![\"mbts\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/292\/2015\/06\/mbts.jpg\")
<\/a>As of July 1, 2015, I am joining the faculty of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary<\/a>. I will be Associate Professor of Christian Theology at the seminary and Director of the Center on Theology and Culture (more on this to come). My work as CBMW President will continue in full as we drive the organization onward.<\/p>\nWhy am I joining MBTS? Four reasons.<\/p>\n
1. I love the vision of the school.<\/strong> The slogan of Midwestern<\/a> is \u201cFor the Church,\u201d which I love. In all that the seminary seeks to do, it strives to serve gospel-formed congregations. MBTS is focused like a laser on training pastors and ministry workers. That\u2019s what I am after with my life. There is a marvelous synergy here.<\/p>\n MBTS loves the model of pastor-theologian, which I have written about previously. In August 2015, I publish\u00a0The Pastor as Public Theologian<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>with Kevin Vanhoozer. It is my intent to help raise up an army of pastor-theologians who train at Midwestern to love God\u2019s Word and to minister it with extreme skill. Through teaching at the MDiv level<\/a>, I am keen to help send out missionaries, counselors, and servants of Christ who glorify him in myriad vocations. This is the chief calling of my life, and I can\u2019t wait to exercise it at Midwestern.<\/p>\n This is not a professional move, first and foremost. I see it as a gracious recognition of the ability to train teachers of God\u2019s church. The stakes are almost forebodingly high with this kind of work. Not many should become teachers, James says; the cost of leading God\u2019s people astray is devastating (James 3:1). Teachers are judged with \u201cgreater strictness.\u201d I am sobered by this. Pray that I will be faithful in this position.<\/p>\n 2. I see a ton of young energy at MBTS.<\/strong> President Jason Allen<\/a> has been blessed of God since he assumed his role three years ago. MBTS was just named the fastest-growing seminary in America (read this truly incredible ATS report<\/a>). Allen is young and is\u00a0full of\u00a0vision, acumen, and theological knowledge. He believes in traditional pastoral training and is committed to excellent in-person instruction. He is a man of gospel conviction and great ability.<\/p>\n Jason Duesing<\/a>, the provost at MBTS, is a man I greatly respect. In 2014, I asked him to join the board of the Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood<\/a> because I saw in him serious faith, biblical fidelity, and uncommon intelligence. I am very excited by the scholarship Christian George is producing (ten volumes on Spurgeon to come\u2013wow). Christian looks to be the historian par excellence\u00a0<\/em>of our generation and is leading the Spurgeon Center<\/a>, which will be\u00a0the Bodleian of the midwest (I\u2019ve seen the interior, and it\u2019s going to be a spectacular<\/em> place to study\u2013future doctoral students take note). It\u2019s my hope that Christian and I can further build on Midwestern\u2019s reputation in the fields of church\u00a0history and theology.<\/p>\n Jared Wilson is widely loved for his winsome and searching writing, and I think he\u2019s establishing himself as the Eugene Peterson of our day. \u00a0John Mark Yeats, a fellow TEDS PhD grad, is a very gifted scholar and leader. Charles Smith has already built a culture of excellence and won the trust of many donors. These men, along with others, signal that something very unusual is happening at MBTS. Once a generation, it seems, God blesses a school in a special way, and calibrates\u00a0it for maximum gospel impact. This happened at Southern Seminary in the mid-1990s, it happened at Fuller Seminary in 1947, and it happened at Princeton Seminary in the late nineteenth century. God is doing something similar at Midwestern.<\/p>\n (Also, the guys at MBTS know how to have fun. They have impromptu ping-pong tournaments and wiffleball games, for example. Though I am no ping-pong Jedi, I look forward to dusting off my paddle and entering in.)<\/p>\n 3. I will zero in on writing.<\/strong>\u00a0The primary call of God on my life is to write. In this next phase of ministry, I hope to step back a bit from the day-to-day rush I\u2019ve been in for several years now. I want to focus on reading, thinking, and writing deeply. My role at MBTS is going to allow me to do all this.<\/p>\n The time I\u2019ll have with my young family is priceless. I\u2019m eager as well to spend much time meditating on Scripture and praying at length on strolls through Kansas City, much like my New England forebear, Jonathan Edwards, in his own habitat. The chance to draw near to God in order to draw others near to him is by far the best part of this move. If I am not a serious<\/em> Bible-reading and praying theologian, cancel my union membership and call the whole thing off. It\u2019s all for naught.<\/p>\n I have five books releasing in the next few months, including my study of Chuck Colson, entitled\u00a0<\/a>The Colson Way<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(Thomas Nelson, foreword by Eric Metaxas). It\u2019s exciting to have these launching soon. In future days, I\u2019ll think about tackling a theological anthropology, some more work on Carl Henry, and perhaps a public theology (a companion to systematic theology, and a blend of theology, ethics, and worldview).<\/p>\n My working model in this period is Carl Henry. Numerous friends over the years have encouraged me to look to him as an example of evangelical scholarship, and I will seek\u00a0to do just that. Henry\u2019s writing left a major mark on evangelicalism, and in my view went a long way to demonstrating that the faith in Jesus does not pulverize the mind or heart, but enlivens each and brings them to full flourishing. In some small way, I want to perpetuate this mission, and to do so through serious theological scholarship. There will only be one Henry, but I love the model he provides.<\/p>\n 4. I will train up future pastor-theologians and scholars.\u00a0<\/strong>Pastors in no way need a doctorate to do theological work. But some are called to get further training. I will be supervising students in theology, and I am really excited about training pastor-theologians and scholars. It\u2019s my hope that my students can play a serious part in producing excellent confessional scholarship that will strengthen the church, defend the truth, and promote a glorious vision of theistic reality in a world of lies. I would love to help place academicians in key posts throughout Christ\u2019s kingdom, and to see an array of dissertations published by my doctoral students.<\/p>\n