Overview:
Effective ministry comprises a balance between two, sometimes conflicting, principles: biblical faithfulness and cultural relevance. How easy, and deadly, to have one without the other, but how rewarding it is to have both.
By providing us seven habits of highly effective seminaries, Chuck Swindoll wants each student who is considering seminary as well as each student currently enrolled in seminary to uphold and grow in this balancing act required for a thriving ministry.
Message Summary:
In this commemorative message delivered at Dallas Theological Seminary (likely marking its 95th anniversary), Chuck Swindoll offers a vision for the future of theological education by balancing heritage with relevance. He begins with a nostalgic description of his 1928 Model A Ford, named “Gramps.” While the car is a charming “eyecatcher,” Swindoll notes its total inefficiency for modern travel—lacking power steering, air conditioning, or navigation. He uses this as a metaphor to warn the institution: schools that cling too tightly to the past risk becoming “dusty monuments” or “institutional relics” rather than effective training grounds for the present [3–6, 8].
Swindoll adapts the title of Stephen Covey’s famous book to present the “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Seminaries.” These habits include staying focused on the essential mission of preaching the Word, existing for the sake of the students rather than the administration, and maintaining a “great-hearted” board of directors. He emphasizes that the goal is not to be the largest school (quantity) but the best (quality), staffed by an enviable faculty who serve not just as scholars but as mentors [13–21].
The message concludes with a reflection on the book Tuesdays with Morrie to illustrate the profound impact a teacher can have on a student. Swindoll challenges the student body to remain “enthusiastic about and devoted to God’s truth,” urging them to finish what they start and to never lose the “wonder, love, and praise” of ministry [24, 31–32].
Message Key Facts:
• The “Institutional Relic” Warning: Swindoll uses his 1928 Model A Ford to illustrate that while honoring the past is good, trying to operate in the modern world with outdated methods is inefficient. A seminary must avoid becoming a “quaint museum” [5–6, 8].
• The Biblical-Relevant Balance: Swindoll quotes John Stott and Howard Hendricks to define the seminary’s challenge: “It is no challenge to be biblical if you don’t care about being relevant. And it’s no challenge being relevant if you don’t care about being biblical.” The goal is to be both.
• The Seven Habits:
1. Stay Focused on Essentials: Do not try to be all things to everyone; focus on equipping servant leaders to “Preach the Word” [14–15].
2. Exist for the Students: Kindness, grace, and mercy are just as important as scholarship. The school serves the student, not the reverse.
3. Have Great-Hearted Board Members: Leaders who are visionary, unafraid of change, and serve voluntarily [18–19].
4. Prefer Quality to Quantity: The goal is not to offer the most degrees or have the most extensions, but to offer the best training possible [19–20].
5. Select and Retain Enviable Faculty: Scholars who remain teachable and act as mentors [20–21].
6. Cultivate Enthusiastic Students: Students who maintain their joy and devotion to truth, avoiding the trap of constant complaining.
7. Have Dreams Greater Than Memories: A refusal to be stuck in a “golden era” of the past; the school must risk and reach for the future.
• Definition of Education: Swindoll defines education as “going from an unconscious to conscious awareness of your ignorance.” True learning should produce humility rather than arrogance.
• The “Boredom” Rule: Quoting a former professor, Swindoll reminds preachers: “If people are bored when you preach, it’s not their fault… it is your problem.” The communicator must ensure the message connects with where the listener lives.
• Tuesdays with Morrie: Swindoll uses Mitch Albom’s relationship with his professor, Morrie Schwartz, to illustrate the ideal student-teacher bond. He notes that “there is no such thing as too late” when it comes to learning and changing [21–23].
Message References:
• Matthew 9:16–17: The parable of the unshrunk cloth and new wine in old wineskins, used to illustrate the necessity of adaptability and freshness in ministry.
• Hebrews 4:12 (Allusion): “God’s word is alive and active and sharper than a double-edged sword”.
• 2 Timothy 4:2 (Referenced): The school motto and central mission: “Preach the word”
