Summit's Fall quarter!

          We have some awesome classes and seminars coming up in our Fall quarter! Classes start September 23rd, so be sure to sign up for classes before they fill up!

          Here is a list of the classes we are offering and the dates, times, description and the professor's name.

          Church History I will be held Monday nights starting September 23rd from 5:15-6:45 P.M. It is being taught by Professor Andrew Victorio who is teaching the class in English and Spanish! This class is the first of two parts, form the early church up to but not covering Luther, it covers:  Jesus and the Apostles, the age of Catholic Christianity, the age of the Christian Roman Empire, and the middle ages.

          Healing and Wholeness is being taught by Professor Mike Evans, founder of Wholeness Ministries. It will be held Tuesday nights starting September 24th from 5:15-645 P.M. Healing and Wholeness is part of the “Learning to Do What Jesus Did” series. It is an exploration of the methods of praying for physical, emotional and spiritual healing.   The purpose of this class is to equip believers to minister to others in a complete manner, sensitively in the Spirit.

          Systematic Theology is a core class for all bachelor students. It will be taught by Professor Alvis West starting September 24th from 6:55-8:25 P.M. This class is about the different doctrinal beliefs, their origins and validity, and teaches how to formulate doctrine based on God’s Word. 

         

          Team Development will be held Tuesday nights starting September 24th from 8:35-10:05 P.M and will be taught by Professor Pete Baker. This class develops the team by showing how promotion is done through obedience to the good of the whole.  It instructs a leader on how to find the gifts of the other members of the team, how to develop servant-leadership, how to stay on course, working together on mutually shared goals, how to build teams, transitioning the culture, and more.

          The Christian Counselor is being taught by Professor Jennifer Anderson starting September 25th from 5:55-7:25 P.M. This course is necessary for learning practical Christian counseling purposes, goals and techniques; it includes forms, resources and support materials for private Christian Counseling services.

         

          Professor Michelle Amaro is teaching Developing Cultural Relations starting September 25th from 7:25-7:25 P.M. This course teaches the chaplain on how to speak in the proper ways to build relationships with people of various ethnic and religious views. Also reviewed are: traditions, principle beliefs, information about birth, diet regulations, sickness, dying/death, and appropriate prayers that could be said with patients.

          Christian Counseling Care will be held Thursday nights starting September 26th from 5:15-6:45 P.M and will be taught by Professor Lowell Lueck. This course covers counseling issues for the 21^st century including process, ethics, emotional issues, addictions and impulse control, and grief and trauma matters such as job loss, PTSD, sexual abuse, and abortion.

          Call 661-328-1151 or visit www.summitbiblecollege.com to enroll today!

enroll today!

I’m a student, and that’s ok

By Eric S. Crane

Once upon a time… I was 18 years old, knew everything, listened to no one, and took off on my own from the Podunk town of Taft, CA and headed to majestic Hollywood to begin my exciting career as an actor.  I was a born again Christian and therefore believed myself invincible.  I had not even read the Bible in its entirety, but who cares!?  Who can stand against me, right?  However, I believed I was the vine and God was my branch; He was only there to provide me fruit.  Typical teenage mentality.  I was going to rock Hollywood with MY Christianity!!!

            Needless to say, when temptation came, I indulged.  When I was tested, I failed.  I was a willful young man and my will was not God’s.

            The extravagance of Hollywood parties, led to sex, alcohol, drugs…until the parties were no longer held in a mansion, but in my lousy, pathetic little apartment.  This is the life of someone of someone who has zeal without knowledge.

So I returned to that Podunk town, with my tail between my legs, to start from scratch.  You see, I believed that God helps those that help themselves.  Yet, as Isaiah 25:4 teaches us: God helps the helpless!  Christ died for us because we are weak & ungodly…but life’s rough when you believe the exact opposite about yourself.  Teenage mentality comes before the fall.

Now that my self-fashioned, worldly armor had been thoroughly broken and trampled on, I began to slowly put on the armor of God.  I read the bible.  Dove head first into His Word.  Let me tell: it hurt.  Oh! It was horrible!  The Word of God shines a light onto our sinful nature and it is a daunting experience.  The process of sanctification is painful.  Holy Spirit surgery; cutting in with a scalpel of scripture and carving away the fat of sin.  Many people cannot handle, nor do they even admit this truth.  Take a look at gym rats, with their Adonis-like bodies and 4% body fat: they may love the gym now, but I guarantee they hated the early days of their training; when they were jiggly and weak.  Reading the bible is training regimen.

Though the sanctification process never ends, after the initial part… when I realized my awesomeness was like filthy rags (Romans 3:23), that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and that God loves us while we were sinners and died for us (Romans 5:8)… that’s when I began to see myself as God sees me: forgiven, washed clean, and cloaked in the glory of Jesus Christ!  Turns out, now, THROUGH JESUS, I am finally what I always wanted to be: Awesome!  He is the vine and I am a branch, ready to bear fruit.  I hungered for the God.  I had a thirst for truth.  I studied the Word intently.  I bothered all my Pastor friends with questions.  I read every book I could get my hands on…. Really sounds like a gym rat, huh?  Now that I finally started seeing results, I began studying every workout & diet, bothering people far more buff than me: this was how I was towards Christianity.  I wanted anything that would give me a deeper relationship with Christ.

Of course, what’s the point of having guns if you don’t use them?  So I started becoming a bigger part of my church.  Not to show off, but to put these muscles to work!  Now I’m a Youth Leader, a council member, and I write & produce Christian plays!!!  Yet, I still desire to go even deeper.  I want to utilize all the gifts & tools God has granted me.  I want to be a better leader, a better writer, a more knowledgeable Christian.  Studying by yourself can only take you so far.

In July I will officially begin classes at Summit Bible College!  Surround myself with like-minded Christians who wish to grow and help each other in our journey.  To study under a highly educated professor, instead of bothering my Pastor with every little question I have.  I will be studying Church History under Kathy Dyer and Psychology & The Mind of Christ under Lowell Lueck.

I’m still going to be the Youth Leader at my church.  I’m still going to see Man of Steel when it comes out.  I’m still going catch up on Dr. Who on Netflix and find out what happens to Walter & Jesse on Breaking Bad.  But I’ll also be learning, growing, and bettering myself through theological education.

I wish I would’ve made this decision before that punk 18 year old flushed away so many good years; but hey, I’m 33, in the prime of my life, and I’m a student…and that’s ok.