wakebird » PhD http://wakebird.com an acrobat's search Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:35:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 I HAVE OFFICIALLY DECIDED http://wakebird.com/2007/03/15/i-have-officially-decided/ http://wakebird.com/2007/03/15/i-have-officially-decided/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:58:00 +0000 wakebird http://wakebird.com/2007/03/15/i-have-officially-decided/ I am going to meet with the head of the PhD Program at Talbot today and officially drop out of the program. This is a big decision, but I believe it’s the right one for multiple reasons.
1. I am feeling more and more called to being a pastor long-term and even being more of a preaching pastor and potentially leading a church or even planting a church someday.
2. After observing the professors, graduates of the program, and the current students I don’t think that I want to be in the academic world full-time. I feel like I would love to be an adjunct youth ministry or other practical ministry professor and teach one class while still working full-time in the church.
3.I simply don’t have time to put the proper amount of focus and energy into the program. With working at Calvary and overseeing all of Student Ministries and the Elevation service I feel pretty busy in the sense of study and work. Also, with my wonderful wife, almost four year old girl, and another daughter due in July, I don’t want to be spending all my free time reading and writing papers. We put Grace down at 7:30 or 8:00pm and then I’m supposed to start doing homework after getting to work at 8am in the morning. It’s just not going to happen.

So I know that I can always go back later in life if I want to. I’m only 32. I meet with my professor today at 3:00pm. I’m kind of dreading talking to him. I feel like we are breaking up or something.

All I feel is relief and happiness. Big sigh of stress leaving my body…aaahhhhhh…

]]> http://wakebird.com/2007/03/15/i-have-officially-decided/feed/ 2 Two New Classes http://wakebird.com/2007/02/02/two-new-classes/ http://wakebird.com/2007/02/02/two-new-classes/#comments Fri, 02 Feb 2007 14:49:00 +0000 wakebird http://wakebird.com/2007/02/02/two-new-classes/ So I’m continuing with my PhD in Educational Studies and I’m taking two classes on Thursdays. Yesterday was the first day of the semester.

1. Friendship and Community: A Context for Learning. This class should be interesting although the professor’s pace was a little slow. This is the first class he has ever taught. There are six people in the class and we will be reading things like Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together and about 10 other books that I will post about later.

2. Theological Foundations and Issues in Christian Education. In this class we will look at the Gospel, Sanctification, the Church, the Holy Spirit, Teaching/Learning, and a couple other theological issues that aren’t coming to me right now. We will study each concept and then consider the implications for educational ministry in the church. We will write a chapter for a book in pairs on the subject assigned to us. I will be studying the church or ecclesiology. This class is being offered for the first time and should be pretty interesting. The primary text is called Integrative Theology by Demarest. We will also read a book called 5 Views on Sanctification.

More to come each week after class.

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