Tyndale Seminary's FIRST TEAM
Faithful Intercessor's Regularly Supporting Tyndale - April 2023Greetings from Tyndale Seminary!
After a very gloomy winter and somewhat cold spring, it is nice to see blue skies again and feel the warmth of the sun. Tyndale is bursting with life and we have some exciting news to share with you! You may have heard that God has answered our prayers for a new Tyndale president. We are very excited to introduce to you Mr. Gunnar Mägi!
Gunnar comes from Tallinn, Estonia. He accepted Christ at the age of 15 and started attending Oleviste Church where he served as a Sunday School teacher and an English translator. At the age of 17, Gunnar began studies at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, CO. It was there that he met a fellow student, Jill. After getting married in 1995, they relocated to Estonia to begin youth work at Saue Christian Free Church. His ministry experience includes becoming a Senior Minister at this church; a pastor at Kersey Community Church in Kersey, CO, and most recently at Keila Baptist Church in Keila, Estonia. He also served as a District Minister on the Board of the Union of Evangelical Christians and Baptists in Estonia (which included oversight for the Estonian Free Church Theological Seminary); and, in 2015, he joined the staff of United Bible Societies. For 19 years, Gunnar worked bi-vocationally in commercial aviation in a wide range of positions. He received the Magister Theologiae degree from Tartu University in Tartu, Estonia, in 2004. In 2020, he started his Doctor of Ministry studies at Denver Seminary. He and Jill have three adult children. Gunnar and Jill will be joining us at Tyndale this summer. Please join me in thanking God for His timely provision of a new president, and be praying for their smooth transition to the Netherlands in late July.
Tyndale Around the World
Formerly known as Global Day, Tyndale Around the World was available this year for viewing on our YouTube channel at your convenience. This was another great opportunity to hear from alumni, faculty, and students about what God is doing through Tyndale around the world. And to also hear our new president’s address. If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, I invite you to watch and be inspired and encouraged.
Brotzman Lecture Series
We are pleased to announce our first annual Brotzman Lecture Series, on Monday, 22 May. This new lecture series is named in honor of Dr. Ellis Brotzman, a professor of Hebrew and Old Testament, who served Tyndale Theological Seminary in this role for twenty years. He has also served the school as a member of our Board of Directors in his retirement from teaching and is a faculty emeritus of our school. Our speaker this year is Dr. Thomas R. Schreiner of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. He is a well-known New Testament (Pauline) scholar and biblical theologian. Dr. Schreiner has written numerous books, journal articles and made contributions to various theological volumes.
Open Day
Open Day took place on Tuesday, 4 April. It was an open invitation for anyone interested in pursuing theological education to visit and experience a day in the life of our school. Prospective students had the opportunity to have a more intimate and extensive look at Tyndale. Please pray with us that God will bring to us students who are excited about theological education and ready to be trained to labor in His vineyard, here in Europe, and beyond.
Double Your Impact
According to the Lausanne Movement, 95% of pastors are untrained. Many of our graduates are working in unreached, or hard-to-reach areas. They live in areas where theologically sound biblical teaching is scarce. Our graduates are making an impact in these unreached, under-served areas by preaching theologically sound biblical truths. Will you help us train more men and women to reach the world for Christ? At Tyndale, we believe that we are “entrusted with the Truth,” 2 Timothy 2:2. And we take that seriously. Training our students to know and hold to these truths and accurately share them is a core belief at Tyndale. During the Double Your Impact campaign, your gift will be doubled! We need your help to continue training men and women that are ‘entrusted with the Truth’ and increase the percentage of trained Christian leaders in rural areas. Please consider giving between April 15 and June 15 and help make an impact!
Preachers and Leaders Conference
This conference exists to resource and encourage preachers and leaders for the Church. It is centered on Christ and the gospel, aiming for gospel clarity first and foremost that culminates in the centrality of the gospel for everything in life and ministry. This is a joint effort of Tyndale Theological Seminary, Geloofstoerusting, Hart voor de Gemeente, TGC Nederlands en Flanderen, and 9Marks. The theme this year is “Doxology: The Goal of Knowing God.” This two-day conference helps us to taste and see the doxological goal of our salvation in Christ, how thinking biblically and theologically (i.e., Christologically) culminates, by necessity, in a life of praise (i.e., doxology). While it is true, in one sense, that all of life should be worship for the Christian, this conference aims to help the Christian—preachers and leaders in particular—cultivate a life of praise. Rejoicing rightly in our great Triune God in any and all circumstances flows from rightly knowing God through His Son, by the Spirit, as revealed in His Holy Word.
Pray for Graduation 2023
April and May are the months of planning for the end of the school year, graduation, and the arrival of new students. Please pray for focus and strength for everyone involved. Pray also for our graduates as they seek to finalize their next steps in ministry and for their families and churches to welcome them back after the two or three years that they spent in the Netherlands. Please pray for our new students who just got accepted to study at Tyndale that they can obtain visas from Dutch embassies and consulates around the world and travel to Tyndale in mid-June without any disruption.
A very special ‘thank you’ to all our First Team readers, for your continued prayers and various other ways you support the ministry of our school. We are grateful that you are the instruments God uses to provide and care for the seminary.
Please also note that for those who purchase books and other items via Amazon, you can designate Tyndale to receive a small stipend through AmazonSmile: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/65-0154723