Nazarene Theological Seminary

John Ramsey is currently an NTS student in the Master of Divinity Degree Program as well as Pastor of Canaan Hill Church of the Nazarene in Lawson, MO.   John and his wife Carissa have been married five years and have a three year old son Ethan.  Pictured here from left to right:  Michael Falgout (NTS student who also serves in ministry at Canaan Hill), Wanda (Carissa’s grandmother), and Ethan, Carissa and John Ramsey.     

 
In the fall of 2004 I decided that NTS was the next step in the ‘preparation through education’ process for me as a minister in the Church of the Nazarene.   I would be completing my undergraduate work at Point Loma Nazarene University the next spring, and begin seminary education in Fall of 2005.  It was my desire, if at all possible, to pastor during my time at seminary and work through seminary more slowly.  When my wife and I met with the Kansas City District Superintendent, he informed us of a church on the district that was in need of a pastor.  Our first Sunday as pastor of the Canaan Hill Church of the Nazarene was July 31, 2005, and I was enrolled to start classes at NTS that fall. 

The daily weaving of congregational life and classroom study has proven to be a means of grace for me and for the church.  Thanks to the formation offered at NTS, I am able to take the work of the classroom and implement it into the life and ministry of our church.  The academic preparation offered through NTS is equipping me to better make disciples and call the church to bear witness to Christ in this world.  My time thus far at NTS has affirmed three necessary components for developing a pastoral theology: 1) continual education in a classroom setting; 2) holy conversation among peers in order to sharpen the vocabulary and practices of the faith; and 3) a local worshiping body in which the previous 2 work themselves out in a way such that bring glory to the Father.

I am humbled by the privilege granted to me to by both pastor and seminarian, and even more grateful for the ways in which I cannot separate the two as I daily serve Christ and his church.  Because of the formation of NTS, God is doing wonderful things in the life of the church and is calling us to live faithfully after Christ, always seeking greater understanding.

Not only do I have the privilege of being both seminarian and pastor, our church has been gifted with two other seminary students who are serving as pastors among us, and another who is serving as a pastor among us and attending MNU.  We are learning together what it means to be pastor/student.  I am indebted to these who work and learn alongside me: my wife Carissa, Michael Falgout, and Josh and Tara Jorgensen.  And we are all thankful for the formation we have received and continue to receive through NTS and the network of Nazarene higher education.