After pastoring for over 40 years, my wife and I retired four years ago. We have spent much of our time visiting our children and their kids, dogs, cats, and chickens! Since we value our time with our family and friends, we work to make our home a relaxing oasis for their visits. We have done some traveling since retiring and often can be found doing yardwork, reading, meal prepping, or watching TV. With these huge new changes in our daily routine, we realized we needed new ministries.
As we prayed and searched for new missions, God led us to LLEM, which opened the door for us to minister through finances, education, and outreach. My wife has felt led to work on outreach, spreading the word about the needs of the communities LLEM reaches. Her desire is for God to touch hearts so others will respond with assistance for this deeply needed ministry.
In addition to pastoring with a background in theology, I have always enjoyed teaching, having taught at junior colleges in MD and WV, so it was a natural evolution for the LLEM Online Bible College to become the focus of my efforts. My vision for the school is simply to provide an affordable opportunity for believers to be exposed to and have the joy of studying God’s Word. The goal is not to indoctrinate people into a specific theology and not to persuade others to believe exactly like the staff but to open students up to new horizons and thinking that will lead to their personal spiritual growth. True education is not rote learning but being “transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (mature)” Romans 12:2. We believe renewed minds will desire to serve Him and spread His gospel.
There is a multitude of Christian denominations and movements that truly seek to glorify God through serving Jesus Christ. Within these groups with this common goal, we find a diverse range of multiple theological beliefs, yet all are seeking to bring glory to the Kingdom of God through worship, witness, and service to mankind. All of them see the Bible as God’s Word and seek to understand how it can encourage, inspire, and guide them in their spiritual journey. Yet with that common journey, we are all unique with differing personalities, cultures, experiences, needs, gifts, and education, so we may see God’s Word and our ministry in a different way from others.
Given the unique diversity among God’s people, let me share the following guidelines:
1) Past: We must view Scripture from the context in which it was written. To whom was it written and why? What is the historical and cultural context?
2) Principles: What principles are being taught? Principles transcend time, space, history, culture, and certainly our limited spiritual understanding. The basic principle is God loves us and will guide and protect His children in all circumstances. We believe He has an eternal plan, and as His children, we are blessed to be able to work for that plan.
3) Present: How does Scripture and the principle relate to the present? How are the Scriptures relevant in our present world? Even in the midst of a global pandemic, God is working within His people, accomplishing His goals.
4) Personal: What is the personal application of His Scripture in each of our lives? This will always be unique for each of His children. He will call each individual to diverse ministries, all for the glory of God.
My vision for LLEM Online Bible College is that our courses will open minds and spirits, encourage critical thinking and questions, allow students to hear God speaking to them, open doors for dialogue with diverse ministries, allow students to be open to new and fresh understanding as they mature in their faith, and they will discover the ministries God has for them.