Seventeen Years Ago Today

Seventeen years ago today I said, “I do!” But that was seven years after seeing her picture during my junior year of high school in a missionary slide show and deciding to write her a letter! Soon we were pen pals and an overseas friendship began from Chicago to Manila long before the Internet would have made it much easier to write back and forth. Each letter took two weeks to be answered so we maintained at times up to ten separate conversations as letters crisscrossed the globe. Eventually, I developed a growing love for the, uh, Filipino people, (yeah, that’s it!) and asked her father if I could come to the Philippines and be, uh, mentored by him during the summer after I graduated high school. Perhaps suspecting my ulterior motive, he requested I get a year of Bible college first before I could come as part of his mission’s summer intern program.I figured that was better than working for him for seven years and being given her ugly sister in marriage, and since she didn’t have a sister, the year of Bible college requirement seemed safe. So off to Moody Bible Institute I went. (I was going anyway,…

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Do You Need Seminary To Succeed?

I received a Facebook message today from a children’s pastor with an interesting question. His church was encouraging him to pursue a seminary degree, but he wasn’t convinced it was necessary. As he looked over the landscape of ‘successful’ children’s ministry professionals, he saw many (including me) whom he didn’t think had seminary degrees, and that didn’t seem to hinder their success in ministry. I won’t list those he mentioned, because he was wrong in assuming that I don’t have a degree, and I wouldn’t want to make the same mistake by stating publicly that someone else doesn’t have a degree if indeed they do. I actually have a Bachelor’s Degree in Bible Theology from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois, and a Master’s Degree in Children’s Ministry from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, but that isn’t the point. The point is that this children’s pastor poses a great question. I wanted to share here some of what I shared with him, in case others are wrestling with that difficult decision. Getting a degree is difficult when you are in full-time ministry! As one who has pursued my education while in ministry, I know it is very hard…

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Karl on MoodyMinistries.net

Moody Ministries has recently redesigned their website and are in the process of reworking all of their sites to integrate better. Kidology’s own Director of Web Operations, Steve Tanner, has some connections on that team and has been showing me the work they’ve been doing, and we’ve been impressed! So it came as a surprise when I got a call from Moody (via a totally separate connection) asking if they could do a little story on me since I am a Moody grad. I was honored! I have MANY Moody connections in my life! Well, the story is now live! I kept it a secret from both Steve and my wife just for fun. Steve saw it live even before me as his friend noticed it and recognized the Kidology connection, and tonight I instant messaged the link to Sara to surprise her. I’m on Moody’s website! I think I can just go to heaven now. What an honor.  Also mentioned in the article is fellow blogger Barney Kinard, who also graduated from Moody at the same time as my parents. (1964) And, since it’s not mentioned in the article, my wife also graduated from Moody (1993) with a degree…

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