Scott and his wife Amy lead the Christian College group at South Mountain Community College and are members of Laveen Baptist Church.
Here is a brief testimony of his four-year experience at Gateway Seminary:
Ask me about seminary five years ago and I would say you are crazy. I never thought I would be taking even one seminary class before the fall of 2019 when I started. I struggle with severe dyslexia and difficulty with reading comprehension. I was told how overwhelming the reading workload in seminary can be (and it is), but I was able to work it out with God, with help from others, and using some handy tools. When I was first called to volunteer with Christian Challenge to minister to college students, I was also convicted by James 3:1 “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers; because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. ”My wife and I decided we better get some formal base education, knowing we are accountable to God for what we teach, and wanted our teaching to be accurate and grounded in the Bible. I was once told that “a call into ministry isa call to seminary” and if you are called into ministry God will make away.
My wife Amy and I were going into ministry together, so we also went into seminary together. That was very helpful for me and I highly recommend it. The goal was simple, five classes to get the Bible Teaching Certificate and we are out. So, we planned out our two semesters of Old Testament, our two semesters of New Testament, and our Bible Teaching class. We planned to take just one class at a time using a combination of in-person and online classes depending on what was available and what best fit our schedule. After a couple of classes, I realized I can do this and that with just 11 more classes I could get a Masters in Theological Studies, so I said let’s give it a go.
For me, it was great to accomplish something I never thought possible. Particularly in the Practicum class and with the help of my spiritual mentor and other mentors I found myself drawing closer in my relationship to God. Seminary gave me the focused time and resources to explore and reflect on my theological views and gain clarity on what I believe and why. This may sound silly, but I had never thought through the need for my theology to align or how one theological belief supports and is dependent on another. All this to say I will never come close to fully understanding God, but I feel I understand him more and am closer to him than ever before. I think this makes me a better teacher and missionary and trusting in God by attending seminary, allowed Him to better equip me for the role He placed me in.
Scott has expressed his appreciation to the scholarships he received from Estrella Association which assisted him to reach his goal fir seminary degree. It helped both him and Amy when Scott resigned his secular job and began fund raising as a minster to Christian Challenge Students.
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