May We be a Place of Praise: Welcome & Welcome Back to Seminary

My Dearest Students in the Gospel of Christ: Welcome! And welcome back! I greet you in the matchless name of our God and Savior Jesus Christ! What an honor it is to serve you and your families and the outstanding campuses in our RTS system. God has richly blessed RTS in so many ways, but there is no greater blessing than serving you and your family. You are the living vision of this movement of God called RTS. The heart of our ministry is to prepare servants who will go forth and shepherd the flock, extend the ministry of the Lord to our military, to prisons, to university students, call sinners to repentance, counsel troubled souls, teach men, women and children the Word of God, and bear witness to Christ our Lord in this troubled world.This morning as we all gather across our campuses, I am praying that the Lord will be glorified through this ministry, and that the world will know, through our witness, our unity, and our single-minded response to His call, that Jesus is resurrected and moving across the face of the earth, calling others to follow Him. I am also praying that each of our campuses will continue to be centers of not only vocational formation, but also Christian formation. I trust that this time will become one of the greatest seasons of praise and growth in your Christian life. So I would offer a passage that I am meditating upon this morning:

“Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD! Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and forevermore! Psalms 113:3 From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised” (Psalms 113:1–3 ESV)!

May our hearts be lifted up in every class, every gathering, every meeting, in our classrooms, in our professors’ studies, in our presidents and administrative staff’s daily labors, and in the hearts of those who support and encourage us in prayer and sacrificial giving. May this semester be a semester of praise from the rising of the sun of our first day of the semester until the setting of the same when you hand in that last examination in May! Praise the name of the Lord as you now follow Him to this ministry of preparation, and keep praising Him as you follow His call to your next assignment by the Master!

What an honor to serve you all. What a blessing to be part of what God is doing in the world today. What an opportunity for worship and praise, in this sacred community of learning Christ and His Word, to be given away to others.

God bless you as you begin afresh. I am proud of you all in the Lord. Now let us commit ourselves to the sacred charge we have been given and go forth in His grace and His power.

Commending you to Christ, I am

Yours faithfully

M.A.M.