Quebec Alive moments

On October 2nd-3rd, 2009, SEMBEQ offered a two-day conference by Tim Lane, executive director of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation, entitled How People Change.  There were about 500 people at each session at the Evangelical Baptist Church of Hope in Longueuil during these two days.  Though the content of the conference was to help people individually address their own needs and the needs of other people in their lives, it was also meant to be applied to the corporate level of the church body.  Tim Lane (seen in the picture on the far right next to his wife, Barbara, and with Francois Turcotte and Francois Picard) said that when people have difficulties in their lives, they usually go to family, friends, and co-workers first before they go to a professional counselor, and usually the church leadership and body are the last place they go.  However, the church family and its leadership should be one of the very first places people go because most difficulties are the results of relationships with other people and the underlying problem is a heart issue.  Since only God can change the heart, His Word, wisdom and guidance should be what are considered first.  The church needs to prepare its members to deal with their own difficulties and that of others by teaching and exercising biblical principles so that the love, grace, mercy and compassion of the Lord are demonstrated by God’s people.  Also, it is important for the church to be informed because it needs to be able is discern between godly and worldly advice andalso so that faulty advice does not find itself brought into the church.  People share the advice they gained and if it is not based on godly truth and principles it can lead to problems within the church.  Interestingly, Tim mentioned that without the correct knowledge and application of godly principles, blessings themselves can be just as risky to the church family as tribulations and difficulties.  Tim presented many examples of difficulties which all attending could relate to and then demonstrated the proper use of God’s truth to address the difficulties.  There were times allowed for interaction between Tim and the audience.  The  conference was well received and further information about the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation can be found on its website, www.ccef.org.

Since SEMBEQ’s vision is to have the students develop their mind, character and abilities in conjunction with each other and to be trained in the ministry rather than for the ministry, its programs are spread over a longer time frame than most traditional programs.  This fact is also true for SEMBEQ’s Master’s Program, which is planned to be done over a seven year period.  At times there may be circumstances where this might be accomplished in a shorter or even longer period of time.  The basic program is divided into 15 credits of study, which are required for all students to complete, and then 15 credits which will focus on the individual interests of each student.  During the first four years, the students get together for a “research seminar” four times each year.  During this time the students discuss their particular area of interest, such as the ministry of the church, biblical worship, biblical music, preaching, evangelism and church history.  Also, a couple of students will give a more detailed presentation lasting about 30 minutes, so that during the course of the year each student will have given a detailed update of what they have been learning, therefore providing the students with a good overview of the research topics.  The main purpose of the four-year seminar is to help the students clarify and focus the area for their thesis or ministry project.  An example of a ministry project would be developing a church-based school of evangelism.  After the research seminar has been completed, they have a fifth year to complete their course work and then another 2 years to complete their thesis or ministry project.  The emphasis of SEMBEQ’s Bachelor’s Program is to prepare leaders for local church ministry as pastors, elders, evangelists and church planters.  However, the emphasis of the Master’s Program is to prepare men from the local French Baptist churches to be able to teach SEMBEQ’s courses and reduce the use of those teachers outside of Quebec.  Currently there are eight men involved in the Master’s program who are supervised by Dr. Patrick Murphy (see Quebec Alive Moment #40), SEMBEQ’s Director of the Master’s Program.  Seven of the men are pastors and the eighth is a worker-in-training.  Some have a few years of experience while others have many years, but they all have teachable hearts and a desire to serve the Lord in Quebec as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Dr. Patrick Murphy is the Director of SEMBEQ’s Graduate Studies with an emphasis on the Master’s Program (see next week’s Quebec Alive Moment #41), which has as its main objective to train leaders to train other leaders (see Quebec Alive Moment #15 for an example).  Pat came to Quebec in 1988 at the invitaion of Jacques Alexanian (see Quebec Alive Moment #11), who was the President of SEMBEQ at the time.  Pat had been serving as a pastor at a church in California and another in New Mexico for about eight years during the decade prior to coming to Quebec.  He studied French for two years in Chicoutimi, a city about two hours north of Quebec City, and then came to SEMBEQ where he has served in a variety of roles.  During his initial time with SEMBEQ, Pat worked on his PhD in Biblical Studies at the University of Montreal and received his doctorate in 1998.  Pat was responsible for directing the instructional aspect of SEMBEQ, including doing some teaching, lining up others to teach and scheduling the time and place of the various courses in both the undergraduate and graduate programs.  His main responsibility now is directing the graduate studies program.  He continues to teach occasionally and often has the responsibility of correcting the work done for visiting professors.  Pat lives in Otterburn Park, about 45 minutes south of Montreal, with his wife, Joyce, and his youngest son, Patrick, a 10th grader in a French school in Saint Hilaire.  He has three other sons and one daughter who have either graduated from or currently attend college.  Pat has been an integral part of SEMBEQ and its ministry these past twenty years.  Pray that the Lord continues to bless Pat and his family and Pat’s ministry with SEMBEQ.

A couple of weeks ago the initial cohort (pictured here with their coaches) held a celebration dinner commemorating the completion of their six-year commitment (see Quebec Alive Moment #23 for more background) to studying the Word of God and applying it to the development of their character and ministry ability.  This group began in January of 2004 and officially received their certificates of completion this past Saturday evening, October 3rd, 2009.  Eleven of the 12 students who have completed the program attended the dinner, accompanied by their wives (some with newborn babies) and many of their coaches.  There was a time of fellowship prior to the dinner and afterwards there was a time of sharing various aspects of the Cohort Program and its impact on the lives of students, wives, children, coaches and churches.  Three major themes arose.  First was the indispensability of coaches and the high esteem and affection the students had for them.  The coaches helped them in their studies, character development and ministry experiences.  They were there to demonstrate by example and to offer prayer, encouragement, challenge, and support.  A mutual trust was established that allowed them to be vulnerable and honest about their lives, with its goals and struggles.  Their coaches urged them on to high standards, but were filled with compassion and understanding in the circumstances and developments that life delivers in general, particularly in ministry.  A second theme that was evident concerned the deep and close fellowship which developed among the students, wives and families.  The thoughts shared could be summarized by what Jacob Mathieu expressed in Quebec Alive Moment #27, “spending time in class, building relationships outside of class, serving together in different contexts, sharing dreams, passions, visions, burdens, family concerns, etc…priceless.”  In a time when so many in the ministry seem to have little support, the Lord has provided an abundant blessing of deep and close relationships through the ministry of SEMBEQ.  The third theme that was developed was the large sacrifice the wives have been asked to shoulder.  With the students being pulled in so many directions, the wives had to take on additional responsibilities, often with reduced resources.  With their husbands often giving up good-paying jobs or pulling back to part-time work so that they could more effectively prepare for and provide for the pastoral responsibilities, they faced many challenges.  But, as was true for the students themselves, the wives found encouragement and support from the relationships developed from the Cohort.  The Lord has done a good work in these students and will continue to provide for their further growth.  There are currently five other Cohorts in progress and another possibly beginning soon in Quebec City.  Pray for all of them.