March 2021 Update
Daniel, one of the diligent lovers of God’s Word
As a seminary teacher in Africa and Minneapolis, March is the middle of the semester. The academic schedule is a very fixed schedule. Ready or not classes start and end at the same time every class day. This semester is no exception. I’m in the rhythm. My alarm goes off at 2am on Mondays and Thursday (I usually wake up earlier than that). I teach Greek Exegesis by zoom in the Cameroon Classroom for their 10am class (Cameroon is 7 hours ahead of Minneapolis—only 6 hours ahead now that daylight savings time begin has begun. The students are in the prime of their day and I’m in the midst of a dream! But by God’s grace teaching these men is very vivifying. Last week we exegeted together Paul’s glorious prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21. What these men are seeing through the careful reading of the Greek text is edifying to me as well as them. It is so encouraging that they really are grasping the tools of exegesis we are seeking to impart—all with a view to planting and strengthening churches in Cameroon and beyond.
Class ends at 6am. At the end of each class I’m exhausted not only because of the crazy sleeping schedule but because zoom teaching demands an intensity of focus beyond normal classroom teaching. I think it’s because I have to listen with a sharper focus due to the beautiful accents of Cameroonian English, the limits of what the microphone can pick up during classroom discussion, the occasional shutting down of power, a student getting up to start the generator and then the zoom somehow mercifully always kicking back in.
So when class is over, I crawl back into bed for a couple hours. Then I get up and teach the same course at the same level to the 10 students in my Minneapolis class on the downtown campus of Bethlehem College and Seminary. The joy of being with hungry men on both campuses is a teacher’s delight despite the problem of time zones and the frustrations of occasional technological glitches. Despite the glitches I continue to praise God for the technology that not only allows me to teach at this level in Cameroon, but also allows me to zoom to my Minneapolis students’ homes when a COVID shutdown protocol keeps the students away. Last week we met by zoom in Minneapolis because a family member of one of our students tested positive, and then he tested positive, both thankfully with little or no symptoms. Bethlehem College & Seminary’s protocol is that the entire cohort will be quarantined for a week in a situation like this. This is the first time it happened in my class in MN. So far no students in Cameroon have gotten COVID! Keep praying as the mostly by-passed central African countries are now seeing a rise in COVID cases.
For my Wednesday Introduction to Missions class I get to sleep in until 5 and teach my Cameroon students from 6-9am. Because we are zooming I get to invite my friends from all over the world to teach the students about India, China, Myanmar, Pakistan, El Salvador, Greece, Afghanistan, the Fulani in Cameroon and other parts of Africa. The students are reading biographies of many missionaries who God used to spread the gospel even though they had many struggles in their own lives. The students are also studying the advance of the gospel and challenges to the gospel in Cameroon and in all the six countries bordering Cameroon.
My plan is to head back to Cameroon in June for several weeks. Please pray that all the logistics work out. I should have my second dose of vaccine at the end of March. The Board of Training Leaders International is meeting at the end of the month and will confirm if travel can resume in June as hoped. Please pray for God’s guidance in this important decision.
I often think of your part in all of this and my heart is filled with thanks to God for you. Julie and I are very grateful for this season of our lives. I loved the diversity of pastoral ministry at Bethlehem for these past decades, now I’m loving the opportunity to give my all to one main ministry focus.
Together with you in the Greatest Cause,
Tom (and Julie!)
p.s. Don’t hesitate to send any questions, ideas, prayer requests my way.