What Seminary Can’t Teach a Pastor

A seminary education is immensely valuable, offering theological preparation, spiritual formation, and wise mentoring. I can’t imagine my ministry without those three years at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. And I’m honored today to serve students at Beeson Divinity School as an advisory board member.

But I’ve seen over the years how many recent graduates grow discouraged as new pastors when the realities of their first call don’t line up with what they came to expect from assigned readings and classroom discussions.

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Because some lessons just can’t be learned in a classroom. We need help to bridge the gap between seminary training and real life.

I met Jeff Robinson more than five years ago during his first pastorate. And we immediately began to see the need for ourselves and others to equip pastors for the challenges of leading congregations through seasons of suffering, handling conflict, accepting a call, leaving a church, and more.

So it’s my honor to welcome my colleague, TGC senior editor Jeff Robinson, to The Gospel Coalition Podcast to discuss our new book, 15 Things Seminary Couldn’t Teach Me (Crossway). It’s the first of a series of books from The Gospel Coalition that we hope by God’s grace will make pastors more faithful and effective in discharging their call to the local church. This book draws together insights and experiences from many of our mentors and heroes in ministry, including TGC Council members Albert Mohler, Danny Akin, Harry Reeder, John Onwuchekwa, Vermon Pierre, and Juan Sanchez.

Some lessons just can’t be learned in a classroom. We need help to bridge the gap between seminary training and real life.

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Collin Hansen serves as vice president for content and editor in chief of The Gospel Coalition, as well as executive director of The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. He hosts the Gospelbound podcast, writes the weekly Unseen Things newsletter, and has written and contributed to many books, including Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation and Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is Essential. He has published with the New York Times and the Washington Post and offered commentary for CNN, Fox News, NPR, BBC, ABC News, and PBS NewsHour. He edited The Gospel After Christendom, The AI Apocalypse, and The New City Catechism Devotional, among other books. He is an adjunct professor at Beeson Divinity School, where he has co-chaired the advisory board.

Jeff Robinson (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is director of news and information at Southern Seminary. He was a senior editor for six years at The Gospel Coalition. A native of Blairsville, Georgia, he pastors Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and serves as adjunct professor of church history at Southern Seminary. Prior to entering ministry, he spent nearly 20 years as a newspaper journalist in Georgia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. He is coauthor or coeditor of six books, including Taming the Tongue: How the Gospel Transforms Our Talk (TGC, 2021), To the Ends of the Earth: Calvin’s Mission Vision and Legacy, and 15 Things Seminary Couldn’t Teach Me (Crossway, 2018). Jeff and his wife, Lisa, have four children.