Dr. Timothy Tennent: The Legacy of 骚狐视频
As I look back on the last fifteen years serving as the President of 骚狐视频, I am in awe of the abundant grace of God. During these years he has established Asbury as one of the premier theological institutions in the country. We have 56 full time faculty, half of which have joined our faculty in the last fifteen years! What a fabulous team of scholars, teachers and practitioners we have. We also have an amazing staff dedicated to the mission of the seminary in countless ways. During these years we have broken all-time enrollment records many times. We have seen God鈥檚 faithfulness in fully funding our Strategic Plan. We have experienced a residential renaissance at a time in history when we were told that students would rather be online than in person. We have opened new sites in Orlando, Tampa, Memphis, Tulsa and Colorado Springs. We are now offering full degrees in places as diverse as London, England; Bangalore, India; and Medell委n, Colombia. Having trained over 1,000 church planters, we are now engaged in the thrilling work of helping to plant a thousand new churches all over the world. Our fastest growing program at the Seminary is our Spanish bilingual program. We launched a new Wesleyan publishing house, Seedbed, as well as a major Wesleyan conference, New Room, which has blessed and encouraged thousands. When H. C. Morrison declared our motto to be 鈥渢he whole Bible for the whole world,鈥� scarcely could he have anticipated the full global impact of Asbury Seminary.
But, despite these many milestones, the singular greatest testimony to the grace of God is that Asbury has remained faithful to its founding mission. Asbury is as committed to the authority of Scripture as the day of our founding. Asbury is as committed to the proclamation of the centrality of Christ as the day of our founding. Asbury is as committed to the global mandate to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth as the day of our founding. This is and has always been the enduring legacy of Asbury Seminary. But, the true sign of this legacy has never been what happens in Wilmore, Kentucky. This legacy is found in the thousands of alumni like you who are faithfully teaching, preaching, counseling, and serving across hundreds of different expressions of ministry around the world.
At the heart of our new Alumni Center at Asbury Seminary is the now famous 鈥淎lumni Wall鈥� which lists the names of every graduate in the history of the seminary. When Henry Clay Morrison founded the seminary in September of 1923 there were only three students, but one of those was a transfer student who, because of his transfer credits, became the first and only graduate in 1924. His name was Samuel Maxwell. That was the beginning of what would become a great harvest. Today, we have had over 14,000 graduates of the Seminary. H. C. Morrison had famously and prophetically stated back before he started the seminary, 鈥淚f I had the power to multiply myself into a score of men, I could make every one of them an earnest preacher of the gospel.鈥� This ministry is the result of that earnest prayer to multiply the laborers in keeping with our Lord鈥檚 prayer request, to 鈥減ray that the Lord of the Harvest would send out laborers into the harvest.鈥� Samuel Maxwell was the first fruits of what would become a harvest almost too numerous to count.
It is Richard Waugh in New Zealand faithfully leading a renewal movement into The Wesleyan Church and revitalizing the Wesleyan movement in that far off place.
It is Daryl Dittle faithfully pastoring the Wilmore Free Methodist Church for the last twenty years, preaching week after week in a way which honors Christ and remembers the gospel.
It is P. C. Matthews, the founder of Indian Urban ministries which has trained hundreds of Christian counselors for India.
It is Jerry Kulah, the Dean of the graduate school of theology in the Methodist University of Liberia who has been a powerful force for orthodoxy in the world.
It is Ajith Fernando, the Director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka who has mentored thousands of young people to be leaders throughout Asia.
It is Bishop Carlos Lopes, who has initiated a major church planting movement in Brazil.
It is Tom Harrison in Tulsa who not only led one of the great churches in America but sacrificed to help us start an extension site in Tulsa, our first western expression of Asbury.
It is Wilbur Parker who served with the 82nd Airborne Division as a chaplain, and eventually rose to train and deploy all chaplains for the European theater and served as the chaplain to the joint chiefs of staff.
It is Carolyn Moore, a faithful church planter of the Mosaic Church for over twenty years.
It is Tammy Cessna, now an alumna, who serves as your Alumni Director and helps keep all of you connected to one another and to this ministry.
That is just ten鈥ut I want to keep going until we get to 14,000! So, please insert your name in this list, because this is only a small sampling of the different categories of our alumni who serve as pastors, counselors, missionaries, and church leaders. I want to list every one of you, but it would take a very long article to note all 14,000 alumni and their ministries around the world! Many of our most notable graduates are now with the Lord among the great cloud of witnesses. You, all those who have gone before you, and the countless thousands who have yet to be trained are and will be the lasting legacy and fruit of this ministry.
As a graduate in ’82, I am so glad, honored and humbled to be a part of “a great cloud of witnesses” that have benefited from the stellar education and priceless friendships gained at Asbury!
Thank you, Dr. Tennent for your vision and leadership through this explosive period of growth and vitality. God be praised for the things He has done!
Thank you, Dr. Tennent – you have been God’s person for the hour. I have always enjoyed your written insights and exhortations here, and the other outlets you have deployed so effectively. God bless you, sir, into the future. Richard Munn, MDiv ’85
I am so blessed to be among the M.Div’s and D.Min’s taught and inspired at Asbury Seminary. From 1/2 time in Nicaragua and 1/2 time in Minnesota, I so love and celebrate our faithful global community!
Class of 1993. Thankful for the most well-rounded education from Asbury. Served as local pastor for 30 years in the local church in Indiana. Retired 2018, but still teaching that ever-lasting True Word from God.
Thank you for your faithful service, Dr. Tennent. May the Lord bless and keep you and Julie in the days to come.
Thank you Dr. Tennent. As an Asbury Alumni Ambassador working with Dr. Tammy Cessna, I have met hundreds of alumni across the country in luncheons that I have hosted. Our alumni love reading your books and many have said they have appreciated your leadership in keeping the seminary focused on the authority of the Word of God. You are loved and prayed for to remain healthy and strong to serve the the Lord for years to come.
When I first listened to Dr. Tennent’s sermon, “Scholars on Fire”, I was pleased to learn his emphasis for the life of the Seminary. We need scholars on fire in the pulpit. Thank you, Dr. Tennent, for that emphasis. It has, is, and will change lives! May the Trinity be praised!
Thank you Dr. Tennent for your 15 years of service. History is important to me. When I enrolled at ATS in the Fall of 1981 I was in the presence of some great leaders: JC McPheeters, Frank Bateman Stanger, David McKenna. After graduation in Spring of 1986 (yes I crammed a three year program into five) I prayed that Jesus would continue to raise up future presidents to keep “The Flame” burning brightly. You were the first president younger than me (I am 65). Thanks to the work of Tammy Cessna and the alumni office I have been encouraged and uplifted with your monthly articles. Though it has not been easy as an Asbury grad up here in the Minnesota Annual Conference of the UMC, I would choose ATS all over again. Nothing can take the place of a quality theological education. Thank you and my Jesus’ richest blessings be upon you in your next chapter of life.
Thank you, Dr. Tennent, for your faithful commitment and example. I feel blessed to be an ATS alumna and continue to use and implement what I learned – and continue to learn, thanks to Seedbed! May God bless you in your next steps.