The Academy and the Church

This week I will be representing the Faculdade Teológica Batista de São Paulo, the São Paulo Baptist College and Seminary, at the mid-atlantic regional meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. I will be presenting an academic paper to this very diverse group of university and seminary professors. On Sunday we will be going to Cranford, NJ, sharing our ministry and preaching at the Raritan Road Baptist Church. We served in pastoral ministry in this same church for several years before the Lord sent us to Brazil as missionaries. We still have many dear friends in this church and many fond memories of our time there. As a seminary teacher on the mission field I have always urged students that the study of the Bible should never become a merely academic exercise, theology should always be practical. I am thankful to have dear brothers and sisters, like those in Cranford, to encourage me to be teachable and sensitive to what God is saying in his Word.