John Piper on Pastors and PhD’s

John Piper

In May of 2010 my friend Eric Roseberry submitted a question, should pastors get PhD’s, to John Piper through the Desiring God blog and their “Ask Pastor John” series. I think he offers a helpful response, especially to young pastors who are contemplating taking such a path. I know that I weigh this advice heavily in my own considerations.

An excerpt from the transcript:

“…if you’re a pastor, set yourself to study the Bible and take courses. But don’t worry about a degree for goodness’ sake. I’ve not even opened the tube in which my diploma exists since 1974! I haven’t opened it! It’s in the drawer. Nobody asks about it. It doesn’t mean anything anymore. (Maybe that’s an overstatement.)”

Also, a year earlier John Piper received a similar question more generally concerning how much school a Pastor should receive. This is also helpful.

From the transcript:

“…we should not as churches say, “You have to have an MDiv.” There are so many MDivs who are incompetent pastors, and PhDs! And there are people without them who would make really good pastors. I think all of that is changing, in fact”

A list of reasons why my dad is awesome

Randy Nation & Kiel Nation

My dad and I after I shot my first deer.

1. My Dad is a Dad

  • According to my mom, when she and my dad adopted me in Lexington, KY when I was 3 days old, my dad was looking at me so much on the drive home that he nearly wrecked the car several times.
  • My dad has never ended a conversation with me without telling me he loves me.
  • My dad would sometimes cry when he disciplined me.
  • My dad prays for me, and always has.

2. My Dad is a Farmer

  • My dad can grow anything.
  • My dad can build and fix anything.
  • When a snake, or a mole, or any other unwelcome beast made its way into our garden, my dad dealt with it by using a 2 x 4 to the head.
  • As a kid, when I would run from snakes I came across while playing outside, my dad would run toward them and kill them. It happened quite a bit. Eventually he and my grandfather taught me to deal with them myself.

3. My Dad is a Carpenter

  • My dad taught me how to swing a hammer when I was 4.
  • My dad used to let me make swords with scrap wood in his shop.
  • My dad would always let me in his wood shop with him while he was working late at night, and would carry me to the house after I would fall asleep on his work bench.
  • When I was 8 my dad built our family a two story house with a full basement, a huge deck and an epic playground. He did it with some help from friends over the course of two years.

4. My Dad is a Pastor

  • My dad once told me you don’t really love someone unless you love them when they are at their worst.
  • My dad leads with the philosophy that those who are in danger take precedence over those who are safe, and actively prays for and pursues opportunities to see those that don’t know Jesus come to love Him.
  • In Jr. High I got caught in several lies and then I almost got arrested for vandalism. On the drive home from the scene of the crime, with tears in his eyes, my dad talked to me about the reality of Hell.
  • Alongside seeing him preach every Sunday, my dad would take me with him on his hospital visits, funerals, weddings and visits to the elderly. He was the same man I knew at home everywhere he went.
  • Every Saturday night my dad practices his sermon by himself in an empty sanctuary. As a kid I would go with him to play basketball in the gym. I know every preacher has a different method, but seeing dad work all week, and then give his Saturday night to final preparations made it clear to me that what happened on Sunday morning was really important, even if I couldn’t always understand the content.

5. My Dad is a Hunter

  • When I was 7 my dad started teaching me to hunt deer, rabbits and squirrels, and we would nail the tails of slain squirrels to a tree near the house even though mom didn’t really like it. I loved showing my friends.
  • Once while driving to my grandparents house I asked my dad how many kills he had made in the surrounding forest. He said it was more than he could remember.
  • When I was 10 we went on a hunt and accidentally bumped a tree with a huge nest of hornets. While we were running I was stung twice, and was starting to get scarred until I heard my dad laughing as we fled down a hill for our lives. We were pursued all the way to our truck. With a smile on his face he assured me that they could have killed us. To this day it is one of my favorite moments with my dad, laughing in the face of death.

6. My Dad was Present

  • I love stories of Daniel Boone but my dad is the one who taught me to walk quietly through the woods wielding weapons and taking wild game.
  • I loved watching Michael Jordan as a kid, but my dad is the one who taught me to shoot a jump shot.
  • I loved watching Nolan Ryan as a kid, but my dad taught me how to throw a baseball.
  • I love Pastor Charles Spurgeon but my dad was the first Pastor to teach me about Jesus and he also baptized me.
  • I love my Father in Heaven, and I have had the increasingly rare privilege of learning about Him from a good earthly father.

My dad was the best man in my wedding because he is the best man that I know.

Happy Father’s Day!

Reflecting on two years of grace in Portland

Portland

I’ve enjoyed everywhere I’ve ever lived. I like Portland just because it is where I live right now, and not because it’s quirky, unique and interesting. I have actually found those qualities everywhere I’ve been, maybe just not as predominant. What makes the move I made here unique was that for the first time in my life I have been perpetually thrust into situations completely over my head and beyond my abilities. The circumstances and stories surrounding the events of my last two years are incredible to me, and while they are a joy as I reflect on them, they stand as a monument to my weaknesses and limitations. The grand summary I’m finding is that God’s strength is made perfect in my weakness. A common theme for many folks I believe.

Part of me just wants to document the stories. I think I’d have plenty to say about the drug dealer who tried to convince me the Magi brought Jesus weed as a kid, all while eating my curry with the munchies. Or about how working at Starbucks was actually really challenging, and all the strange situations I found myself in, and the friendships I made there. There’s no end to the stories from my internship at Mars Hill Church, my favorite one is still being written, her name is Ashley…

Honestly, it’s all been very hard. Very good and very hard. Deeply unsettling and sanctifying. I’ve had a number of good plans in life, all of which I could have pursued in fulfillment of my faith and my hearts deepest desires. But God shook me up with lots of change. Jobs that were hard for me, relationships that were challenging, a great number of unsettling circumstances that provided me an opportunity to see what I was really standing on. This could have happened in any number of ways, but it happened in a move to Portland and the events that ensued.

I found that there’s this part of my heart that wants to be defined by what I’m doing, where I work, what others think of me and by my education. Sometimes it takes some unsettling to find that out. In God’s grace he provided that. It’s also a chance to find the supernaturally placed deep desires of the heart, where I know I’m a sinner saved by grace, that Jesus died for me, that God calls me his son, and that that grace is what defines me.

When I’m mobile God is teaching me to be stable in him. When I’m stable, God is teaching me to mobilize with him. I’m never off the hook of his grace or the call to his mission. It makes for a terrifyingly wonderful life.

So I find myself reflecting on grace, knowing that whether I’m in a stable position or on the move, by my choice or not, I’m God’s son and that grace defines me.