For the Record

I just want to make sure that everybody knows that I’m not a blithering idiot with no plan. I had a plan. I had a very good plan. Seminary was about step 15 in that plan, not step 2. It’s the sudden shift that’s causing me irritation. As far as going to Seminary is concerned, I’m actually kind of excited. I’ve only been wanting to learn to read Greek and Hebrew for 5 years. I was very disappointed when they didn’t have it available at MorningStar

The biggest sheepskin for me is money. I don’t have any intention of going through the dirt poor thing any more. I can live off of $13 K per year. I have no desire to. If I go right back to school, I’m still going to want an income of close to $20,000 a year. That would cover house, car, food, a movie now and again, and hopefully something to pay off school money problems as well.

Another thing I want is a lot of people to tell me, “Yes, Kyle, I’ve prayed about it and thunked about it, and this is exactly what I think you’re supposed to do.”

I suppose if I was being a real Gideon, I’d ask for something extravagant, like snow in July or something, but I guess I’m not that interested in avoiding going back to school.

Yesterday I did my research and found that there were basically four seminaries in Charlotte: Two Presbyterian and two inter/non denominational. One Presby school was at Queens, and it was the liberal branch of the Presby church. I’m not that liberal. They also had a degree plan that fit neatly into six years. I’m not that liberal. The other was called Reformed Theological Seminary, and they were very impressive in their academics and mind blowingly conservative. They believe that the Bible is the absolute truth, dictated word for word from the mouth of God. I believe that all scripture is God-breathed, and that it’s all true, but word for word? If that’s word for word, then we’ve got a lot more to worry about than evolution and the ordination of women. If the bible was dictated verbatim, then He’s got major multiple personality disorder. I prefer not to believe in a God who is crazy. RTS also included a copy of the statement that every professor must sign every year. Basically if they have any misgivings about the Presbyterian creed that was established every year, they are required to notify the school immediately. I got the distinct impression that the creed was more important than the scripture. What if they found that a conservative interpretation of the bible necessarily contradicted the creed?

The third school was called Southern Evangelical Seminary, and they scared me from the get-go. Let’s start with the portable buildings for offices. Then we can move to the general… lack of affability… in the admissions staff. I got my admissions info and left. I never even looked at it. Later, a friend described them as the “fightin’ fundies.” Rigid fundamentalists. In my opinion, the fundamentalists have moved as far to the right of a plausible interpretation as the ultra-liberals have moved to the left.

The last one seems to be the zinger. Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Interdeominational, the school has students who go on to minister with Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, and a whole host of other denominations. It happens to be the same school that my good friend graduated from, and he highly recommended it to me. Good solid biblical background, he says. I was a little scared when I first found them—they were in a business park. But they were finishing their actual campus to open this fall, and the interior was much more comfortably furnished than the scary school. It seems silly to judge by the furniture, but you have to wonder, if this is what they consider appropriate to welcome students, what will they do after you start attending classes? The Admissions counselor at Gordon-Conwell was also the most helpful of any of the schools I went to. He was very encouraging, asked questions, gave helpful suggestions.

It was pretty easy to pick my favorite out of the schools. What’s been hard has been obtaining advice from qualified counselors. Friends and family have given me their input (Family has stood firmly on the side of getting a job before even considering going back to school), but pastors and school counselors have not been so easy to catch. I have an appointment tomorrow with my pastor. One day my school chaplain will give me a call. I think she may be on an international school field trip. I tend to forget they have those.

I also finally got my appointment with Adecco today. Someday, I’ll manage to get a job.

You should be proud of me. Only 1 ½ pages today. J