On Wednesday our staff and faculty gathered for a morning of training in preparation for the upcoming school year. It was a joyful time as we celebrated evidences of God’s goodness to us as a school. We have a strong enrollment for both college and seminary. Our team also remodeled the chapel stage, constructed a new Student Learning Centre and developed a new Recording Studio.
The theme of our training day was “training gospel men and women.” Heritage’s mission focuses on equipping men and women for life and ministry in the Church and the world. The bumper sticker version of our mission statement could be “training gospel men and women”.
The gospel is the good news of what God has done through the death and resurrection of Christ to provide full salvation for all who trust in Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-3). The gospel changes everything for the better! When people embrace the gospel message, it not only changes where they will spend eternity (heaven rather than hell) but also begins to transform how they live on earth (others-centered rather than self-centered). The fruit of the gospel shows up in changed lives, changed families and changed societies.
I reminded our faculty and staff that if we hope to train gospel men and women, we must be gospel men and women. As Jesus said, “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). In other words, we reproduce after our own kind. So I challenged all the Heritage team to love the gospel, learn the gospel, live in the gospel, teach the gospel and share the gospel with others.
One of the specific challenges I gave our faculty and staff is to have a “gospel appointment” with a friend this Fall. We got the idea of a gospel appointment from a campus ministry in California. The idea is rather straight forward—you set up an appointment with someone you love and go over the good news of the gospel with them. Since we will be asking Heritage students to have gospel appointments with friends, it only makes sense that our faculty and staff lead by example (remember Jesus’ words in Luke 6:40!).
Would you pray for us as we train gospel men and women at Heritage? Would you also join us by having gospel appointments with people you love?
I’ll seek to post updates this year about how God is at work through these gospel appointments. I’d also love to hear stories from you about how God is helping you live out and give out the gospel of Christ.
Rick and Linda Reed 