Bradley A Mills

101

Bradley Mills — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 15:11:49 +0000

When I was in high school I wanted to grow up to be a poet. I did, kind of.

101
March 2, 2011

Deep can’t tell the depth,
High can’t tell the height,
Wide can’t tell the breadth,
of my love for you.

But these words are all I’ve got
to tell the thoughts I’ve thought;
to speak of the love I’ve wrought,
sometimes perfectly, sometimes not.

So I do love you deeply,
with a love that is wider than the oceans,
and higher than the skies.
And I think of you for hours every day.

Choosing a Seminary, 3

Bradley Mills — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:00:44 +0000

This fall I’ll begin pursuing a Masters of Divinity at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I’ve started a series recounting my experience of finding the seminary that was right for me. I encourage you to read the first and second posts before you read this one.

As I was searching for a seminary, I was struck by the wide variation from school to school. Some seminaries are very academic, with an ivory tower mentality; some are extremely practical, maybe even a little lacking in rigorous theological training; and some are diverse, while others are homogenous. After establishing some of your foundational theological convictions, your next decision as you choose the seminary that is right for you is deciding what you want out of your seminary experience.

The way I see it, you have two choices. First, you can go to seminary to prepare you to serve full-time, (or maybe part-time), in a local church. This is the choice I made, and you’ll probably join me if you feel that God is calling you to be a Pastor. However, your other choice, (that isn’t necessarily exclusive from the first!), is to go to seminary to prepare you to teach in an academic environment. You might choose this route if you feel that God has called you to be a professor, author, or all-around theological heavyweight.

Making this decision will help you narrow down your seminary choices, and ultimately, help you find the school that is going to prepare you for your calling.

Disclaimer: I don’t have a lot of advice on choosing a seminary or divinity school that will prepare you for academia. I suggest you search for people blogging about M.A., Th.D., and Th.M. programs. Try this.

If you decide that you want your seminary to prepare you for ministry, I suggest that you:

Get mentored by a pastor.
It’s important that you have someone who’s already gone through the whole seminary process giving you advice. My pastor helped me think through my theology and encouraged me to read outside my comfort zone. But the most important thing I gained from the time I spent talking with my pastor was advice on how to prepare for seminary. Since he had already gone through what I was headed into, he knew the things that I wasn’t likely going to know when I started. I’ve been able to read to fill in gaps of knowledge, and hopefully prepare me to excel during my time at Southern.

Serve in a local church.
This was extremely important for me. Not only will it give you valuable experience down the road, but the time you spend working with middle schoolers will help you see that God hasn’t called you to student ministry (true story). You may even find that you’re not called to work in the church, and that God has prepared you to serve in academia (see the disclaimer above). So I really encourage you to find a church where you can intern or volunteer. It will help you know exactly what kind of ministry you need to prepare for, and as a result, what kind of seminary you need to find.

Read!!

The books you read will help you narrow down your seminary choices. As I started deciding what I wanted out of seminary, certain books were extremely influential in my theological development. I decided I wanted to learn from their authors; I wanted to soak up information from lectures rather than the pages of books; I wanted to know the men that had built up my faith so much. That’s ultimately what helped me decide on attending Southern.

Whether you think you want to pursue a career in academia or serve in a local church for the rest of your life, you need to find the seminary that is going to prepare you best. Determining which route you are going to take will help you narrow down your seminary choices quicker than anything else.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

How I Get Things Done Now

Bradley Mills — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 13:00:32 +0000

“In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Technology is incredibly helpful. When I wrote my post on how I got things done, I was trying to use technology to its fullest potential. But over the past year and a half, I’ve tweaked and changed my system to become more consistent and productive. In that time, I’ve realized that my productivity is limited by the complexity of my system.

I had been consumed with fixing and tweaking my system, and pretty unconcerned with actually getting things done. So I changed it up, and went completely old-school. I’m not dependent on Things, iCal, or Notational Velocity to get things done. I can’t blame my system for impeding my productivity. I am limited only by my will power to sit down and plan my week.

Now I am Getting Things Done with:

The first thing I do on Friday in my weekly review is determine what I must get done the next week. I go through my syllabi, look at upcoming events on the church calendar, and see what I have going on in my personal life. Each one of these tasks becomes an actionable item, and I write them all on my large, lined sticky note.

The second things I do is schedule out when I will complete each action. Depending on when an item is due, I will schedule out tasks to accomplish on any given day. Each day gets its own list on a plain sticky note.

The third thing I do is block out sections of time in my day planner to plan my week. I have three colors for each different context. Yellow is personal time, blue is education-related time, and pink is church-related time. Each day I get done what I’ve scheduled, and I never fall behind.

I have pretty much dropped the idea of projects. Each task stands alone, and is categorized only in terms of context. (For more information on these concepts see David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity).

This is what it looks like in practice:

It seems silly that with an iPhone, MacBook, and all the other productivity tools that are available I would have gone back to what people were using 15 years ago and find that it works best for me in 2011. But as Longfellow said, the “supreme excellence is simplicity.” I’ve found that when it comes to productivity, he’s right.

How do you make sure you get things done? Is it simple or complex?

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Choosing a Seminary, 2

Bradley Mills — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:00:11 +0000

This fall I’ll begin pursuing a Masters of Divinity at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I’ve started a series recounting my experience of finding the seminary that was right for me. You can read the first post here.

Growing up in a Pastor’s home, I lived as a pretty good, moralistic, nominal Christian. However, through high school I grew increasingly bitter towards the Church and the Christians I was around. So when I started college I planned to do whatever I could to remove myself from Christianity.

When I started my freshman year, I was majoring in Economics with the hopes of teaching at the collegiate level. I was enamored with the philosophy of human behavior and how consumers drive the economy of a nation, so I read widely in economic theory and philosophy. I loved it all, and drew many conclusions about the world from the works of Ayn Rand, Ludwig von Mises, and Murray Rothbard (Google those names if you want to know what I thought about the world). However, there was one thing missing from the pages of anarchist, individualist thought — otherness.

I hadn’t come across anything that suggested it might be in one’s best interest to sacrifice to see another individual experience a better life. Over time, I began to see that my life was not about me, but about those around me. Over six months or so I felt that God was pursuing me, and on my birthday in 2008, I gave up resisting.

From there I was forced to build a new theology for myself. I knew it couldn’t be shaped by Christian culture, but had to flow from the Scriptures and be affirmed by the historic creeds of Christianity. Then there was the paradox: I knew it had to be intellectually credible while requiring leaps of faith. But above all, I knew that it had to drive me to see others as more important than myself, and lead me to serve the world around me. Over the past three years I feel that God has used His Spirit to lead me to an understanding of Him that meets all the things I thought I needed, and exceed them.

So in your own Seminary search, I suggest that you:

Immerse yourself in the Word.
You have to gain an understanding of God that is true to the Scriptures. As His Self-Revelation, the Bible offers us a unique way of seeing and experiencing God. Through reading Paul’s letters, the Pentateuch, and Hebrews, I began to see God and his purpose for the world revealed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During those days, I was really encouraged by:
- Knowing Scripture by R.C. Sproul
- Knowing God by J.I. Packer

Read as much as you can.
I bet if you are looking for a seminary, you are already a reader, but the Lord used good (and bad) books to teach me about Him. The thing is that when you read books, (especially those that don’t just reinforce what you believe), you are forced to think about things that you might not have thought about before. I suggest finding a “Recommended Reading Lists” from a few different people online. I worked through most of an older version of The Resurgence’s Recommended Reading. Here are some others:
- Desiring God’s list of recommended books.
- Dr. Russell Moore’s recommendations. He is the Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Seminary.
- The links in my blogroll also provide a constant stream of edifying stuff.

You can find more by Googling “Recommended Reading Theology.”

Surround yourself with godly people.

I can’t tell you how many conversations with my best friend, Tim, sharpened my thoughts. He suffered through many of my heretical thoughts, and kindly, but strongly, prompted me to think harder. There are others too: Jay, Mark, my dad, and most recently, Dave. I thank God for these guys and the conversations we’ve shared.

I cannot stress the importance of this part of the Seminary search enough. If I had not had a developed understanding of God and his ways in the world, I would have never chosen Southern. In fact, you can see how my theology developed by the seminaries I was interested in attending. At first I was looking at Princeton Theological Seminary, Duke Divinity School, and North Park Theological Seminary. Then as I moved towards an evangelical understanding of Christianity it was George Fox Evangelical Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Finally, as I began arriving at a Reformed Baptist understanding of God, (and seeing my calling as Pastoral rather than Academic), I narrowed my choices to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Reformed Theological Seminary, and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The first step to finding the right seminary is developing a theology that is founded on Scripture. Without it, the rest of the search is going to be tough; but with it, the process will go like a breeze.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Disciple Now

Bradley Mills — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:00:15 +0000

This weekend I’ll be working with senior guys at Cottage Hill’s Sr. High Disciple Now. This is a really strange experience for me; it will likely be the last “event” at my home church. Not only that, but these guys are seniors in high school; I’m a senior in college. These guys will surely ask questions about relationships; I’m getting married in four months.

So while I can’t wait for the small group sessions where we get to discuss the deep things of God, (along with the shallower aspects of human existence), it’s going to be bittersweet.

I thank God for the D-Nows I went to when I was in high school, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to share my experiences with these guys.

(This will post on Saturday, February 19 at noon. We’ll be working at a school near our church doing cleanup and minor construction.)

Choosing a Seminary, 1

Bradley Mills — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:00:48 +0000

This fall I’ll begin pursuing a Masters of Divinity at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. However, deciding whether I should pursue formal theological education and training, and then finding the school that was right for me, was a long, and honestly, stressful process. In fact, when I started my seminary search almost three years ago, I was overwhelmed by the amount of information that was available on the Internet. My problem wasn’t finding seminaries, it was finding advice on choosing a seminary.

Now that I’ve made it through the process of choosing a seminary, applying, and getting accepted, I’ve got some experience that may be helpful to others beginning their own search. So while I’m not an expert in the field, I hope that you can at least gain a little insight into how I found Southern, why I decided to attend Southern, and what I hope to gain from going to seminary. Over the next few weeks I’ll try to take what I’ve learned and break it into principles that you can apply to your own journey.

So until next Tuesday’s post, I’ll leave you with a couple of books that were important and significant in shaping the route I took to choosing a seminary.

Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper helped me formulate my understanding of what it was God was calling me to do.
So You’re Thinking about Going to Seminary by Derek Cooper was a practical guide to understanding what seminary is and what to expect from a seminary education.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Update on My Directed Study

Bradley Mills — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 13:30:49 +0000

Last fall I began a directed study researching leadership in the Church. Over last semester my emphasis shifted from focusing on one denomination (the SBC), to developing a model that can, for the most part, be applied to any church. It basically works out like this:

The Apostle Paul used three major metaphors to describe the Church’s relationship to Christ: the bride (Eph. 5), the body (1 Cor. 11:12-13), a building (Eph. 2:19-22). Each of these metaphors stress a different perspective on the church’s purpose. As the Bride, the Church loves Christ; as the Body She does Christ’s work; and as a Building She is being put together as a place of refuge and love. This essentially represents the first portion of my paper.

In the second half, I suggest that the church’s ministries fall into one of these three roles. A ministry is either focused on loving Christ through worship and increased knowledge of Him (Bride); focused on actively “doing” things such as missions or service projects (Body); or focused on growing the bonds of the people, strengthening and building the community that is the Church (Building).

Thinking about ministries within this framework is helpful in assessing what ministries are vital within a church. It may be that some ministries are actually distracting to the overall ministry and effectiveness of a church.

The coolest part is I’m actually helping a church develop a strategic plan using this model to assess their ministries. I’ll continue updating as I wind down with the paper.

If God is Good — A Book Review

Bradley Mills — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:52:16 +0000

“If God is Good” by Randy Alcorn is a mammoth book. Not only is the book almost 500 pages in 45 chapters, the breadth and depth of its content is vast. However with chapters ranging from “What is Evil, and How Does it Differ from Suffering?” (Chapter 5), to “How God Uses Suffering for His Glory” (Chapter 37), the book is full of valuable insights into suffering and evil.

I enjoyed the book for one main reason: it’s many Scriptural references. Many expert philosophers and scientists have made it their life goal to explain suffering and evil from a non-theistic approach. For the Christian, these answers fall short. In “If God is Good” one will not find arbitrary explanations to life’s biggest questions, but answers firmly rooted in the unshakeable, perfect Word of God. Alcorn does a fantastic job defining evil and suffering from a Biblical perspective, offering (and then debunking) possible reasons why they exist (Section 4), rooting our understanding of evil and suffering in the sovereignty of God (Section 6), and finally giving reasons that God “allows or brings [suffering]…into our lives” (Section 10) (pg. 392) .

I would recommend this book to believers more inclined to theological thought, and especially those interested in Apologetics. It is a very theoretical, principle-based book, and apart from section 11, doesn’t contain a lot of practical help to overcoming grief and pain. Therefore I couldn’t recommend it to unbelievers, or even young Christians who are suffering. After reading the book I think the reader that will benefit best from Alcorn’s work is the believer who is trying to develop his or her own understanding of evil and suffering to answer the questions of a skeptic or hurting unbeliever. For that, the definitions, answers, and Biblical framework of suffering and evil gained from this book are priceless, and the Christian who makes it through the book will benefit greatly from it.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

My Friend Jay

Bradley Mills — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 20:11:44 +0000

My friend Jay is on a new adventure. He’s headed to LA to work with the homeless of Skidrow.

He and I met when he started interning in the middle school ministry at Cottage Hill. Over the past couple of years we’ve grown pretty close, and since he graduated from University of Mobile in December (congrats, again.), I’ve missed hanging out with him. He’s one of my groomsmen in my wedding, and probably one of my favorite, fellow armchair theologians.

There’s no doubt he needs our prayers. Read his blog and follow his journey.

The Knowledge of the Holy, 2

Bradley Mills — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 15:27:12 +0000

In 6 months, I’ll graduate from college.
In 7 months, I’ll marry the love of my life.
In 8 months, I’ll move away from home for the first time.
In 9 months, I’ll begin seminary.

I’m coming into a time of great transition, but
I’m coming into a time of great triumph too.

God has been faithful to bring me through many things, (and will be faithful to get me through many more), but I’m not very faithful to Him. See, this time of transition often feels turbulent, not triumphant. I often see all the things going on around me, and wonder, “Is this what God would really have me do?”

Why would I ever lack the faith to trust God? He is faithful, isn’t he?

Tozer reminds us,

“…We tend immediately to reduce God to manageable terms. We want to get Him where we can use Him, or at least know where He is when we need Him. We want a God we can in some measure control.^[1]“

I want God to show His might in my life by providing me opportunities and opening doors for me, however, that’s all I want. I don’t really want Him to accompany me through those doors. I say to my faithful Father, “Thanks for this opportunity. See you on the other side.”

That’s sad. What an unfaithful child, and plus, that is not how God has revelaed himself. He doesn’t operate that way, even though I want Him to. He is always with me. The second chapter in The Knowledge of the Holy is, “The God Incomprehensible.” Tozer’s basic thesis is that we cannot arrive at knowledge of who God is apart from His self-revelation in Scripture. Ultimately, that self-revelation of Scripture finds its perfect fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

“In Christ and by Christ, God effects complete self-disclosure, although He shows Himself not to reason but to faith and love. Faith is an organ of knowledge, and love an organ of experience. God came to us in the incarnation; in atonement he reconciled us to Himself, and by faith and love we enter and lay hold of Him.^[2]“

How can I not trust Christ? He is the Savior that pursued me through the ages, and bought me with His own blood. He has triumphed over sin, why would He not triumph over the situations of my life? It’s my prayer that I would sing this song over and over:

“Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him,
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, Precious Jesus!
Oh for grace to trust Him more.^[3]“

—————————-

[1] Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy. San Fransisco: Harper, 1992, p. 13.

[2] Ibid., p. 14.

[3] Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus, Stead & Kirkpatrick.