Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary is now offering a new Ph.D. in Applied Theology concentrating in Missions with a track in North American Missiology. This degree is available to church planters, pastors, and others working in the field of North American Missiology with at least three years of field experience. The successful candidate will also meet all the admission requirements for Southeastern's Ph.D. studies. Sound good? Of course it does! SEBTS is an excellent seminary that continues to grow a reputation among serious students of the word and practitioners of ministry.

Here is some of the information now available for this new degree (and note that it does not require relocation to Wake Forest).

This week I'm at Biblical Seminary teaching a D. Min. course titled, Entering the Missional Conversation. I thought you might find the syllabus interesting.

Biblical Seminary exists to produce missional Christian leaders-
men and women who incarnate the story of Jesus with humility and authenticity and who communicate the story with fidelity to Scripture, appreciation of the Christian tradition, and sensitivity to the needs and aspirations of postmodern culture.

Guest Professor, "Entering the Missional Conversation," Biblical Seminary, Hatfield, PA (March 23-27)

Well, I only have one speaking engagement this week, but it's a long one-- teaching a D. Min. seminar all week long at a seminary - Biblical Seminary in PA. 

Biblical Seminary asked me to lead their faculty retreat last year.  I was glad to spend a day walking through the history of the missional idea (Newbigin, DuBose, Van Engen, Guder, GOCN, Keller, etc), my thoughts how evangelicals can embrace the missional turn without falling into the same errors as the conciliar missions movement did during the missio dei emphasis of the 50s and following, and the challenges of the missional turn today.  We had a robust and stimulating day-- and it led to my "Meanings of Missional" series here at the blog. 

I am thankful that they asked me to come and teach a course with them and I look forward to the week in Philadelphia.

Advance 09 Conference Registration Now Open

Here is some info about an upcoming conference that just went live this week.  Be sure to visit the web page at www.advance09.com.

Christ promises to build the Church, and that no force will prevail against it. Yet, the local church has been heavily battered in battle. Sadly, churches in America are in steady decline, with over 4000 closing their doors and 500,000 members leaving each year--never to return. This is not what the Lord desires. The Apostle Paul tells us that " . . . through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places". The local church is called to lift-up Jesus so that all the world might see Him. The local church is called to make known the Gospel and to be the vehicle of redemption for the world. Led by local churches, Advance09 is a conference committed to the resurgence of the local church for the glory of God. Our aim is to equip attendees with the Gospel so that the local church might become all that Jesus calls it to be. At this conference, we hope to ensure that on our watch and in our time we honor Jesus and see the resurgence of the local church. Advance09 is open to anyone: pastors and lay-leaders; church members and regular-attenders. We invite you to join us in this Great Cause.

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL (outside of Chicago) is a great school. There are a number of reasons why Trinity is a great choice for graduate and post-graduate work, but I'm short on time so let me give you one reason you should enroll: I would love to see you in my D. Min. class this Spring.