Things You Did Not Learn in Bible College

I am seated in a mid-morning chapel and the speaker begins with the question, “How many world changers do we have in the house this morning?” Deep in my heart I have an overwhelming desire to jump up and shout, “Just One. His Name is Jesus”. Jumping and shouting in chapel is not my style, so I conclude it is best if I don’t publicly answer what was clearly meant to be a rhetorical question.

The question troubles me because of the expectations it creates. There is no doubt the world needs to be changed. There is no question I need a new rule in the kingdom of my thoughts. Can the world be changed? Yes, it can. Can God use flawed people like me and you to change the world? Yes, He can. Am I a “World Changer”? No, I’m not. The difference between “World Changers” and “World Changer’s” is more than spelling, it is theologically significant.

Most Bible College students are young, full of passion, love for Jesus and the conviction that they and God can do anything. The first three attributes are wonderful and the last one will leave them disillusioned and disappointed. I entered the ministry believing that the history of the church was the history of extraordinary men and women of great faith who went out and gave their all for God. I believed God had called World Changers to do His Will. For the length of time that I lived within the realm of my natural gifting, I trusted the Lord, but my illusion remained intact.

Then I moved to the jungle. Four years later, I understood that the history of church is the history of ordinary men and women, who have been given an extraordinary faith that saves, justifies and makes them holy, who go out and live their lives with the God who has given His all for them.

That is good news and bad news. The good news is: there are no extraordinary people. The bad news is: there are no extraordinary people. If there are no extraordinary people then there’s no excuse from being used to do extraordinary things. You are destined for an extraordinary life, because the life you now live in this mortal body, you live by faith in the One who loved you and gave Himself for you.

It all depends on Jesus. The limits are removed. Given the choice between being one of the World Changers and one of the World Changer’s, I’ll go with option number two every time.

I am a strong advocate for Bible college and believe we desperately need another generation of young people trained in the scriptures and with more than just a superficial knowledge of what the Word teaches.

I also have enough theology credits in my portfolio to know there’s a big discrepancy between what we learn in the classroom and what real life throws our way. In 1988, I was a thirty-something headed to the mission field.  I loved the Lord. I wanted to be strong of heart and full of faith.

Then a funny thing happened.  Real life, in a culture extremely different than my own collided with the paradigm of belief which I held so dear.  I look back and sense the Lord was smashing my theology and then as I gasped at the ruins He asked, “Can you see me now?”

I let go of things I had been taught were “gospel truth” because I learned they were not actually “gospel truth”. Those who know me will recognize the first few topics because I raise them often. Hang in there and we will cover new ground, or write in with something you wished you’d learned in Bible school. We can have some fun, and reduce the pressure of pretending we got it all nailed down when we don’t.

Till next time.