We are now well into the new school year. The Lord has blessed and brought us a good group of new students. Between the university and the prepa (high school) we have over 50 new full-time students. In addition, in the theology department, we have a good number of new students (both full-time and part time). A number of them are students from other majors who wish to take some extra Bible/theology courses. This year we plan to begin offering a certificate program to students from other majors (like education, business administration, etc.) who wish to pursue a Bible certificate in addition to their own major.
In the theology department, the semester began with three weeks of modular (block) courses. The first week Will Pareja was with us to teach the book of James. Will is a former staff/faculty member of UCLA, having served for three years as the men's dorm supervisor and Bible teacher (2000-2003, I think). Will recently finished his M.Div. at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary and is now living in Chicago where plans to do church planting work.
The next two weeks we were privileged to have Jim West with us to teach Pastoral Theology. Jim is a "regular" here at UCLA, having taught 15 - 20 modular classes for us over the years. As a veteran missionary (to Spain, England, and elsewhere) and pastor, Jim's vast ministry experience makes him an invaluable resource for us.
This semester I'm teaching five classes, including Exposition of Revelation, Exposition of Romans, and Doctrines 1 (which covers prolegomena & the doctrine of revelation/Scripture). What a blast! There's nothing I enjoy more than studying and teaching the Bible.
A number of times I've mentioned a pastor's conference that my co-worker, Matt Bixby, and I will be doing early in October. This will be a three-day conference held in the city of Saltillo, Coahuila. The theme of the conference is "The Pastoral Ministry". Matt and I will each be giving 7-8 hours of instruction. Matt will focus primarily on homiletics and my topic will be pastoral theology. Please pray for this conference. This is our first time to do this kind of conference. Lord willing, we will begin to do them on a regular basis around Mexico (we already have two scheduled for next year). Our prayer is that this conference will be of great spiritual benefit to the pastors who attend.
Another project that you can pray for is a new video correspondence ministry that we're working on. My friend, Russell Raymer of OREMUNDO Ministries (a sister ministry of UCLA) is videotaping a number of our modular classes. Our goal is to offer to pastors from around the Spanish-speaking world and who are unable to take classes here on-site to earn a "Certificate in Pastoral Ministry" via video classes. This certificate (as well as the one I mentioned above) is part of a new branch of UCLA's theology program which is designed to provide more educational opportunities and options to those who are unable to pursue our regular bachelor's degree in theology. Please pray for these new initiatives.
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AJ, it is so good to read ya'lls blog. I miss the conversations we used to have at the glue factory. They were enriching to my soul. I will continue to pray for the Lord's work through you in these up-coming conferences. I would love to listen to your lectures on pastoral theology. If you have your lectures on paper or if you record the classes I would love to access them. If I would not be breaking any copyright laws :)
Tell Ruth and the boys I said hello.
Every blessing brother,
Heb 13:20-21
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