Copyright © 2018 Derek Wayne Jones All Rights Reserved. the Southern
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Copyright © 2018 Derek Wayne Jones All rights reserved. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has permission to reproduce and disseminate this document in any form by any means for purposes chosen by the Seminary, including, without limitation, preservation or instruction. DEVELOPING STUDENT MINISTRY INTERNS AT APPLEWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH IN WHEAT RIDGE, COLORADO __________________ A Project Presented to the Faculty of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary __________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Educational Ministry __________________ by Derek Wayne Jones May 2018 APPROVAL SHEET DEVELOPING STUDENT MINISTRY INTERNS AT APPLEWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH IN WHEAT RIDGE, COLORADO Derek Wayne Jones Read and Approved by: __________________________________________ Dr. Michael E. Pohlman (Faculty Supervisor) __________________________________________ Dr. Joseph C. Harrod Date ______________________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE . vi Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION . 1 Context . 2 Rationale . 4 Purpose . 5 Goals . 5 Research Methodology . 6 Definitions and Limitations/Delimitations . 7 Conclusion . 9 2. BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL SUPPORT FOR PROPERLY EXEGETING AND PREACHING OLD TESTAMENT HISTORICAL NARRATIVES . 10 Redemptive Historical Hermeneutics . 10 The Example of First Samuel 17 . 23 Conclusion . 29 3. THEORETICAL, PRACTICAL, AND HISTORICAL ISSUES FOR PROPERLY EXEGETING AND PREACHING OLD TESTAMENT HISTORICAL NARRATIVES . 31 Common Misconceptions and Fallacies . 31 Old Testament Narrative Genre Should Influence the Structure of the Sermon . 40 Determining the Original Intent Will Allow for Accurate Application . 46 Conclusion . 49 iii Chapter Page 4. THE METHODOLOGY OF THE PROJECT . 50 Project Schedule . 50 The Interns . 51 Expert Panel Review . 51 Pre-Seminar Questionnaire . 52 Pre-Class Assigned Reading . 53 The Six-Week Training Process . 53 Post-Class Questionnaire/Class Evaluation Administered . 65 Live Preaching and Evaluations . 65 Conclusion . 65 5. PROJECT ANALYSIS . 67 Evaluation of Research Data . 67 Evaluation of Project Goals . 70 Strengths of the Project . 72 Weaknesses of the Project . 75 Theological Reflections . 77 Personal Reflections . 78 Conclusion . 80 Appendix 1. BASICS OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORICAL NARRATIVE EXEGESIS ASSESSMENT . 82 2. OLD TESTAMENT HISTORICAL NARRATIVE EXEGESIS ASSESSMENT CURRICULUM EVALUATION . 88 3. APPLICATION PACKET FOR TRAINING . 90 4. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE COURSE EVALUATION . 93 iv Appendix Page 5. OLD TESTAMENT HISTORICAL NARRATIVE SERMON EVALUATION . 95 6. MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATION FOR PRE/POST BASICS OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORICAL NARRATIVE EXEGESIS ASSESSMENT . 99 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 101 v PREFACE This project was completed in large part because of the encouragement of many. First, I would like to thank a faithful friend and mentor, Dr. Calvin Wittman. I am grateful for his love, encouragement, and investment in my life. Next, I would like to thank Dr. Michael Pohlman, my faculty supervisor, for his guidance and encouragement throughout the whole process. Last, I would like to thank my loving, supportive family, who has been my biggest fans. Derek Jones Wheat Ridge, Colorado May 2018 vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Applewood Baptist Church student ministry desires to make disciples by creating a culture that points people toward the way of Christ, which is the way of the cross. Making disciples consists of training people to use their gifts in order to build the church. The Bible teaches that each individual has gifts like prophecy, service, teaching, exhorting, generosity, leadership, zeal, and mercy (Rom 12:6-8). Some of these gifts are easier to develop than others. The gifts of teaching and preaching are some of the more difficult gifts in which to train because it includes a vast amount of instructing in areas such as communication, biblical theology, exegesis, and the like. Often, limited equipping occurs in the local church regarding preaching because of the amount of time needed to train leaders to accurately handle the Scriptures. This lack of training has led to many beginner preachers having to figure out how to preach and handle God’s Word on their own. These beginning preachers lack confidence in exegesis, leading them to focus on preaching from the easier genres, such as the Epistles or Gospels. They almost always avoid the more difficult genres, especially Old Testament historical narratives. This avoidance of preaching Old Testament historical narratives leads to increased biblical illiteracy within a community, and the church suffers immensely because the people are not hearing the full counsel of God’s Word communicated. The Bible is the complete, inerrant, and infallible word of God (2 Tim 3:16-17), and any ministry should have leaders who can preach texts from all types of genres. 1 Old Testament narrative passages are foundational to understanding the New Testament,1 and all of the books are necessary to accurately understand God’s plans of redemption through the work of Christ. Michael Lawrence states, Biblical theology is about reading the bible, not as if sixty-six separate books, but a single book with a single plot-God’s glory displayed through the Jesus Christ. Biblical theology is therefore about discovering the unity of the Bible in the midst of its diversity. It’s about understanding what we might call the bible’s metanarrative.2 Applewood Baptist Church student ministry implemented a training program to equip its student ministry interns with the tools necessary to faithfully handle this genre of biblical writing. Context Applewood Baptist Church (ABC) in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, began as a mission of Truett Memorial Baptist Church April 10, 1960, and on September 11, 1960, was constituted as Applewood Baptist Church (ABC). In its fifty-five-year history, ABC has gone through a variety of seasons within its student ministry. The student ministry has experienced periods of strong and poor leadership as well as times of growth and decline. Historically, ABC’s student ministry has not allowed anyone, including its ministry interns, to preach from the pulpit unless they had a traditional degree from an accredited seminary. The pulpit was only for those who have been trained in exegesis and was never used as a tool to develop their young interns. However, recently the youth ministry has experienced rapid growth and increased gatherings, resulting in the need to empower the interns to preach and teach on a regular basis. In the haste to staff the youth ministry, insufficient attention has been given to equip the interns in the needed homiletical and exegetical 1See Luke 24:13-35; Heb 11; Rom 15:4; 1 Pet 1:10; 2 Cor 3:14. These passages reveal Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament redemptive promise. 2Michael Lawrence, Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church: A Guide for Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 30. 2 skills. One of the biggest areas of weakness reveals itself when the interns are asked to preach from the Old Testament narrative passages. These passages seem to be avoided at all costs because of the interns’ lack of training when dealing with this genre. All of the interns have grown up in churches that rarely taught the Old Testament. Because of this, they possess a limited understanding of how God has revealed Himself to His people throughout history and how the Old Testament points forward to the life and mission of Jesus Christ. It is imperative to teach the interns to discern the intended purposes from the stories and, when forced to preach from this genre, not to turn the intended meaning into a moralistic exhortation to become like the biblical characters instead of seeing God’s redemptive historical plan. In order to avoid moralistic teaching, our desire is to expand the interns’ knowledge on the different biblical covenants and the redemptive-historical context that should be the background for all of the historical narratives in order to find their ultimate meanings.3 Another weakness has been the lack of discipleship that has taken place within the church’s student ministry. The primary focus of large group gatherings and evangelism has left limited time for investment in the interns. Most of them have been involved in ABC’s student ministry for a while and have not had anyone mentor them personally. They have not had an opportunity to ask questions regarding the Bible, the Old Testament, or preaching on a consistent, weekly basis. Thus, the interns have been thrown into ministry environments without proper training, and many have burned out because of a lack of affirmation or encouragement. The above-mentioned circumstances have pointed out a great need in having someone invest in the lives of the interns, providing platforms for 3Sidney Greidanus states, “Clearly, one of the dangers of reading the New Testament without its Old Testament background is a serious misunderstanding of the teaching of the New Testament.” Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method (Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans, 1999), 30. 3 them to use their gifts, as well as offering appropriate feedback regarding their strengths and weaknesses. Rationale Paul commanded Timothy to teach faithful men what he had heard from Paul so that those men would teach others (2 Tim 2:2). The primary source Paul used to teach Timothy was the Old Testament, and all believers have the same commission. ABC’s student ministry desires to be faithful to this biblical imperative and to teach the interns how to preach Old Testament historical narratives. In the past, there was an expectation that leaders within ABC should be able to preach, however, preaching now seems to be a specialty. The local church rarely offers any type of training or feedback regarding educating young men how to preach and exposit God’s Word. The next generation of preachers are starving for training in regard to the different genres of Scripture and how to create and structure sermons. Paul charges Timothy to “preach the Word,” to “be ready in season and out of season,” and to “reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim 4:2).