GATS Brazil Trip Part 3

Afternoons With Faculty & Students

One of the reasons this special GATS only trip was put together, was to get the students and faculty in-person. GATS is a totally online seminary, except for the doctoral program, which has an in-person “Intensive” twice a year, in order to fulfill certain accreditation requirements.

For the master’s program however, there is no way for students and faculty to meet in person except through a short meeting at the Global Awakening conferences. The Mission Statement for GATS is: To Study the Word of God To Gain the Heart of God To Demonstrate the Power of God. I like that. That’s one thing that drew me to this seminary. Did you know that many seminaries are jokingly called “cemeteries?” Isn’t that terrible? This should not be.

I’m in seminary to learn as much as I can about what pastors and professors know, so that I can pass that along to whomever God puts in front of me. Many people can’t afford “extra” education, like Bible schools or college degrees, etc. I’m a small group leader in my church and I’m passing along to my group members some of what I’ve learned. My group members are hungry, and they “eat” it up.

In the afternoons on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we got together for a time to get know each other a bit in small groups, then with the faculty, we discussed issues in the Body of Christ. I thought I would take copious notes. I had a journal there to do just that. But I found that I didn’t want to do that. I just wanted to listen to what was said and see if anything “stuck.”

We talked about revival and what could help that happen. We discussed how to handle “hot button” issues in the church today. And more. Many of the students are already pastors or are studying to become pastors. We had both doctoral and master’s level students there. And we had a few faculty, but not all of them were part of the panel discussions.

Both my advisors, from master’s degree and my doctoral program were in attendance. I really liked both. Dr. Litteer helped me in my M.Div. program and Dr. Turpin is my advisor for the doctoral program, (which I never would have thought I would ever do but see last fall’s post about that).

Next time, The Challenges of Returning Home.