Seminary

I am a kinesthetic learning, which means that I learn by doing. Others are visual learners, which I guess I'm capable of too, but my lowest is auditory, which is why I can count on one hand the number of classes in college that I stayed awake all the way through. But anyways, because I am a kinesthetic learner, I need to process onto paper, so I am going to go stream of consciousness here on the issue of enrolling in seminary.

John's Good Reasons for Going to Seminary in the Spring

• I want to learn more about God and Scriptures
• I want to have a better ministry
• I love learning and want to keep doing it
• I eventually would like to have a seminary degree and I'm not getting any younger
• I want to expand my pool of people that I am meeting and building relationships with
• I want to have opportunities for networking with influential people and students who will someday be influential people
• I was prophesied over in 2004 that I would be a pastor
  

John's Bad Reasons for Going to Seminary in the Spring

• I want to gain the approval of those around me who have seminary degrees
• I feel inadequate next people who have Masters degrees
• I want to gain the "stamp of approval" of people who believe that you must go to seminary to do ministry
• I feel many people around me getting a Masters and I feel that the expectation is high
  
• I have often prided myself on intellectual ability and I want to continue that
  

John's Reasons for not Going to Seminary in the Spring

• I am still relatively unclear about my whole life's direction
• I do not know if I will be able to finish Seminary if I start
• I also want to get a secular Masters degree in something practical, especially development related, and I have already started that
• I have a full-time job in the ministry and have just begun a nonprofit that will take some time on the side
• I am just beginning to develop a good set of friends in the Dallas area and I want the time to cultivate that and build discipleship relationships
  

John's Fears about Going to Seminary in the Spring

• I fear that I will hate it
• I fear that it will sap all of my free time to the point that I struggle to maintain a social life
• I fear that it will damage my relationship with Christ (have heard as personal testimony from many people)
• I fear that it will make me too intellectual about my faith over the emotional and spiritual aspects
• I fear that I will disagree with what I am taught and that this will either (a) make me bitter, (b) make me an outcast at the school, or (c) make me question my faith
• I fear that it will keep me from doing ministry in my free time due to not having any free time