Exodus 35:30-33 mentions the names of two men God gifted with the technical skills necessary for building the tabernacle. An intriguing comment follows in verse 34. God also gave them the skill to teach others. We find this topic also referenced in II Tim. 2:2 as Paul tells Timothy to teach faithful men to teach more faithful men. It’s easy to see how we can reason that if God has truly called men to preach, He also gifts them to teach others how to do the same. I am personally thankful for those men at BMA Seminary in the 1980s who gave their lives to teach those of my generation.
My prayers and goals for 2023 relate particularly to the gift of teaching others to teach:
• Prayer 1 — That our professors at BMA Seminary remain committed not only to passing on the Baptist faith to the next generation but also to focusing on equipping another generation of teachers for the seminary.
• Prayer 2 — That God would bless BMA Seminary with financial stability. Our teachers are obviously not motivated by greed. They have not received a cost-of-living raise in two years despite raging inflation. The seminary trustees will be recommending a 5% raise for the 2023-24 budget year. Continued generosity and good stewardship from our BMAA family are a must for these raises to fit within our budget.
• Prayer 3 — The past two years have witnessed an unprecedented number of pastors resigning or retiring. At the same time, there appears to be a corresponding drop in the number of young men surrendering to ministry. A prayer that all of us should be praying is that “the Lord of the harvest” will send more workers into the fields.
• Prayer 4 — A generation ago, the typical seminary enrollment reflected 90% on-campus students and 10% correspondence students. During and following the COVID pandemic, these rates have been reversed — 90% of our students are currently online students. Pray that our administration will have the wisdom required to make the most efficient use of our campus resources to meet the needs of our post-COVID reality.
