How Do We Develop Biblical Worldview?

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Take that into the world to represent you worldview is just the way in which we see the world as Christians we should see the world going to the Bob high school, particularly in college.

Hard to find a college where you go to school and know that you're grounded in God's word and word about the sufficiency of Scripture and the importance of seeing the world the lives of the Bible I guess today is Dr. Michael Spradlin Dr. Spradlin I love you but I got know if you want to go either preacher is a Bible teacher either church planter, a former missionary military chaplain.

I learned that he played the trombone and he is a marathon runner for those you see me speaking at conferences, you short fat guy is not a marathon runner, but you my hero. I like to be like him so maybe he can give you some great tips along the way but he is chair of the evangelism department is a professor of evangelism and church history, and he is the president of a college and seminary called Mid-America college and Mid-America Baptist theological seminary. Dr. Spradlin, thank you so much for joining us on the Christian perspective. Today it is an honor to be on the show. I'm so excited to be here and that we love what you are doing your ministries in America. It's really a fantastic ministry program and it's really a treat to get to be with you and to spend some time with you and your listeners today.

Well thank you, and you don't know.

We are greatly opened up our national headquarters on the campuses of Mid-America and they are just a great and growing Christian institution right outside of of Memphis, Tennessee. Great place to get barbecue are great, learn about Lord.routable we start talk about school tells a little bit about your background. You spent done so many different thing felt better about who you are. Okay so and I go by Mike and Mary to Leanne we have three children, David Thompson, Laura Hall are grown are two older boys are married. Our daughter Laura is engaged to be married later in 2022. And so, but we are. We think of ourselves regular family, but I do do a lot of activities but I grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. After was born in Ohio but Little Rock is is how my parents are still living in there. There and so went to high school to college with the Baptist College in Arkansas time.

It wasn't really strong Bible believing school much better today than it was back then, that really kind of compelled me to seek your school. That was a little little stronger on Scripture and so that's that's what drew me as a student of Mid-America.

I was called to preach at the age of 16 had been saved at 15, a teenager friends at school invited me to go to a church and it was a small sub Baptist Church in the outskirts of Little Rock, Arkansas and therefrom. There is such an important point that I want our listeners to hear. You said and and I fully failed somebody invited you to church. You got David a result of that and that's something I really encourage people to do today. Not many people invite their friends and coworkers are people to go to school with go to church y'all is so important. Yet anybody can invite somebody to say hey where have you gathering a rogue and FTs or church or we have separate church on Wednesday night literally inviting somebody to church and can really change the lives in many people come to Jesus because that mean interrupt you, but it just jumped out to be such an important thing that we need to do is invite others to come to church. I'm sorry, go ahead now know that and that was it was a huge thing because church was really on our radar. My family there very involved in church now that they were out of church the time and so some friends said come with us and it was a youth event and I heard the pastor preach and I really don't remember the sermon, but I just knew that there was something terribly wrong in my life and then over the next few weeks I realized I needed Jesus and so Ed Edmonson was the name of this pastor and he let me to Christ after after Sunday night church service became over talk to me and he said would you just answer the question. Do you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. I said no sir, but I really want to bless us talk any talk with me and we got on her knees and prayed and best thing that ever happened to me well what a testimony so important also for pastor that I know you're the business of training pastors down. I know you do deter seminary, but a lot of seminaries are not teaching pastors today to intentionally share the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't just recheck good sermon, but always, always, every time I preach Doug's rail. I know you probably do this to. I always give somebody the opportunity to get to know the Lord, because you never know how the Holy Spirit might be moving at that moment, it is important for pastors always give an intentional invitation to allow others to have the opportunity to come to know Jesus.

I think that is a really really good point and yes you know we preach the gospel.

We preach the Bible which preach the truth of God, but to make it clear because when we see our Lord Jesus in ministry in the Gospels and receive the apostles in acts there inviting people to come to Christ, and so could not just preaching and ending at their their giving that call and so I think it's important. So I was saved I surrendered to preach at the age of six. Damon started preaching. Then and so been a wonderful thing on I'm very thankful that those early sermons have been lost to history of no one ever finds them the three Bears are you you you didn't have to worry about what exactly that's exactly right. So thankful for that. But with the Mid-America got a master of divinity and a PhD degree in office, but in Hebrew it and so, when and when is a church planter with the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist convention called the Home Mission Board back in the day did that for several years and then came back in the early 90s to join the faculty at Mid-America, our founder Dr. Allison invited me to come back and then after a year on faculty at our main campus in Memphis Tennessee.

I was asked to pray about moving to head up our work in New York in upstate New York at time at a residential campus there and so we lived there for three years and then when our founder retired build the Lord just to put it on the board heart. I was invited the second president saw the president for a little over 24 years now all was in school actually failed. So Mid-America was started in 1972. There'd been a group of men that have been praying probably for a decade that there would be a school that really emphasized personal evangelism that this idea words are requirements, not just the subject in one class, but it's part of the culture.

The whole school and this burden to take the gospel to the nations, would become a part of the culture of the school as well and so this vision that they had an and Dr. Gray, Allison was a great visionary and great leader.

It was really something. The Lord put them in his heart he is been real revival another seminary been involved with, which was a great school and is a great role and he had seen what happened when the canopy instituted this this practical missions program. This requirement that you share the gospel. On average once a week in it with the word of God in a genuine attempt to lead someone to Christ, and so so he thought that that moved away from that, he thought, you know, somebody needs to pick up that mantle, and eventually, after years of praying with some other people that were like minded they felt like will be cheap to start a school and so in 1972 Mid-America Baptist theological seminary was started richly in Little Rock, Arkansas, for various different reasons. The church there invited the school to use their facilities and then Adrian Rogers, who was a longtime pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church of Memphis talk to Dr. Allison Ashley pray about moving the seminary to Memphis and so 1975. The school relocated to Memphis to purchase some facilities in the downtown Memphis area and and then as they say the rest is history.

Well, what one historian God really opened up opportunities for you optically with a connection to Dr. Adrian Rogers who is just one of my heroes. One of the greatest preachers I think that ever lived in a strong man of God. What a testimony to what he is doing it, even though he's been dead for many years. His radio ministry is still a powerful and playing around the world really today as many pastors were from his style of preaching and in the importance of evangelism.

When the campus is moved to Memphis at that time you were still just a seminary right is correct so that time it was just a seminary. We did have an undergraduate degree from the beginning and Associates degree for somebody that maybe it was called the ministry later in life and then you know wanted to come get some theological education but couldn't go all the way through in your Masters degree. We always had that and then we had a and that a little bit but it was really just in the last five years that we moved into more a college degree. And so even though it's one institution we function as a theological seminary for people that are headed for vocational ministry. We also now have the college Mid-America to expand our offerings and we hope that and have it proven true. The colleges at the theater for the seminaries.

People want to going to graduate theological education they can they can go right here and so it's been a it's been a real great blessing and we been able to expand some of our degree offerings, and even though we try to focus on the main things up Christian studies, business, organizational leadership, biblical counseling will probably add new degrees to the college in the future.

We have a full range of seminary degrees all the way through the PhD program and so it's been a great thing just to see what God is done. The degrees are all fully accredited and offered knowledge residentially but online as well because that's that's where the world is moving.

I'm glad you pointed out there credited because a lot of people listening. I think have the impression that Christian education is not as good or not accredited, that's simply not true. You have a great institution there and you are accredited and your students are coming out are really changing the world. It's so exciting.

I mean we feel so personally invested in our graduate and and watching them go around the world. Around the country in and out, and a lot of times are graduates that they're not headed for maybe the biggest Doug name churches, but their head at the places that don't have the gospel and that's one of things that that's a real joy for is just seeing this this passion to take the gospel to the end of the earth to go anywhere. Others don't want to go but they want to go and they want us to preach and teach a minister in those places.

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If you're just joining us yesterday, Michael America bed theological seminary based in Memphis, Tennessee, and he's been tells a little bit about the history of the school. I don't really know what I talk to you a little bit about online learning because I know as I have two kids in college right now and and after March 2020 when when Copen just went crazy in school started sending people home. I'm not sure if y'all simply Ballmer your student status but really the world of education changed in many ways because students had to begin to Lord on Leiden. You're the past. I think it was kind of a negative feeling in years past of online learning is not the case anymore really can get a great education but whatever word Mid-America was really ahead of the curve with online learning.

Can you tell us a little bit about your online program and how things change after Copen. Yet in 2020 and and what people can expect with online learning in the future.

I'm not sure we were ahead of the curve because there some other great decisions that really pioneered online learning the old back in the old days of the been around long time now that you mail order education was was what was really look down upon and things like that but but distance learning has been growing credibility and and a lot of different reasons because we live in a much more tech savvy agent, things like that and also many other factors but we had moved into online learning because there was a demand for it and we were trying to reach a wider audience and so so we've been involved with online learning. It had our degree programs already accredited or hundred percent online delivery and so when the pandemic first hit and the regional health department began to ask people to shut down. We did, we did close down a residential programming that that initial love part of the pandemic.

And so, so we finished out the semester online and then that fall we came back residentially, but we have a lot of safety protocols in place with distancing and and masking things like that and so those goals are now more recommendations than in requirements but but we were already online. Very thankful that we were because it really accelerated this trend to people getting an education online.

I will say this for ministry training. Where were people skills are really important work were still a little concerned that that there's something about mentoring people, and the discipling aspect of theological education, especially that that in person approach is very very necessary even with our online learning in the Northeast where we continue to have a presence. We have a program we have a mentor that meets with our online student and to just kind of Biot may be up for the pastoral help for them and they don't settle for not helping them with their homework, but we call it the mentored online virtual education MO VE or move and an odd really excited to see that developed because it kind of gives you online learning in the accessibility there also that personal touch, which is still important. Yes sir and I agreed to click the faster you know they need to learn about it, interact with people and level people rent and in with the program you are discussing our first segment your talk about how are you a requirement. I guess that is how unique to your college and your seminary students witness and that's hard to do it for online you think it's better to be together and be with your colleague go out in groups and telling others about Jesus week. Do you still have campus that you mention the ever present sort these you have branch campuses around the country at the moment were just online the Northeast. We had a branch campus there but with all of our degrees being online.

We moved all the students over 200% virtual and so that we might on occasion have a Michael a teaching site. We offer a class or something like that but but the moment we just focus on our main campus, Memphis, Tennessee at the residential approach and then you can access our online materials from anywhere in the world and so so that's that's really been where we kept that focus yeah well I know a big part of your curriculum. Just walk around campus and talking with some of the students in some of things hang on the wall there that your main campus in Memphis. The biblical worldview is a big part of what you're trying to teach her students at that Mid-America and the big focus of our ministry as citizens for America foundation as well as tried to encourage Christian to develop a biblical worldview and then dictate that worldview into the world is typically our case were trying to encourage people to take that to the arena, public policy and politics and try to change the legislation things that are going on in our country right now. What will biblical worldview take in and what's happening that Mid-America are your professors intentional about making biblical worldview. What are y'all doing it and how do you do worldview behind.

If you seek to me if it's what you do. So important because if you're helping people see things from God's point of view, and that is where you have this this understanding of Scripture guides our thinking, not the whatever is considered to be the popular trends of the day or whatever.

It also allows you to analyze these things in the world to know which things directly contrary to the word of God and so biblical worldview to me is the application of knowing the Bible. It is good to know all the facts.

The Bible that's great, but the problem is is that if you have a lot of vital information but it doesn't affect your life doesn't affect your worldview what you got. So this is why what you like ministry like yours and is so important because you're helping to equip people bring their faith into their their world into to realize that that your culture is simple because made up of simple people. And so, but what's the solution.

The solution is Scripture and so we want to make all of our classes really focused on this is that how to live as a believer in a world in a sense, every New Testament Christian today is a cross-cultural missionary because we live in a counter Christian culture. It's it's not just a different it's actually negative. It is the Christianity is the problem in some people's mind is how you how you deal with that how you live in the public square. How do you engage with the politics of business and and maintain your faith and function and also be a witness for Christ and all that so you're right it's really really important and it probably where one at work.

Christianity in the North American, especially the US is really been weakest. Because