Dr. Ninan

Adam and I out for dinner.

If you are friends with me on facebook, you'll notice that I posted of my recent acceptance into the Doctor of Ministry program at Alliance Theological Seminary.
I have been thinking of pursuing further education for a couple years now. Felicia and I talked and prayed and felt the timing was right for me to start now.

I looked at several programs in the States, Canada and even the United Kingdom. I was trying to decide between a PhD and a DMIN. A PhD is a professional academic degree that would open doors for me to teach at a college or seminary in the future. A DMIN is also a professional degree but is  focused more on practical vocational ministry, usually in a local church.

I would have loved doing a PhD, but honestly didn't think I would have been able to give the full focus the program would have required. We would have had to move and Felicia would have had to return to working full time.

Consequently, I shifted to looking at various DMIN programs in Canada and the U.S. The initial program I was attracted to was at Gordon Conwell.   Conwell has a pretty solid standing among evangelicals and I know a lot of Regent alumni have gone on to study there. They have one of the top preaching centers in North America as well. Up until this summer, I was pretty set on going there.

And then .... providence happened. Every year our family takes a week vacation in the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York at a resort called Camp of the Woods. This year's speakers were Ravi Zacharias, Nabeel Qureshi and the seminar speaker was Martin Sanders.

Sanders actually used to teach at the college I attended in Regina Saskatchewan in the early 90's! Sanders and I chatted a bit - he is the head of the DMIN program at Alliance Seminary in Nyack NY. After the camp, he reached out to me and encouraged me to apply. We corresponded a bit as I was still considering Gordon Conwell and another leadership development program called Arrow.

After further thought and prayer, I decided ATS was the right choice. And here's the reason:
There are two primary areas of professional development for a pastor:
1. The actual skills of preaching, pastoral care, leadership, etc.
2. The inner skills of self awareness, self-understanding of gifts, leadership style and areas of brokenness.

I am sure a highly academic doctoral program could have given me the first set of skills, but not the second. After talking with Martin, it became clear that ATS could help me to develop the second set of skills (along with the first).

And in the long run, it is much much more important to have the second set of skills than the first set. I know some "great" pastors who lead well and preach well, but are pretty obnoxious when you meet them. And, I know other pastors who might not blow you away with their external gifts of speaking or leadership, but they are some of the best pastors you will ever meet.

So, I might have been able to grow in the external skills and yet had an impoverished inner life. But, with the studies at Nyack, I think I will be able to grow in both areas.

And also I will be able to join my dad, brother and brother-in-law of being able to finally add the prefix "Dr." to my name!