Rockbridge Seminary Online

New Movements in Leadership Development, pt 4

Brian Schmitt — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:42:25 +0000

The Fourth Movement I see in Leadership Development is HI-TECH, HI-TOUCH APPROACH.

Because we live in a Hi-tech society many organizations are now capitalizing on technology and providing their leadership development content online. But if you simply put courses online and expect people to work their way through the content and “be trained” you will be disappointed. The Hi-tech approach is not enough on it’s own…it must be combined with a Hi Touch element. This means providing the content online but ensuring the learner then engages with a coach or mentor to debrief their learning experience.

Using this approach you can provide training any time, any place at any pace. For example, I am currently acting as a mentor for a Rockbridge Seminary student. This week he will…Continue Reading

Any more wrong

Meet Rock’r PJ Holmertz

Dr. Sam Simmons — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:18:00 +0000

Name: PJ Holmertz
Hometown: West Des Moines Iowa
Academic Program: MDiv
My family: Drop dead gorgeous, supportive and part-time proof reader wife Emily, the blond tornado of talk – Sarah (3 yrs), our jolly bump on the carpet – Aiden (10 months)
My church: Valley Church – West Des Moines Iowa, not a perfect church but as close as they come
My ministry: My job description lists me as a Ministry Associate of Care and Counseling. I help to facilitate congregational care through our Stephen Ministry, Marriage Matters and midsized group care structure. I also do the bulk of our premarital counseling. Along with this I am working with the men’s ministry and African ministry. There are plenty of other things that come to us as assigned.
One word that describes me: Disciple
In my spare time: Seriously, spare time?
Favorite Bible verse: Luke 1:37 “For nothing is impossible with God.”
Spiritual hero: Martin Luther
Vision: To encourage and equip the body of Christ for effective ministry internally and externally.
Why I applied to Rockbridge Seminary: After achieving my undergraduate degree in Bible Theology I knew that I wanted to work towards my Masters degree. I also knew that I wanted to begin developing my skills in the context of the local church. I was able to find a ministry position that was a dream come true but I wasn’t able to find a seminary nearby that I could attend to attain my Masters degree. When I found Rockbridge I knew that it would fit my needs perfectly and it would give me practical training along with a solid biblical foundation for my ministry.
What I like most about Rockbridge Seminary: I have found that every course at Rockbridge has been immediately applicable to my ministry. In college I often found myself learning great theory but forgetting it as soon as the class was over because I didn’t have opportunities to use that information. At Rockbridge the information I have learned has stayed with me because I am acting on that information as I learn it. I can not only look back at a particular course but at the effects that that course had on my ministry at that time. With every course I become a more effective minister of the gospel.

Assignment Upgrades-Christian Worldview and Theology

Dr. Sam Simmons — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:41:01 +0000

Based on feedback from students, major assignments in the course Christian Worldview and Theology were upgraded to the following:

Personal Worldview Statement
The purpose of this assignment is to help you expand your Christian worldview to address the most popular arguments being used by contemporary atheist writers:

Christianity is a divisive and oppressive force (Dawkins)
Christianity is not a rational enterprise (Harris)
Christianity is an illusion of an illusion (Hitchens)
Christianity poisons everything (Hitchens)
Christianity is violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism and tribalism and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children. (Hitchens)

To complete this assignment, pick one of the points above and write a 750-1000 word “Personal Worldview Statement” that addresses it from a Christian worldview perspective.

Worldview Interviews
The purpose of this assignment is to help you gain a better understanding of the worldviews of unchurched persons.

To complete this assignment, complete a 2000-3000 word paper that analyzes five interviews with unchurched individuals based on Mark Bertrand’s four starting points of Christian thought (Rethinking Worldview, chapter 2). Here are the guidelines for your interviews and paper:

Develop an assessment tool of up to eight questions that will help you engage an unchurched person in conversation about Bertrand’s four pillars.
Administer your worldview assessment tool to no less than 5 individuals whom you know as unchurched.
Organize your paper using the following sections: “My Interview Questions and Approach,” “The Interviews,” “What I Learned about Worldviews,” and “Outreach Lessons for the Church.”

Christian Worldview and Theology is a required course in Rockbridge Seminary’s Master of Divinity program and an elective for the Master of Ministry Leadership program. The course will be offered next during the October 2009 Term starting October 27.

Download course syllabus

Meet Rock’r Prof Randy Millwood

Dr. Sam Simmons — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:37:49 +0000

Name: Randy Millwood
Hometown: Owings Mills, MD (From ATL, GA, originally – long, circular route to find ‘home’ in the Mid-Atlantic)
What I teach at Rockbridge Seminary: Students! [Seriously, I work with our 'fellowship' department courses, and lead the small groups course]
My family: Adele (my administrative assistant, ministry partner, high school sweetheart, best friend and wife of 33+ years); 2 adult sons (Josh and Caleb) – both married to our ‘daughters-in-life’ (Josh to Elena and Caleb to Abigail). Caleb and Abigail are the parents of our first grandchild (a boy named Axel) and Josh and Elena are expecting our 2nd (a girl to be named KayLee… at least for now). We also cater to the needs of one old, spoiled Corgi.
My church: Horizon Church… a 7 year old congregation reaching, largely, 20 and 30-somethings in the burbs of Baltimore.
My ministry: In addition to working with RS, I am a coach/friend to leaders of churches in the ‘Baptist’ tradition, affiliated with the Baptist Convention of Maryland & Delaware. I work with those pastors/staffers in areas such as the nurture and care of their own souls, the development of ‘team’ strategies/equipping those teams, and continuing education. I also come alongside of their churches to encourage and offer assistance with relational spiritual formation designs and small group (off-campus) ministries. In my Church, Adele/I have been serving as small group leaders.
One word that describes me: oxymoron
In my spare time: I watch/follow major league baseball, count the days from taking down Christmas decorations until I can put them back up again, love a good wooden roller coaster, and dance around the house to virtually all forms of music. I am learning ways to use Twitter these days, and am a plodder when it comes to reading… but I plod along!
Favorite Bible verse: That is very dynamic, but right now I’m spending lots of time around the implications of John 14:26 — “But when the Father sends the Advocate (counselor) as my representative — that is, the Holy Spirit, HE will teach you everything and HE will remind you of everything I have told you.”
Spiritual hero: Barnabas (hands down)
Vision: I want to help… to help pastoral leaders find rhythm that recognizes the Voice of God, and courage to follow Him… to help churches think more organically and missionally rather than always ‘counting’ and ‘gathering’… I want to help.
Why I teach for Rockbridge Seminary: The RS strategy builds indigenous leaders for local churches… it provides a way for people who submit life to God in Christ to rise up through a local churches discipling strategies to own the vision of that Church – to equip their friends, neighbors, work associates and family members. I like that! The strategy is also built around solid adult learning pathways (the focus of my own personal study has been in adult learning and so few schools equip men/women for ministry informed by such). Third, mentorship and practice are weaved into every course… that means holistic growth rather than one sided growth. Finally, the peer learning community, born out of common reading and dynamic dialog, meets the Holy Spirit in His role as ‘Teacher’. Fantastic! Who wouldn’t want to be part of something like that?!
What I like most about Rockbridge Seminary: I am constantly surprised with the depth of relationships that are formed in these online courses and the power of lessons discovered (rather than ‘told’) through the dialogs. Students from all over the world wade out into confessional living and challenging learning dialogs and then carry those practices into their congregations. This cannot help but impact the health of those local churches. Anything that is so ‘Bride-building’ is a good way to invest life.

Writing to pay your way through seminary?

Brian Schmitt — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:19:48 +0000

Have you thought about writing to pay your way through seminary? Rock’r Dennis Miller has taken a great first step by casting his referral net wide. He recently wrote an article for Brigada, a web journal by Team Expansion, about Rockbridge.

Dennis will be receiving $250 tuition credit for each applicant that says they first saw us on Brigada’s website. As soon as they finish their first course Dennis will see the funds in his RS account. Could it be any easier?

Writing Guidelines Clarified

Meet Rock’r Mark Lake

Dr. Sam Simmons — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:20:49 +0000

Name: Mark Lake
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/marklake
Hometown: Orange Park, FL
Academic Program: Master of Ministry Leadership
My family: Wife Jennifer, daughter Gwyneth (6), sons Evan (3) and Wyatt (2)
My church: Celebration Church
My ministry: I am a volunteer at Celebration Church. My regular job is as an aerospace engineer for F-18 aircraft. I serve as an usher, group leader, pastoral care giver, recovery group leader, and church life strategist. I love to serve in the local church and see people set free!
One word that describes me: busy!
In my spare time: I love to learn and read. Reading gives us access to such great minds that we would never have the chance to converse with personally. I love the outdoors, spending time with my family, and playing guitar.
Favorite Bible verse: Among many, I especially like Romans 8:1 – Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (I recommend looking up “condemn” in the dictionary. It’s great to know that none of those things apply to us when we are “in Christ”!)
Spiritual hero: AW Tozer
Vision: I have a vision to plant a church here in Orange Park, FL. I am praying and preparing for when God appoints the proper time. In the meantime I am enjoying where I am at and learning from a great church and great people.
Why I applied to Rockbridge Seminary: I felt God calling me to learn more so that I could better serve Him. I have found that not only do I need to learn more to serve Him better, but I need to know Him deeply, experience Him daily, and understand that my true identity is found in my relationship with Jesus.
What I like most about Rockbridge Seminary: I love the interaction with other students. I think the forums actually require more communication than I have ever experienced in a traditional classroom. I have learned so much from other students here at RS. I love that the professors are more than just teachers in an institution; they are engaged in ministry positions in the real world and offer practical wisdom from their experience. I love that what I learn is practical and can be immediately implemented into my life and ministry. I love that it is online because I am not able to move away or quit working in order to attend seminary.

Meet Rock’r Burl Spears

Dr. Sam Simmons — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:23:05 +0000

Name: Burl Spears
Hometown: Poteau, OK
Academic Program: MDiv
My family: Sarah (wife), three daughters
My church: Immanuel Baptist Church
My ministry: Worship leader, 101-301 Instructor, Bible Teacher (just starting a Precepts course)
One word that describes me: Bassman
In my spare time: Take Rockbridge courses. Play in an oldies rock band with old friends from high school
Favorite Bible verse: Ezra 7:10 – “For Ezra had disciplined himself to study the law of the Lord, to practice it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel.”
Spiritual hero: Jesus – David
Vision: I want to see the church I grew up in become the church God intended it to be. I desire to be a part of a ‘make-over’ that will see the church centering on making disciples and sending them out into their lives to bring others to Jesus.
Why I applied to Rockbridge Seminary: I like the Purpose Driven format even though five purposes seem hard to remember for most people. But it looked to me like Rockbridge was trying to make a real difference in church life and not just maintain the status quo.
What I like most about Rockbridge Seminary: ON-LINE!! I do miss classroom face to face and relationship building face to face. The forums allow for that somewhat. But to get the quality of education that I am with Rockbridge is worth the long hours typing at the keyboard.

MDiv courses now electives for MML students

Dr. Sam Simmons — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:13:51 +0000

Beginning with the October 2009 Term, courses specific to the Master of Divinity program up until now will be made available to Master of Ministry Leadership students as elective courses. These are the courses being released to MML students as elective courses:

A revised 2009 Catalog showing updated 3-year course schedules will be available by the time October 2009 Term registration opens on September 29.

NEW official time zone for courses: CENTRAL

Dr. Sam Simmons — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:28:39 +0000

When Rockbridge Seminary launched in 2004, we used Eastern Time Zone as the official time zone for courses. Why? The servers for the company that provided the seminary’s online classroom at the time were located in the eastern part of the US. Consequently, all submitted course work and forum postings were automatically stamped using Eastern Time Zone, making this our official time zone by default.

The 2-year conversion and course design upgrade to our new online classroom are complete. No longer are we forced to use Eastern Time Zone.

Since Rockbridge Seminary’s home office (Springfield, MO) is located in the Central Time Zone, beginning with the September 2009 Term the Central Time Zone will become the official time zone for all courses and course work.

Making school, family and ministry [and seminary] work

Brian Schmitt — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:00:40 +0000

Obviously, before going back to school I wasn’t sitting around with an excess of free time, looking around for something to fill it. Instead, I was sensing in my heart that there was so much more God wanted to teach me, and in particular wanted my life to be less about me and more about others. I was involved in a lot of little things, all seemingly disconnected, without having much of an impact in any one area.

So I needed to get a better handle on why I am here, get training on how to be a better leader, and get a deeper understanding of God’s mission in this world. Together, those pointed me to considering seminary. Practically speaking, my job, marriage, four young kids, and a desire to stay active in the church and community where I’m located [put] some extreme restrictions on what that education would have to look like. Continue reading…