2013 A D R I E L
SANCH E Z
INTO THE DEEP END
I
t’s hard to imagine where I’d be right now if it wasn’t for the training I received and the people who befriended me at Westminster Seminary California. I began my studies in 2010. To be honest I was intimidated. Not having a background in confessional Reformed theology, I felt like a bad swimmer pushed into the deep end of a pool. I was grasping for concepts to grab onto that were familiar. As an elective during my first semester, I took a seminar course called Union with Christ. It sounded easy enough! I didn’t know that union with Christ was a theological concept that was the center of no little controversy. The class that I assumed would be a cinch had me sweating, especially when I had to speak up during group discussions! Looking back, the “sweating” that came because of the academic rigor of the program is what I’ve come to appreciate most about Westminster. Finishing seminary felt like a true accomplishment, and in the process I had changed. There’s that caricature of seminary that it’s where people go to get puffed up or lose their faith. God used Westminster to accomplish the opposite in me. I was constantly humbled to share the classroom with men and women who were tremendously gifted and wanted to serve Christ. Having brilliant professors whom I looked up to as theologians, but whom I could also speak with and befriend, made me feel privileged. My own faith grew through Hebrew, and Greek, exegetical papers, and history classes. I’m so grateful for the hard work that was required of me that helped get me ready for the trenches of ministry. Now serving as a pastor, I’d like to share a couple of the ways WSC continues to impact my ministry. First, the training I received at Westminster gave me confidence to interpret the Bible. I’m proud to have gone to a seminary that doesn’t take short cuts when it comes to theological languages. Having undergone exegetical boot camp, I don’t feel intimidated when working through a passage in order to preach it. At least for me, the most difficult part of preparing a sermon isn’t the interpretation of the text, but wrestling with how to apply the exegetical work to my own congregation. The seminary education I received helped me to understand the Scriptures well enough to exegete them so that I could share God’s word in a way that is faithful, and thereby effective at
bringing about transformation in God’s people. Furthermore, seeing how our theological convictions aren’t invented, but grow out of the rich soil of Scripture, has encouraged me to boldly “reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). Second, Westminster taught me about the role of the ordinary means of grace in gospel ministry. This has been a lifeline for me in difficult moments pastoring. We planted our church nearly six years ago, and in the early days there were times of discouragement. Resting in the fact that the church was Christ’s and that he was going to build it his way kept me from trying to create a church in my own image. Knowing that the mission of the church (the Great Commission) isn’t severed from the marks of the church (preaching the gospel, administration of the sacraments, and discipline) has saved me from countless hours of trying to re-invent the wheel as a church planter. I’m comforted by the fact that I don’t need to figure out how to build the church; that’s Jesus’ job. Our work is to be faithful to the means by which he fulfills his promise. In our labors, we aren’t alone either! Westminster introduced me to a network of men and women with whom I would be able to labor side-byside in the gospel. These brothers and sisters have been a source of encouragement for me since having graduated, and I’m so grateful for their influence in my life as well as the seminary’s. As a seminary, WSC accomplished exactly what I hoped training for ministry would. It grounded me in God’s word and gave me the confidence needed to proclaim the Scriptures boldly, and the comfort of the gospel to sustain that kind of ministry for a lifetime.
“I’M PROUD TO HAVE GONE TO A SEMINARY THAT DOESN’T TAKE SHORT CUTS WHEN IT COMES TO THEOLOGICAL LANGUAGES." wscal .e d u
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