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Master's International School of Divinity

Discussion in 'Baptist Colleges & Seminaries' started by North Carolina Tentmaker, Jun 21, 2008.

  1. North Carolina Tentmaker

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    Hi guys, I know this is not one of the favorite schools on this board, but it is where I have been taking classes and I obviously like it a lot.

    Well I got my degree today. I guess you can call me Dr. Tentmaker now. I recieved my Doctor of Biblical Studies in Pastoral Ministry. Hey I know its not a PhD but I am still happy to have finished it. This is the culmination of my Biblical education that started when I was called to preach 11 years ago.

    Of course my wife had to point out that a DBS degree is a BS degree so as a doctor of BS I must really know my BS.

    Now where do I get one of those pads so I can write perscriptions?:laugh:
     
  2. SBCPreacher

    SBCPreacher Active Member
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    Congratulations!
     
  3. Tom Butler

    Tom Butler New Member

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    A former pastor who earned his doctorate joked that he got it so he could preach like a Pentecostal preacher and people wouldn't laugh at him.

    Let 'er rip, Dr. Tentmaker.
     
  4. Ed Edwards

    Ed Edwards <img src=/Ed.gif>

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    Dr. Tentmaker

    has a nice ring to it


    Now let me see if I can understand:

    You got a Master's Doctor's Degree :saint:

    I think I got it.
    Personally I have two Bachelor's degrees and have been BIBLICALLY married twice, but I have two Bachelor's degrees???
     
  5. Martin

    Martin Active Member

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    Well Dr. Tentmaker, Congradulations! :thumbs:
     
  6. PilgrimPastor

    PilgrimPastor Member
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    Congratulations!

    I took a serious look at Master's for doctoral work as well. They have some great programs and some gifted and even prominent alumni. Be Blessed!
     
  7. Rhetorician

    Rhetorician Administrator
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    Dr. "NCT" Response

    Dr. "NCT,"

    I want to make it perfectly clear that the attitude some of us have towards non-accredited degree programs seems to be downright mean at times. I personally do not want to come across or be perceived in that vein. Please hear what I am saying:

    I want to congratulate you upon your graduation.:thumbs: :applause: :godisgood:

    I, for one, will be glad to refer to you as "Doctor." I want you to realize that all of us want (or most of us who are RA or ATS "Rednecks") people to get a degree (or education) that is commensurate of the calling we have received of God. We must do and be our very best for the Kingdom's increase! Do you not agree?

    And you know, as well as I, that there are many out there who only want the title "Dr."

    After having said all of the above, I would be interested to know:

    1. What you have learned that you did not know?

    2. How you see the doctor's degree enhancing your ministry, as you went through the program, and in the future.

    3. Was it worth all of the time, wear and tear on the family, money, gained knowledge, etc.?

    4. What was the title of your dissertation or project?

    5. Any other insights?

    Please share with us your experiences in a bit more detail.

    "That is all!"
     
  8. North Carolina Tentmaker

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    Thanks Rhet,

    Healthy debate is not only a learning process, but it also fun. I understand both sides of the accreditation debate and feel no ill will toward anyone.

    I followed the degree program I believe God wanted me to and have no regrets at all. When I was called to preach in 1997 I had a Bachelor's degree from a state university in engineering but no bible school training at all. I started with free devotional and bible classes that were nothing more than recycled Sunday school curricula. The better ones were part of Moody Bible Institute. I don't know if they still do that or not. They were not for credit or anything, but they were available free through the mail.

    From there I started taking classes through the SBC Seminary Extension program. Some of these were correspondence and others were live. These were accredited classes with professors from Southern and Southwestern Seminaries.

    After I did all I could there I transferred to a correspondence degree program that accepted my Seminary Extension credits. I completed my Bachelor's and Master's degree with them.

    Then I moved on to Master's International School of Divinity where I was accepted into the DBS program. Their classes were a mixture of correspondence and on line instruction. It has been an 11 year journey of education and I have learned a lot.

    But what will I do now? Certainly there are some books I have been wanting to read. I believe education should be a life long process and don't intend to stop just because I now have a degree on the wall.

    Doing your best for the Kingdom's increase as you put it Rhet is exactly right. Doing your best does not mean just the effort you put forth Sunday morning. To really do your best means doing your best in education and preparation as well.

    To answer your questions:

    1. What you have learned that you did not know?

    Wow, I don't know, everything. Bible classes that increased my biblical knowledge and my relationship with God. Leadership classes that helped my secular calling as much as anything in church. Sermon construction and presentation formats that help me organize my ideas and present them in a manner much clearer than before. I had a class on auditorium construction that taught me a lot about acoustics that I just loved. Counseling courses that taught me to shut up and listen more than anything else.

    It is very hard to point to one thing or a list of things. I have grown, as a man, as a preacher, as a child of God. I think that answers your question more than any specific item.

    2. How you see the doctor's degree enhancing your ministry, as you went through the program, and in the future.

    There is an authority factor that some people, when they learn you have an advanced degree listen to you a little more than they did before. That is about all the paper is worth. The information and growth are as much about the process of learning as they are about anything specific.

    3. Was it worth all of the time, wear and tear on the family, money, gained knowledge, etc.?

    Yes, definitely. The MISD doctor program cost me about $3,000. That is pretty cheap as doctor programs go. I had to pay on it for about 3 years but paid it off before I graduated. My family and ministry always came first so while there was some neglect I kept it as little as possible. My kids I think were encouraged in their own schooling when they saw me working on mine. We home school our 4 children and they loved to see what I was working on with my school. It made them feel we were in school together sometimes.

    4. What was the title of your dissertation or project?

    I had both a written dissertation and a project. My project was on evangelism and revival. It was basically a how to manual on how to conduct a revival meeting. It included some original sermons but also planning, music, publicity, special events and other ideas for holding a successfully revival. My written dissertation also related to evangelism and contained biographies and analysis of several great evangelists stretching from Noah and Joseph to Jacob DeShazer and Jim Elliot. I compared the many ways God used these men of the past and applied to how God uses us where we are today.

    5. Any other insights?

    We are all different Rhet, different in our calling, preparation, and execution. There was a time when coming from a legalistic IFB background I was very critical of those who did not look and sound just like me. God helped me overcome that problem, and many others.
     
  9. Rubato 1

    Rubato 1 New Member

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    Very happy for you, Doc.
     
  10. gb93433

    gb93433 Active Member
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    Is your dissertation published? Is it available through a dissertation database? I ask because it I think it would be interesting to read.
     
    #10 gb93433, Jun 24, 2008
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  11. North Carolina Tentmaker

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    No. The requirements were that it be a document "suitable for publishing." I do not think MISD has a dissertation database. They might, there is a lot of information available from them online but I have never looked specifically.

    I may submit it for publication someday but I don't feel it is quite ready yet. Someone once told me that only a foolish man would publish while he was young. I am only 41 and when I read documents I wrote in my 20s and 30s I am glad I took that advice. I have published a few magazine articles and stuff like that, but nothing manuscript size.
     
    #11 North Carolina Tentmaker, Jun 25, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 25, 2008
  12. PilgrimPastor

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    I am sure glad that Spurgeon did not take that advice :) :godisgood: I am working toward publication by the end of the year and I am in my early 30's... it probably is fairly sound advice in many cases though...
     
  13. gb93433

    gb93433 Active Member
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    Isn't 41 about the average age that most people died this time last century?
     
  14. PilgrimPastor

    PilgrimPastor Member
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    That's a good point! Good writing is good writing and its quality is not based on the author's age... though I do get the point of waiting on maturity for content's sake...
     
  15. North Carolina Tentmaker

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    Well of course you are right. But this 41 year old does not feel his work is ready yet. Now my younger brother has several published works, but they are all math textbooks. There are some fields I could probably publish in and I would have no problem publishing sermon transcripts. But when I see someone do something like publish a book on child rearing when their children are not yet grown it really makes me cringe. If we have not achieved some level of success why should anyone listen to us?
     
  16. PilgrimPastor

    PilgrimPastor Member
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    I understand your point and it is a good one. I am working on a book which is derived from a compilation of sermons, so in a sense, it is exactly what you are speaking of in publishing sermons. Part of the reason I am preaching through the chapters in a sermon format and vice versa is to gauge the effectiveness of the material.
     
  17. TomVols

    TomVols New Member

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    From one side of the Smokies to the other, congratulations Doctor!
     
  18. Rhetorician

    Rhetorician Administrator
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    PP Reply

    Pilgrim Pastor,

    How are you doing, well I hope?

    Let me share some information that you can put in the FWIW (for what it's worth file!).

    The volume that Dr. Dockery and I have done, for about four years now, is coming out even as I enter this. We are already on the Amazon page. And a few things that I have found to be true from my personal perspective:

    1. Writing is the hardest job I have ever had in ministry.

    2. This is b/c it takes so much discipline and focus. It has to be up there with prayer and Bible study and preparing sermons and breathing. You must do something on it or with it or about it everyday.

    3. It is easier to do "course work" than to do a major writing project like a thesis or dissertation. That is one contributing factor to the many "ABDs" out there (All But Dissertation).

    4. Writing the thesis or dissertation is the "proving ground" for the future writing projects.

    5. If you are going to be a successful writer then you must keep something "in the pipeline" all the time. You must balance and juggle more than one project at a time.

    5. It never hurts to "have a friend" to help you along or sponsor you.

    6. Write, write, write; even for the church bulletin.

    7. I have found that you must block out time to do it everyday if you really want to be successful.

    8. Starting out it is not for the "faint of heart!"

    9. Get use to rejection, rejection, rejection!!!

    10. I would counsel folk just like I would young "ministers-to-be," if you can do anything elsem then do it.

    11. It will be one of the most difficult things you have ever attempted.

    12. But, it will be one of the most rewarding when you have accomplished your goal.

    13. Examine your "goals" and "calling to write" in the light of what you know God's will to be.

    14. Usually, it will be an extension of what you have done or what you are doing.

    15. Write about what you know or have experienced.

    16. Unless or until you are an expert in a field, don't use the opportunity to write to learn about a new field or endeavor.

    17. Has there been any good work out there on your topic?

    18. What audience will buy or want to read your work?

    19. Do you have a new slant on and old issue or doctrine or some such?

    20. Why do I want to write, or why do I want to be published? These are, after all, different questions.

    I would be glad to talk to anyone who has a question, just e-mail or PM me!

    From my perspective!!:laugh:

    "That is all!"
     
    #18 Rhetorician, Jul 18, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 18, 2008
  19. PilgrimPastor

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    Thanks

    Thanks Rhet,

    I sent you a PM on the subject.
     
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