Learning by Example

1993 DAVID CHONG

Time sure flies fast! It has already been 27 years since my graduation from Westminster Seminary California in 1993. I have made many decisions in my life, and attending the Seminary in 1990 was one of the best decisions I have made. Two things stand out as I remember my seminary days.

The first thing that comes to mind is the theological training I received at WSC. I have slowly come to realize how it has stuck with me throughout my many years of ministry. My time at WSC was busy. On top of my regular studies, I was ministering to youth at a local church in Orange County on weekends and leading campus Bible studies with an organization called Korean Campus Mission. While these were great experiences, one of my regrets was that it took my focus away from my studies. I felt I lacked so many things, yet, as I began my fulltime church ministry, including two church plants, I realized the basic theological frameworks, the Bible centeredness, and the reformed theological perspectives were strongly engraved in my heart, guiding me in my ministries and personal life. Both my vision in life and the ministry is “to glorify God, to enjoy his presence, and to proclaim the gospel.” When you plant a church, you could easily rely more on people and the resources they could bring. My training, however, taught me that it is God who brings all things to fruition, and that success in ministry or personal life is not depending on knowing more powerful people or worldly tactics, but to know the sovereign God, which I think is the essence of the reformed theology. The only reason I could assuredly say that I stayed the course with this vision in Jesus Christ was the training I received from the seminary. For this, I am eternally indebted and grateful.

Secondly, it was seeing professors studying the Bible. In my seminary days, I was in a survival mode from one assignment to another and one semester to another, but seeing professors studying the Bible ceaselessly motivated me to become a lifetime LEARNING BY EXAMPLE

student. One of my OT professors sat with us during the NT Greek class. I asked him why, and he answered that he wanted to improve himself in Greek continually so that he could better handle the Bible in its entirety. This hunger to learn was a common theme among WSC professors. I remember passing by offices and seeing professors delved into books and the Bible.

Another incident that I so vividly remember is the late Dr. Edmund Clowney, at his old age studying among us students in a library carrel. I thought he had accomplished all things as a pastor and scholar, yet there he was studying more diligently than students. That studious attitude deeply impressed on my heart. Then I learned that finishing seminary is not an end in studying, but a beginning to a life-learning process. Whenever I get lazy in studying the Bible, I remind myself of my professors, studying their best, not only to teach students but also to mature themselves in Jesus Christ, to know God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will.

Westminster Seminary California is still living in me, guiding and leading my personal life and my ministry. I don’t want to go back (it was so hard!), but I am so appreciative of my studies at WSC. I will continue to pray that the Seminary will carry these wonderful traditions, affecting many young minds until Jesus comes to restore the world.

“MY TRAINING, HOWEVER, TAUGHT ME THAT IT IS GOD WHO BRINGS ALL THINGS TO FRUITION, AND THAT SUCCESS IN MINISTRY OR PERSONAL

LIFE IS NOT DEPENDING ON KNOWING MORE POWERFUL PEOPLE OR WORLDLY TACTICS, BUT TO KNOW THE SOVEREIGN GOD"