Then and There, Here and Now

     I made a bit of a pilgrimage last Saturday. I was not the only one. The place I was going was not the only destination. One was a physical place, the other a state of mind. I had a choice to make and decided to return to the very place from where it all began. 

    My college is merging with another. St. Louis Christian College has come to the end of its journey as a separate entity. Insolvency has been transformed into something new by joining forces with Central Christian College of the Bible, an institution with a similar background and guiding purpose. I am glad that, in some way, the journey continues. For some of us, in many ways, it will not really be our journey. For us, that is not the place where it all began. 

    Before the beginning, I heard about SLCC at Oil Belt Christian Service Camp. Faculty and staff from SLCC ran a week of camp designed to recruit students for ministry. I was hooked. I never seriously considered attending any other Bible College. When I decided to preach, that decision was essentially “I will go to SLCC to learn to preach.” I was called to ministry at Oil Belt Camp when I was 13 years of age. I chose at that moment, sight unseen, that SLCC would be the place where my life of ministry began. 

    What did I learn at that place from whence I come? First, I learned that ministry, service, and devotion are a fully entangled strange loop. (That is an obscure reference to Douglas Hofstadter’s Gödel, Escher, Bach.) I love Jesus. I love ministry. I wish to do my best. There is really no way to separate them. It’s all one thing. In the 21st century, the trend has been to separate career from identity. However, if your career is a calling, if your profession is a craft if your purpose is a passion—it’s all one thing.

What then, did I learn at this tiny Bible College which is no more?

1. I learned how to learn.

2. I learned to value collegiality in the context of individual integrity.

3. I learned that passion without control is too messy for real-world ministry.

4. I learned the power of lifelong friendship forged at life’s crossroads.

There is much more. A nice, compact list of four should give you some indication of my affection and gratitude for this place. It was not the last place I studied. Lincoln Christian Seminary is likewise going through a season of retrenchment. Our Alma Mater's matter. Tomorrow, many pulpits will be filled by orphans. Since last Saturday I’ve been playing and singing some old, maudlin songs on the piano. That’s what I did first thing this morning, one week later. Then I remembered I needed to finish this Blog. A neighbor of our Church brought a big box of food by for our food pantry, expressing interest in worshipping with us. Our town is having its “citywide” rummage sale day today. The Chamber of Commerce is selling Pork-Burgers in our church parking lot. Tomorrow is the Lord's Day. And as I sit here and think about Church tomorrow, I can’t help remembering how everything then and there contributed to the preacher that I am here and now.