start writing.

Writers write – that statement got me off the bench and into the game.

As a wide-ranging, long-standing reader, the idea of writing something myself naturally presented itself from time to time. Before social media, internet forums were a thing. I joined one, and often participated. From time to time, the conversations morphed into long-form discussions, and I felt that suited my desire to communicate context and depth. Occasionally, I even wrote stand-alone articles here and there. But in the main, all I did was growl that I could write a better post or book than the one I happened to be reading.

It dawned on me one day that I was no better than the members of my church who wanted to become soul winners but never did anything about it. They just postponed it with a vague, “Someday, I’ll get around to it.” Soul winners do not talk about witnessing, watch other people witness, or read about witnessing. They tell other people about Jesus. So it is with writers. They determine writing is worth doing, and set aside a regular time to do it, regardless of whether they think the result will be widely read or not.

You will never become a writer by contemplating it. Write something.

 

2) The only way to improve as a writer is to continue writing.

It is possible to do something regularly and never improve. It is not possible, however, to do something only occasionally and improve. Consistent, regular, scheduled activity is necessary for excellence in any endeavor. Paired with the analysis available by today’s online editing tools, and honed by friendly criticism now and again, there is no reason the typical thoughtful individual cannot become a decent writer. But you must commit yourself to putting in consistent effort and producing constant content.

 

3) The only way to have content worth reading is to study.

When I was younger, I thought my insights were brilliant. Little did I know… Over time, God, in His grace, brought me to see that the world does not need my insight; it needs His. The better I know His Word and understand His thoughts, the more benefits and blessings come to those within my influence. So I must study His Word.

I did not do this to become a writer. Writing was not on my radar at the time. I did it because I wanted to rightly understand the Bible, push back against those who would weaken the truth, and help His people. So I made a list of biblical concepts I did not understand very well, and set out to study up on them. I compiled stacks of books, took classes, watched videos, and built up my knowledge base. I then turned those into tools I used regularly or series I preached/taught to others. Music. Eschatology. Hermeneutics. Teaching. Jesus. Fundamentalism. Assimilation. Counseling. Systematic Theology. Old Testament types. Cults. Sanctification. Evangelism. Grace. Ecclesiology. Prayer. Faith. Heaven. Leadership. Marriage. Suffering. Money. Blessing. Worship. Standards. Wisdom. Faith. Character. Prayer. The King James issue. Alcohol. Love.Etc. And hundreds of detailed expositional sermons, working my way through an extended passage or book of the Bible.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am NOT saying you have to do this. God leads us along individual paths as we follow Him. What I am saying is that honing the ability to write without, at the same time, gathering things worth hearing is an exercise in vanity and a waste of time.

 

4) Because these two things need to mature – your writing ability and your depth of content – you should begin writing first for the immediate circle in which you minister now.

Thus far, it may seem I have given you two contrary pieces of advice. Start writing
immediately. Study or experience until you have something to say worth hearing. But the truth is, you can begin now, whatever age you are. Assuming you are currently serving the Lord, start by considering how you can use writing in the arena in which you currently serve. Do you run a bus route? Perhaps you could write a monthly newsletter for everyone who is in any way associated with that route. Do you teach a teen Sunday School class? Perhaps you could write a handout to go with each lesson, or summarize the lesson in written form and send it home with them. Do you work with seniors? Perhaps you could write occasional articles for them on things that matter to seniors – health, grandchildren, finances, scams, feeling useful, travel, etc.

You do not need to wait until your beard has gone gray and your reputation for wisdom has increased. Write right now and gear it toward the orbit you are currently in.

 

5) As these two things mature, widen your reach.

I am not even sure I should mention this one. This is more of a God thing than a man thing. Many years ago, an older preacher told me, “When you deepen your message, God widens your ministry.” The Scriptural equivalent is 1 Timothy 4.15. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. As you develop your capacity and ability to edify God’s people, He gives you more opportunities to do so. Your path will not look like mine. Neither will it look like what you currently expect. But the Lord will do it, and it will be remarkable to see in hindsight.

Again, do not misunderstand me. I am not asking you to crawl into a hole and close it off behind you. It is good and right to seek to advance your knowledge base, skill set, and opportunities to minister. But you will find that the doors the Lord opens for you along the way are better than the ones you lever a crowbar into and force.

Grow in Him, in your likeness to Him, in your knowledge of Him, and in your usefulness to Him. He will use it, rest assured.

 

6) Do not expect either monetary compensation or a wide and interested readership; expect to minister to those who will let you.

When I was a young man, I dreamed of the glorious future that awaited, the opportunities that would throw themselves at my feet once they noticed me. I have written elsewhere of how God beat that out of me. I am most grateful that He did. If I had had in those days the opportunities to minister that I have now, I would have accomplished little for Him while my pride marched me swiftly to destruction. But by the grace of God, my perspective has changed over the years. As Jack Hyles wrote in his poem, “Just Let Me Be Your Servant”: (Let Me Be Your Servant, n.d.)

 

I used to sit in college class

And ask the sluggish year to pass;

I had a goal to reach.

My mind would soar above the clouds

And dream when overflowing crowds

Would come to hear me preach.

 

And now I stand before the crowds,

With mind descending 'neath the clouds;

My goals are rearranged.

I simply want to fill your need;

So lovingly I gently plead,

“My dreams have all been changed;

Just let me be your servant.”

 

When you first offer yourself via the written word, it will probably be mostly ignored and rapidly forgotten. That is fine. The same thing happens with all ministry. You build a writing ministry the same way you build any other ministry – consistent effort regardless of apparent result. And as with all ministry, it is not going to make you money; it is going to cost you money. And time. And sweat. And tears. All of which your Saviour understands.

Thousands of years ago, God reached down to an old man and asked him to serve. In his prime, he had been arrogant. He had thought he was God’s gift to his people. Four decades later, when God finally deemed him ready, he was the opposite of proud – he was uncertain, unworthy, and filled with excuses. With deft care, God asked him not to do great things, but simply to yield to Him that which was in his hand: And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. (Exodus 4.1-3)

Do not insist, even in your mind, that God use you greatly. Simply offer Him what you have in your hand – the energy and optimism of youth, a godly life, a desire to serve Him and help people, and your pen – and let Him make of it what He wills.

 

Six Helps to Grow a Soul-Winning Church

 

Note: My life at the moment is in a bit of an uproar, which is not exactly conducive to good writing. I have decided to set my current book project aside for a bit. I have a number of questions that have worked their way into my mailbag and have been patiently waiting for some time. So for the next few weeks, I am going to try to answer some of those.

 

Today’s question comes from a young pastor. He has recently taken his first church. As with many such churches, it is struggling mightily. There are crises at every turn. But he does not simply want to respond to emergencies; he wants to build a healthy church for the long term. He knows, amongst other things, that this involves building a soul-winning church. I have had some success in that area, so he came to me for a few ideas, and it turned into a rather lengthy phone conversation. Here are the six suggestions I offered him in that discussion.

First, have a regularly scheduled soul-winning time.

I am aware of the argument that says Christians should always be soul-conscious, and that if we emphasize a regular soul-winning time, we risk developing Christians who witness only on Saturday mornings. I think it is a specious argument. For two reasons. In the first place, there are numerous things that a Christian is called to be and do constantly, and yet we embrace the wisdom of setting aside a specific time to do so. Prayer, for example. We are to pray without ceasing, but we still schedule prayer meetings. Such prayer meetings do not take away from praying without ceasing; indeed, I would argue they strengthen it. Which leads directly to my second reason I reject such counsel – I have never seen a Christian develop a soul-conscious heart without first disciplining themselves to attend a regularly scheduled soul-winning time. Perhaps you have, but I have not. I am convinced that regularly exercising the spiritual graces is the only way to develop them.

This regularly scheduled soul-winning time should be on the schedule weekly. Doing it monthly seems like an easier sell when it comes to participation, but such is fool’s gold. Nobody establishes commitment by choosing the easy route. In addition, this soul-winning time should be canceled only rarely, if at all. As a pastor, you must fight the urge to cancel important things. In fact, your refusal to cancel is a vital part of communicating to your people how important your soul-winning time is. For example, I do not cancel Operation Go (our name for it) due to the cold. If it gets down close to zero degrees, I either send people out on specific visits, have a prayer meeting, do a soul-winning training session, or take all my soul winners to breakfast. But what I do not do is cancel.

In addition, I think it is important that the pastor himself lead this soul-winning meeting. You cannot lead from behind. Be present. Be organized. Be brief. Be positive. Be consistent. Do not ask your people for a four hour commitment. Ask them to give you the equivalent of a regular church service – about an hour or so total, meeting included. Keep it on the schedule even if no one shows up. Announce it weekly. Be patient as the Lord convicts your people in this area. But by all means, provide them a regular opportunity to obey the Lord in this area.

Second, routinely preach about the necessity of Christians being a witness to the lost.

I track my preaching, every sermon, for a variety of reasons. This is one of them. I can tell you how often I have preached on soul winning in whichever service is in question, what the main idea of the sermon was, and what the text was. Every so often, I check. If it has been a few months since I last preached about witnessing, I put it on the docket.

Many years ago, I heard Clarence Sexton say, “We reap a harvest where we place an emphasis.” This is a key principle in the evolution of a soul-winning church. I am constantly looking for additional ways to emphasize personal evangelism. A standalone sermon is one way to do it, but a better approach is a sermon series. You could preach an entire series on the soul-winning conversations in the Bible, another on great soul-winning passages, another on the philosophy of personal evangelism, another on how the devil attacks soul-winning in a church, etc. A sermon series increases the impact of an idea. Instead of one tap with a hammer, a series of blows is landed until the point is driven well home. I long ago lost count of how many times a church member approached me privately and told me they had been under conviction for quite some time about becoming a witness. Preaching on it gives the Spirit ammunition for such quiet, deep work.

Third, personally train your soul winners.

While I am not opposed to bringing in a special speaker for a soul-winning training seminar, I think the best soul-winning trainer in your church should be the pastor. Many years ago, I wrote a soul-winning training manual and recruited a young man as my first victim. He had dyslexia and was painfully shy, which made the process both difficult and rewarding. I will never forget sitting alongside him on a living room couch in someone’s home as he walked them through the Gospel and they trusted Christ. I made a big deal about it at church, naturally. A few months later, someone approached me and murmured something about wanting to be trained to witness. I did, and upon completion, awarded them a personally engraved soul winner’s New Testament in the Sunday morning service. Now then, I suppose my wife and I have trained between 75 and 100 soul winners over these years.

Our process involves our own curriculum, eight one-on-one sessions about an hour long, some memorization, a lot of home practice, and a lot of role play. The majority of our trainees have gone on to become consistent soul winners. You may choose a different approach, but by all means, do something. Equipping them well removes their fear and builds their confidence in sharing the gospel. And it increases the number of soul winners in your church.

Fourth, require your staff and your deacons to be soul winners. This is not optional with me; it is too important. If you want to be in a position of leadership in our church, you must regularly be after people with the gospel.

Fifth, place the emphasis not on the number of people you see making professions, but on consistent effort. Our part in the Great Commission is obedience; the Lord’s part is the conviction that brings results. Let us major on our part.

For example, some years ago, I had a very nice church jacket designed. It had an engraved logo on an expensive Land’s End coat. I did not make them available for purchase, nor did I give them away. The only way you could get one was to attend Operation Go for eight consecutive weeks. I ended up purchasing dozens of those jackets, and it cost me thousands of dollars. It was money absolutely well spent. Our attendance at Operation Go not only increased, but it also increased permanently.

Sixth, pray for laborers.

Jesus spoke often of prayer and modeled it as much as He preached about it. But He only gave one prayer request. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. (Matthew 9.38) We ought to take this seriously. Go to the Lord and teach your people to go to the Lord in prayer about your church’s need for workers. Be specific. If you need an instrumentalist, pray that way. If you lack youth workers, take it to Him. But always be asking Him to send you people that you can develop into soul winners. This is the Lord’s will, and He will answer prayer given according to His will. (I John 5.14-15) The Lord sent us so many precious people over the years, men and women who developed into true co-laborers as we went after souls together.

If you will do these six things, prayerfully, consistently, patiently, for a few years, something magical will happen. You will look up one day and realize the Lord has given you the priceless gift of being part of a soul-winning church. Missions giving will increase. New ministries will be launched. Bus routes will be strengthened. The poor and the addicted and the imprisoned will have the gospel preached unto them. Your church will develop a culture, a spirit, of being after people with the gospel. It will be happier. It will be easier to pastor. And new people getting plugged in will catch the vision almost immediately.

It can be done, beloved. Your church can become a soul-winning church. I know it currently seems impossible. Ignore that. Put your head down and go to work. Pray. Lead. Motivate. Preach. Encourage. Commend.

It can be done. It needs to be done. And you can do it.

 

The Christ Conference 2026

     Last year, our church held The Christ Conference for the first time. Ten men. Twelve sermons. Every message about Jesus. The Lord blessed signally as pastors and people from about 25 churches gathered to sing and hear and proclaim Christ. This year, we are pleased to present The Christ Conference again the same time as last year, the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of Memorial Day week. The dates are May 26-28, 2026. 

    There is no charge for the conference. Lunch will be provided each of those days. Due to the cost, motel rooms will not be provided this year to visiting pastors. We would kindly ask your church to bear that expense. We will be happy to bear all the other costs associated with the conference. We do ask that you register if you are coming from out of town so we know how to prepare. You will find a QR code for the registration page at the bottom of this post. 

    We will run two preachers each morning and two more each evening, twelve sermons in total. The only instruction each preacher has been given is to bring us a message about Jesus.  Ten men will be delivering the messages this year: Jim Appel, Chris Birkholz, Matt Boyd, Tom Brennan, Jon Brown, Steve Damron, Donald Link, Cole Mahle, Mark Rogers, and John Uit de Flesch.   

    I've been attending conferences all my life, and holding them as a pastor for three decades. While I cannot promise what this year's Christ Conference will be like, I can honestly tell you last year's conference was the best conference I've ever held as a pastor. The special music touched our hearts. The congregational singing was breathtaking. The spirit was sweet. The fellowship was encouraging. The messages were varied, interesting, and convicting. 

    If you have any questions, let me know, and I'll do my best to answer them. Otherwise, I hope I get to spend some time with you that week as together we look squarely at Jesus. 

The Christ Conference. Ten men. Twelve sermons. Every message about Jesus.

They ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Acts 5:42

Online Course Offered: Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

           As we have done in the past, Brennan’s Pen will be offering an online Zoom class early in 2026. Several years ago, I taught a 34 week series in my church on various cults and false religions. I have turned this into a 14 hour course complete with a 147 page syllabus. For seven weeks, a two hour class will be offered on the following Monday nights: January 26, February 2, February 16, February 23, March 9, March 16, and March 23.

         If you are interested in taking this class, or having your church take this class, please reply to this email. I will compile a specific email list for the class over the next few weeks, and send you the syllabus before class begins. Each Monday of class you will receive a private Zoom link to use to log in that evening at 7 PM Central.

         I have included the Table of Contents of the syllabus below so you have an idea of what the class covers. If this is not clear, or you have any questions, feel free to contact me and I will do my best to answer them.

There is no charge for the class. The cost is underwritten by my Patreon subscribers.

 

 

Table of Contents

 

Introduction – 3

 

I A Doctrinal Overview – 7

         How to Recognize False Religions

         Characteristics of False Teachers

         The Bible Alone

 

II Cults – 22

Latter Days Saints: The Life of Joseph Smith

         Latter Day Saints: False Doctrine

         Jehovah’s Witnesses: History and Structure

         Jehovah’s Witnesses: False Doctrine

         British Israelism

Christian Science

The Unification Church

Seventh Day Adventism

 

III Non-Christian Religions – 65

         Islam: History and Structure

         Islam: False Doctrine and Biblical Response

The Nation of Islam

Scientology: the Life of L. Ron Hubbard

Scientology: False Doctrine

Buddha vs. Jesus

Buddhism: False Doctrine

Hinduism

 

IV Christian Religions – 100

         Protestant Mainline Denominations

Roman Catholicism: Formation and Structure

Roman Catholic Doctrine: the Church

Roman Catholic Doctrine: the Priesthood

Roman Catholic Doctrine: Tradition

Roman Catholic Doctrine: Peter

Roman Catholic Doctrine: the Pope

Roman Catholic Doctrine: Mary

Roman Catholic Doctrine: the Sacraments

Roman Catholic Doctrine: Purgatory

 

Bibliography – 147

 

 

 

The Law of Review

 The Sunday School Teacher 16

We turn now to the seventh law or principle of good teaching, namely, this: you must periodically remind them of what they have already learned.

Repetition is not review, though review often includes repetition. Repetition is a helpful tool in teaching as it places an emphasis in a similar manner to bold or underlined print. But repetition alone risks becoming a mindless, almost rhythmic recitation of rote facts. There are too many Rs in that sentence, but you get my point. A student does not have to think to repeat something. A review, on the other hand, should prompt not just recall, but thought.

We can see an example of the difference in how Jesus handled Peter between the Resurrection and the Ascension. In English, the King James Version shows us Jesus asking Peter the same question three times in succession: Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? …Feed my lambs. …Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? …Feed my sheep. …Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? …Feed my sheep. (John 21.15-17) Yet the fact that he used questions, and in the original language worded them differently, reveals a master teacher at work. Christ was not just drilling Peter via repetition, rather He was provoking Peter to intense inward examination. He forced Peter to think, and at the same time deepened His emphasis on Peter’s responsibility to love Him and feed the sheep of His pasture.

A good review both widens and deepens our perspective on knowledge. In the process of being reminded of other related aspects of truth, we gain insight. To see the connecting threads again reveals both the importance and standing of the truth most immediately in view. It can also allow us a more informed glimpse of where we are going. A map that says, “You are here,” is better than nothing, but a trail showing how you got to where you are allows you to hypothesize where you are going.

One way a review does this is by bringing former truth back to mind, but in a different setting than we encountered it last time. I have, on rare occasions, read the same book decades apart. What my eyes encountered was information I had already seen and assimilated, but this time I looked at it differently. My life experience shone new light on the old information.

Think, for example, of how God has structured our religion. We are given a Book that is divinely inspired, and thus inerrant and infallible. We are told to read and study it often, indeed, daily, if I understand the Word aright. As of this writing, I have been reading the Bible intentionally for thirty-eight years. Literally, every day I read something I have already read before. But that review gives me a deeper and wider grasp of God’s truth, deeper for its depth is infinite, wider due to the fact that my own perspective has been broadened by decades of service and study.  

I recognize, of course, that a Sunday School class that teaches the Bible is not the same as reading the Bible. Nor does any mere human teacher’s instruction carry the same weight. But if review is a necessary part of all teaching, and it is, such is even more true about biblical teaching. Philosophically, practically, and spiritually, review is a vital component of teaching the Word of God.

Now then, let me offer you four brief practical thoughts on applying this in a Sunday School context.

First, you should review any relevant material at the beginning of a new lesson. It does not need to be in depth, but it does need to be sufficient to connect the new material to the material they have already learned. Of course, many Sunday School lessons, even in a series, are not directly connected to previous ones. But some are. If they are, taking time at the beginning of the class period to review the truths that led to this one is time well spent.

Second, it is wise to briefly review the main thoughts of your lesson at the close of each class period. This can be done in a written fashion via a fill-in-the-blank sheet. It can be as simple as including a skeleton of the entire outline in your summary as you draw to a close. However you do it, know that a review at that point will help the information you have labored to give them have a better chance of sticking.

Third, review anytime a new lesson touches on an old one. I do this often in teaching. For example, if I am going to mention the Day of Atonement I will say something like, “Now you will remember, we spent quite some time looking at the Day of Atonement in our series, Christ In Shadow. There, we saw that…” followed by the mention of some pertinent point I have already taught them that will help them here. Sometimes, I will even briefly recap the entire outline in just a couple of sentences if I think it will help. In addition to connecting new information to old information, you are also reminding the student again that passages in the Word of God are not isolated; they are joined together, bound by an uncountable number of integrated circuits.

Fourth, vary your reviewing style. If you routinely use handout sheets, change it up by asking questions directly and giving a piece of candy away for the right answer. Launch a group discussion, perhaps. If your review is generally jammed in as the bell is ringing at the end of class, instead begin the review ten minutes early. Do not always use the same method. Do not always call on the same people. Different subjects need to be reviewed differently. In addition, people are unique. What works for your class one year may not work the same way the next year, when you have a new crop of students. The old saying, “Variety is the spice of life,” is applicable here.

Reviewing is not idiot proof. It generally fails to implant a concept that has already bounced off the student previously. Further, time is a thief that steals knowledge from all of us. You are not a failure if your students do not remember some key point or other. What you are is a wise teacher, first for showing them the shallowness of their learning, and second, for endeavoring to help them fix it.

Reviews do not change a life. That takes the student's application of truth in the power of the Holy Spirit. But application cannot happen in any meaningful way via forgotten truth. Study the truth. Tell them the truth. Remind them of the truth. And ask the Lord to enable them to live the truth.

Reviewing is a necessary step on the path that leads to a changed life.  

The Law of the Learning Process

 The Sunday School Teacher 15

We turn now to the sixth law or principle of good teaching, namely, this: the student must reproduce in her own mind the knowledge she needs to learn.

In other places, I have seen this referred to as the deep learning process. I like that. Each of us knows what it is like to learn something superficially. A name. A number. A fact. Young people often do it to pass an exam. The old do it often to function in the immediate. But neither of these is an example of what we are trying to accomplish when we teach Sunday School. We want the truths we explain, illustrate, and emphasize to work their way deep into the inner man, as Paul would say. We want that knowledge to become part of their DNA, to borrow another illustration.

What does that look like, or perhaps I could ask, how does that happen?

At the most basic level, the student must be able to repeat the main statements in the lesson word for word. As a pastor now for nearly thirty years, I have often used fill-in-the-blank outline sheets in teaching formats. At the conclusion of the lesson, I will work my way through that sheet and wait for verbal confirmation that they listened. It is at once both a review and the first step in the process of seating that information more firmly in their mind.

Second, a student must be able to articulate the thought process behind the main statements or truths of the lesson. This is obviously an expansion of the former one. No longer is regurgitating the words enough; there must be some explanation of what those words mean, and of how the main points of the outline flow from one to the next.

Third, the student needs to be able to express the larger thought that forms the foundation of the outline, and to do so without losing any of the teacher's original intent or meaning. In other words, she needs to demonstrate her understanding of the importance of both specific words and thoughts, and can explain that she does without leaving out anything important.

All on its own, this is an enormous accomplishment. It is at this point that the student can become a teacher herself. Taking the truths she learned in your Sunday School class, your student can now help her classmate at school who is struggling with the very issue you taught about in Sunday School. This is exponentially leveraging your time and work as a teacher. It is your influence expanding outward in ripples. It is not directly due to you, but it is absolutely indirectly tied to your success as a teacher.

It may seem that you have accomplished your goal as a teacher at this point. After all, your student has internalized not just your words but your thoughts, and done so clearly enough that they can convey those thoughts to others in their orbit. What else could you hope for in a student?

Fourth, the student who continues to deepen her ownership of truth will begin to seek out proof or evidence of the knowledge you are teaching her.

As a young man recently surrendered to ministry, I began reading the Bible and listening to preaching with an entirely new interest. No longer was I listening for myself alone, but I grasped I was listening also for those who would, in turn, listen to me in years to come. And if I was going to help them, I needed to establish on my own, or at least for my own satisfaction, the veracity of the knowledge I was being handed in school, Sunday School, and church. So I began.

For example, I remember at fifteen coming across Mark 16.16 in my daily Bible reading. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. I had been taught all my life that salvation was by grace through faith alone, that it did not require baptism. I believed that. I understood it. I was already at that age witnessing to others and telling them the same thing. But here was a verse that seemed to say differently. I walked to the school library, found a concordance, and over the next few weeks looked up every use of any form of the English word baptize in the Bible. I came away convinced that what I had been taught, what I understood, and what I had been telling others was entirely true – salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone.

One could argue that my entire life since has been that process repeating itself without end. I have been taught thus and so. I understand it. I must teach it to others. I dare not simply repeat what I have been told. I must research and study it for myself. I do so. Then, once I have internalized it to my satisfaction, I turn around and hand it on to others. The thousands of books that fill the shelves of my library prove this. It is why those books are there.

I realize there is some level of risk here, a risk that a fair number of teachers and mentors do not want to run. The risk is that the student will find something that disagrees with what you have taught her, that gives her an entirely different viewpoint, and one she finds compelling. I believe this is a risk that must be run in order to soundly establish the faith in the hearts and minds of our young people. In the long term, people love liberty. They resist being fenced in. Gradually and carefully, perhaps, but just as certainly, we must allow and even encourage our students to investigate the truths we teach them, no matter where that investigation leads them.

There yet remains one more step in this deep learning process, one more necessary accomplishment. Fifth, the student must practice the truths you are teaching them, applying them to her own life, changing from image to image as by the Spirit until Jesus Christ is formed in her. Of course, this is an ongoing process, one that begins when she is just a student and will continue her whole life as she, in turn, teaches others. Like all ongoing processes, it is never quite finished this side of eternity. But if you are like me, you want to see it begin when she is still sitting in your classroom. You want to see her life begin to change while she is still under your immediate influence.

In a sense, this is the test of your teaching, is it not? It is not her head you want to reach as much as her heart, her life. You want to edify her, to see her built up in Christ, not at some future date, but beginning now and continuing into the indefinite future. This is your paycheck. This is your reward. Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men. (II Corinthians 3.2) Your student's changed life is all the thanks and response you desire.

It is for this reason that you, as the teacher, dare not think your job is done when the bell rings for the end of class. Nor do you have the luxury of forgetting your students at the end of the enrollment period. Your heart and your hand and your time must be continually open and available to them. While their learning process may no longer be under your direct supervision, it should still be under your influence. You should welcome that, indeed, seek to continue it as long as possible. Long-term influence is deep influence.

There is risk in this, too. You risk the heart and mind you have offered them being rejected. You risk seeing a student who has made a great start run right off the rails and crash. You risk becoming discouraged when they grow at a different rate than you did, or when you think best. You risk them becoming something you did not intend and would not wish.

Risk it anyway. Risk the love and the tears and the prayer and the emotional investment. Risk the rejection. Risk the sorrow. If they are going to buy the truth in sufficient quantity as to change their life and others, you are going to have to continue to pay.

Learning is not an event. It is not a class period. It is a process. Lead them, support them, and encourage them through the entire process. When it works as intended, there is no greater joy.