Friday, July 08, 2011

I Never Expected This: Part Three

This week I have been sharing some thoughts about thing that I never expected from seminary.  Today I'm going to add one to my list because of something that happened this week.

This week I received and email that the dean of my seminary has resigned (at least that is how I read it).  Now I am not completely sure of everything that went down and for me to say anything more than that line would be speculation on my behalf.

But here is what I do know; Tozer is my third seminary that I have attended.  I started out my degree is San Diego attending Azusa Pacific University and I LOVED it!  I was in one very cool course and then I accepted a call to Las Vegas to be a Middle School Pastor at a growing church called South Hills.  I took a break from seminary to focus on building the ministry and then found a local seminary that I could attend.  Fuller Seminary really isn't a local seminary but they had a program that I could start attending locally to work on my education.

Well about half way through my degree it became evident to me that I was not going to be able to finish my degree here in town because of how Fuller is set up (I wish I could have).  I started talking with guys and ran into a man named Rob Redmann who told me about Tozer Seminary up in Redding, CA.  I loved the idea and finally had the guts to transfer (again).  After I transferred I found out that Rob was leaving the seminary.  There was an intern dean by the name of Leron Heath and he is a STUD in ministry.  The guys loves Jesus, has a pastoral heart and is an amazing man (he also helped me with ordination).

Well Leron was the intern dean while Tozer found the right person for the job.  About eighteen months ago they brought in Dr. Sarah Sumner to lead the seminary and I thought she was doing pretty good (I can be judgmental at times).   About a month ago I had a conversation with Sarah that fired me up on higher education and the direction of Tozer.  The email I got on Wednesday was saddening to my heart but I trust that God has a plan for Tozer and He is still the leader of the seminary.

On a personal side I just never expected that I would transfer so much, have so many deans and attend so many schools to complete my degree.

4 comments:

Eli said...

Man, that is so crazy huh. I also have attended 3 different seminaries (Tozer, Fuller, APU) and was shocked by this news. I am actually in San Diego now and attending Azusa Pacific which is really cool so far. Hopefully this will be the last one. I hope all is well with you bro. Eli

Neal Benson said...

Is Mickey still pretty key in the SD extension? I love APU

Randall Gremillion said...

What happened to Dr. Sumner? My wife and I are big fans

Neal Benson said...

From what I understand she was released from her duties at the seminary. I am not completely sure under what circumstances but she is gone.