It has been quite a while since I was a student, but I attended NBS when it was Los Angeles Baptist Theological Seminary in Newhall, California.  I began in 1971 and finished in 1974 with a Master’s of Divinity degree.  I loved the professors, fellow-students, chapel, classes, serving in a local church, and my studies.  They all gave me tools and a vision for ministry that has blessed my life for the last 31 years. 

 

I can vividly remember lively discussions and debates with students and professors in classes, in the hallway or even in chapel.  My seminary education gave me structure, discipline, and resources that enhanced my work as a youth pastor for a year in Lynden, Washington; as a pastor of a country church for five years in Wilson Creek, Washington; and as a pastor of a church in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington for the last 25 years. 

 

The ministry is so diverse with lots of areas to explore.  Whether it is preparing sermons, developing teaching materials, general counseling, building or remodeling a building, encouraging people to give, conflict management, weddings and marriage counseling, funerals and grief management, anger management, working with your worship team, youth ministry, personal discipleship, church membership and baptisms, relationships with area churches, planning the year, hospital visitation, missionary involvement, parachurch ministries, or outreach and evangelism, a seminary education will give you valuable tools and resources to guide you through your work. 

 

Consider NBS for your seminary training.  The location is superb, the program is rock-solid, the professors are top-notch, and there are lots of area churches where you can “test your wings!”  Seminary is not for the “faint of heart.”  But it is for people who have a “heart for God!”  It will be an “eye-opener” for you regarding the awesomeness of the Word of God and the amazing possibilities for ministry in the years ahead.

 

In His Name,

 

Tom Ruhlman