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Julius J. Kim, Ph.D.
Dean of Students
Dear Students,
Yes, it’s another beautiful day in southern California. Though it is February
here in Escondido, it’s about 70 degrees outside with only a cool breeze
reminding me that it is technically winter. I realize, however, that it is not
this way elsewhere in the country. I just returned from a 4-day trip to the east
coast where bitter 20-degree temperatures (not counting the wind chill) made me
once again thankful that the Lord called me to San Diego. And while the weather
was not very enjoyable, the conference that took me just outside Washington D.C.
was.
Along with 175 other participants, I went to the PCA Korean-American Pastors’
Conference held annually in Vienna, Virginia. While it was fun reconnecting with
other Westminster California alumni, what I found the most encouraging were the
main sessions with Bryan Chapell of Covenant Theological Seminary. Dr. Chapell
spoke cogently and passionately for the importance of seeing our lives and
ministries with the right Christ-centered perspective. And while he did talk
about pastoral ministry in general, the bulk of his talks focused on the most
important aspect of our ministry—preaching. Naturally he reiterated much of what
he has already written in his book, Christ-Centered Preaching (which we use in
the first-year preaching course). Admittedly, much of what he said about
redemptive-historical hermeneutics and homiletics was familiar to me and to
other WSC grads. I soon discovered, however, that for many of the participants,
that was not the case.
During mealtime discussions I heard from other participants that they had not
been trained in the importance of biblical theology to our preaching task. In
fact, they were surprised to discover that much of what takes place in many
evangelical pulpits (even in some of their own!) was outright moralism. Dr.
Chapell incisively noted that sermons that are not Christ-centered inevitably
become human-centered even though the intentions may be good. He writes in his
book, “These preachers do not willingly exclude Christ’s ministry from their
own, but by consistently preaching messages on the order of ‘Five Steps to a
Better Marriage’, ‘Improving your Prayer Life’, and ‘Achieving Holiness through
the Power of Resolve’, they present godliness as a product of human behavior….No
message is more damaging to true faith” (Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching,
280-81). How true. Simply put, by not grounding the imperatives on the
indicative, or, by not establishing our practice for Christ on our position in
Christ, we’re no different from the Pharisees of Jesus’ day.
This is what we are striving to do here at WSC. Along with other like-minded
seminaries, we see our task as helping our students, especially those training
for pastoral ministry, to exalt Christ in thought, word and deed. Whether we’re
counseling struggling parishioners in our study or proclaiming the excellencies
of Christ from our pulpits, our task is to never lose sight of our Savior. And
though the weather in Virginia was cold, my heart was aflame as I was reminded
of the glorious Gospel that both saves and sanctifies me. |
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 September
07: Senior Reflections
May
07: Senior Reflections
March
07: CWiPPThink
January
07: Winter Term
November 06:
Reformation Day
September 06:
Welcome Back
August 06:
Summer Greek
July
06: CPR
June
06: Sign Up and Gear Up
May
06: Reflection by Michael Schout
April
06: den Dulk Lectures
March
06: Student Association
February
06: Preaching Christ
December
05: Mentors
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