ROAD TO THE MDIV #1
Why I’m Starting This Project
Anyone who has followed my podcast and poked around my website knows that I’ve done an abysmal job at updating my blog. My goal when we launched several months ago was to write a blog post once a week. As I’m writing this, we’ve got six posts, the last one from nearly a month ago.
I’ve considered a few solutions. I could give up the blog. I’m busy: already putting out a weekly podcast, full time school, part time work, a faint resemblance of a social life. Anyone would understand. But I’m also stubborn, and I have a vision of a thriving blog — there’s lots of content I want to put out that doesn’t fit into my podcast format. So I went for a different route.
Once each week, I’ll write a short, very personal update. How is life? School? Ministry? The podcast? I’ve followed blogs that release that sort of content, and it fascinates me to get inside another person’s life. I can’t imagine who will really be interested in these, but at the very least they will be low-bar entry points of writing. Hence, they will keep me in the swing of word crafting, which will ideally facilitate me putting out more of the rich content I envision populating this blog. Perhaps these updates will entertain and inform friends, family, or people interested in what it’s like becoming a pastor.
I’m calling it Road to the MDiv after the name of the graduate degree I’m pursuing: a Master of Divinity, the most common pastoral masters degree.
How Long Will It Go On?
I suppose until I get my MDiv, which is about four years away.
School So Far
As far as the road in question goes — I’ve completed one year in my undergraduate degree (which is a bachelor of biblical studies). That year was at Columbia Bible College (CBC). I’ve since transferred to Okanagan Bible College (OBC) — one of the published blog posts provides some rationale behind that switch. I’m sure it’ll come up in future posts too.
I’m about halfway through my second year of schooling. OBC has a progressive schooling model, which runs once course at a time for a month, instead of the typical semester system. In November I completed a course on the Gospels, and in December I am working on an Introduction to Philosophy. My major paper for my current course is tentatively titled, That Every Mouth May Be Stopped: A Philosophical Defence of a Wrathful God.
I May Have Bitten Off More Than I Can Chew
Regarding my personal work, today I wrote down the outline for a project so massive, I don’t think I’ll complete it for at least four or five decades, Lord willing. Many questions of theology, Church life, and the historical Jesus have been floating through my head for weeks — yesterday, a chapter in a book (The Moral Quest, by Stanley Grenz) electrified my brain and all those pieces slid together into a coherent whole. (If you’ve ever had that experience — when several questions are answered all at once and all in the same way, but in a way you never expected — you know how exhilarating it is).
I think I’ll call this project The Eternal Covenant. But the basic idea is to explore and understand, all underneath a unified biblical framework (which I believe is the unfolding of the eternal covenant within the Godhead), fields as disparate as systematic theology, biblical theology, ethics, pastoral theology, history, philosophy, apologetics, textual criticism, and perhaps others. That might not make sense, and that’s okay. I’ll keep developing it, and down the line I’ll explain the details and reasons for a project like this.
Running The Podcast Over Christmas
The only bit of podcast news on my mind right now is my intention to keep the show running over Christmas. Usually people tell me to take a break for things like Christmas. But for me, it’s a matter of discipline. If I stop running the show for a week or two, I’ll fall out of the habits that keep it going smoothly — and it’ll be twice as difficult to get back into those habits as compared to if I just sacrifice a bit of time over the holiday season.
On the docket for the next few weeks is The Sacraments Series, which will be a deep dive into the history, theology, and practical use/purpose of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Weekly Stats
I find stats interesting. I know some people don’t, and that’s okay — you don’t have to read this part. But I thought it would be cool, even for myself, to break down the numbers behind my work each week.
Reading
Total = 260+ pages
Breakdown: 137 pages (The Moral Quest by Stanley Grenz); 100-150 pages (The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan — didn’t keep track of this carefully); 11 pages (The Porn Myth by Matt Fradd); 10-20 pages in blog posts
Writing
Total = 8665 words
Breakdown: 2900 words (Episode #79 outline); 180 words (The Eternal Covenant outline); 3525 (my major paper for my Gospels class); 1200 (outline for the major paper for my Philosophy class); 860 (the word count of this blog post so far).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHASE HALL is a student at OBC, doing his Bachelor's in Biblical Studies, and a Ministry Intern at Central Community Church. He is the host of Revolution Podcast, and an avid student of Greek.
