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EDUCATION BRIEFS: Seminary president makes personal endorsement of Huckabee


REVISED Nov. 15, 2007

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)–Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee picked up an endorsement from fellow Baptist and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Daniel Akin Nov. 5.

Akin made the endorsement as a private citizen, telling The News & Observer newspaper that the former Arkansas governor’s positions on issues, such his opposition to abortion rights and his support of the traditional family, closely align with his own positions.

“At this time I’ll put my support behind the person who would do the best job regardless of where they are in the polls,” Akin told the newspaper.

Huckabee is an ordained Southern Baptist minister.

D.MIN. IN COACHING TO BEGIN IN JULY’ 08 — Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary will add a doctor of ministry in ministry coaching to its curriculum beginning in July 2008.

The new track of studies is designed for senior pastors of multi-staff churches, executive or equipping pastors, ministry staff supervisors, denominational leaders and others who coach ministry leaders.

“Coaching is different from consulting, counseling or mentoring,” said Jim Wilson, associate director of Golden Gate’s doctor of ministry program. “It involves respecting each other as capable equals, while guiding them to identify for themselves steps to accomplish God’s purpose in their lives.”

The San Francisco-area seminary has partnered with The Columbia Partnership (TCP), a Christian professional coaching organization in Hickory, N.C., which will provide adjunct faculty for eight coach training courses. The additional courses include such topics as coaching through change, transition, and transformation; the language of coaching; how to coach teams; and a coach approach to discipleship and evangelism.

“Working with The Columbia Partnership allows us to focus on what we do best –- shaping leaders for Kingdom work -– while facilitating an academic environment for what the Partnership does best -– training coaches who bring out the best in others,” Wilson said.

TCP offers coaching, consulting, speakers, seminars and other services to denominations, congregations and educational institutions. Golden Gate Seminary is the first to offer a doctoral-level program utilizing TCP’s services.

Through Golden Gate’s partnership with TCP, candidates will complete the coursework requirements for a professional level certification from the International Coach Federation (ICF), the largest professional coaching organization in the United States; additional hours of supervised coaching are required for the full certification.

Seminars will be held at the Hollifield Leadership Center in Conover, N.C., and at Golden Gate’s Mill Valley campus in California. Applicants must have an accredited master of divinity degree and at least three years of substantive ministry experience. Class size is limited to the first 15 qualified applicants; the application deadline is Feb. 1.

For more information, contact Golden Gate’s doctor of ministry office at 415-380-1626 or 1-888-442-8703 or visit www.ggbts.edu/dmin.

PROF: APOSTLE PAUL SOUGHT UNITY IN WRITING ROMANS — The Book of Romans reflects the Apostle Paul’s aim to bring about unity between Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome, Thomas Schreiner noted at a January Bible Study Preview Conference at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Schreiner, associate dean of Scripture and interpretation in the school of theology at the Louisville, Ky., campus, noted that Paul argued that Gentiles (Romans 1) and Jews (Romans 2) alike stand condemned before God.

Gentiles earn condemnation by suppressing the truth that God created all things and is worthy of worship, Schreiner said.

“All people, everywhere with the most elementary rational capacity know that there is a God who deserves their worship and honor and praise,” he said. “They have clearly perceived it from creation, from the world. The fundamental sin of human beings is to not honor and praise and give thanks to God. Every sin we commit has idolatry at its root.”

While Jews rightly condemn Gentiles for their ungodliness, Paul argues that the Jews also are guilty before God for not keeping the very law they thrust in the face of others.

“Paul says the Jews know the law, and even teach the law, but they don’t practice what they preach,” Schreiner said. “The Jews were guilty because they had a hard heart. They sinned and did not repent.”

Having established that all people deserve God’s just condemnation, Paul presents the beauty of the Gospel in Romans 3:21-26, which Schreiner described as one of the most glorious sections in all of Scripture.

“We are redeemed at the very cost of Christ’s blood,” he said. “God’s wrath is satisfied through Christ’s sacrifice. The cross is the greatest event in human history. Only someone who is infinite can satisfy the punishment necessary for the infinite heinousness of sin. God is both just, through the sacrifice of the Son, and the justifier. At the cross, both the love and the justice of God meet.

“We come as children, we come as beggars,” Schreiner continued. “The great thing about salvation through Christ is that it gives all of the glory to God. We can say to anyone, anywhere, ‘You are a wicked person, but I am also a wicked person.’ You can say to everyone, ‘Come and worship with us, for we are a collection of wicked people who recognize that we are wicked people.’

“This is designed to evoke praise in our lives as we realize that we didn’t deserve this. We deserved to go to hell forever. If we are not grateful for this, we have forgotten that it is mercy. We are saved, not by doing, but by receiving.”

In both the introduction and conclusion to Romans, Schreiner also noted that Paul says the Gospel fulfills what was spoken of the Messiah in the Old Testament.

“The Gospel is both prophecy fulfilled and a mystery revealed,” he said. “There are prophecies in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in Christ and there are mysteries in the Old Testament that are revealed in Christ. The Gospel is not contrary to the Old Testament, but is a fulfillment of what we read in the Old Testament.”
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Compiled by Art Toalston, with reporting by Michael Foust, assistant editor of Baptist Press; Amanda Phifer, a writer with Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary; and Garrett E. Wishall with Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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