Rent your books for seminary?

Ok, I found this about 8 seconds ago and was so interested that I had to post about it.

Apparently this company, Chegg, rents college textbooks. The cost to rent for a semester is about 55-65% off the list price. Now, yes, I think you should buy all your seminary books and keep them as a resource for the rest of your life and then pass them along to someone when you die… However, if money is tight, this might be a good solution.

I did a quick search for “systematic theology” and it returned 213 results. So, it looks, at first glance, that they would have the books you’d need. Also, I found that if you use the code: Rent4Spring you can get a 5% discount.

Finally, as you might notice in the ad, they’ll plant a tree for every book you rent… so that is always nice.

As for book renting… I don’t know… if anything it is interesting. Your thoughts?

Seminary in China

I read an encouraging article today about how Dallas Theological Seminary is webcasting seminary classes into China WITH the government’s support. I was blown away by the news.

Seriously… an evangelical, Christian, seminary given permission to teach Chinese students… in China.

Praise God!

Thoughts?

Internet free turkey day

Me, sweetpea, little man, and just a gal, got away for a long weekend with the in-laws at their retirement casa.  However, their casa is not their full time residence yet, so there is no internet… thus no posts for the last several days.  Sorry to disappear without any warning.

Hope you all had a good turkey day (papers anyone?) and managed to get some rest in there somewhere.

Me? Yes, I got lots of rest… but tomorrow is back to work.  Also, we have a showing on our house and REALLY need this to be the one.  If we don’t get an offer in the next week or two then we’ll have to put off our journey to seminary for another 6 months (something we’d really rather not do).  So, say a prayer that God would send a buyer.

Till tomorrow…

Health Insurance for seminary

Ok, health insurance is a pain in the neck. It is expensive and if you’re not on a company plan it is even more expensive. So, what are you to do?

Well, first thing is to try and land a job that actually provides health insurance. Trick with that one is that most part time gigs don’t offer it. Some do, but most don’t. Then, you need to be careful because those who do offer it, often offer crappy insurance… they get you with “we offer insurance to all employees.” Then you get the policy and realize how crappy it is when you have to jump through every hoop known to man in order to set up a doctors visit.

So, if anyone knows a company that has a good insurance for part-timers, please share the love.

So, assuming you don’t get insurance through your job, what are your options.

Well, I think all seminaries offer some sort of insurance, however, much like the the part time jobs it is often not that great. In fact, my admissions officer was kind enough to answer my question, “does ____ offer health insurance to students?” with brutal honesty. “Yes… but it isn’t very good. You’d probably be better off going with someone else.”

Well, you’re basically left with only a few options. You can contact an insurance sales person. If you go this route, check with your seminary as they might have a connect to a trustworthy representative. However, don’t be lazy. Check with a couple other companies than the one that you’re seminary pointed you to.

A final option that I’ve found helpful is eHealthInsurance. This site compares a bunch of different plans and prices.

At this point Just a Gal and I haven’t decided on what we’re going to go with. I need to contact a local rep in _____. But eHealthInsurance gave us some good results with reasonable deductibles, copays, and doctor visits… with pretty good rates.

Anyone else want to share their insurance wisdom or experience?

Places to find a job while attending seminary

Ok, here is another list that might help. Here are some sites that might help you find a job while you’re in seminary (no particular order other than this is how they came to my mind):

• First, check with your seminary. Lots of them have job resources for you (often in local churches). Some also offer work study… which has ups and downs… but it is an options none the less.
• Snag a Job (Good for hourly / part time gigs)
  
• Craig’s List (be sure to change to view jobs in your area)
• Monster
• Indeed
• Career Builder
• Church Jobs
• Church Staffing
• Guru (Good site if you want to be a freelancer… I use this as a web development freelancer, but they have lots of other niche freelance categories. Oh, and you’ll need to drop cash to get an account, but I made about $2k this year through guru gigs.)
• Hot Jobs

Any other suggestions for good job sites?

In the beginning - My Seminary Journey

So, as part of this blog I’ll be chronicling my journey to and in seminary. So, to catch you up to speed we need to go back… way back…

I’d say it was in middle school (about 18 years ago) that I first felt a “call” to ministry. I remember sitting in a youth group meeting, listening to one of the pastors preach and I thought, “I think I’d like to do that when I grow up.” Now, I’m sure that isn’t a common thought amongst lots of 12 year olds… but, none the less, there was something there inside me, drawing me.

Well, between then and my sophomore year in college my life didn’t really follow a path that would lead one to become a pastor. I lived a life that was pretty self serving in those years. I still had a seed of faith in my heart… but being a pastor was certainly not in the forefront of my mind.

Then, through some very divine circumstances God, in his mercy and grace, captured my attentions and affections as a sophomore in college. One night, at a party, with a bud light in hand I said a quite prayer of total surrender to God that went something like, “God, if you’re real and the Bible is true, then you have a plan for me and I want to live it with every fiber of my being.”

It was shortly after this that the seed planted in my heart all those years earlier began to be watered and grow. I began to realize that there was little else I truly wanted to do in this life than be a pastor (take that in a very broad sense please… being a pastor has lots of forms, not just the one guy who talks on Sunday mornings… but I’m sure you know that.)

Anyway, I began to take steps in that direction by becoming really involved in a campus ministry based out of my local church. Several fast and strange years later I found myself as the campus minster for said church and campus ministry. As a young, twenty something, in full time vocation ministry I thought I knew everything… I soon realized I knew nothing. It was during this time that seminary first started to become interesting to me. I began to realize that I have a lot to learn and my local church might not have all the depth of training I might need to be and do all I felt called to be and do. So, for the first time, I began to look intently at seminary.

So, that is how it began. In upcoming posts I’ll explain how I started to look at seminaries and how I ended up being a virtual student and, eventually, we’ll catch up to present day and where I am now in the journey.

Anyone else know early in life that this is the direction you were going? When did you first sense a call to vocational ministry?

Can I afford seminary?

The fact is that seminary is expensive.

So, when trying to make the decision on going to seminary, it is important to spend some time crunching the numbers. Now, this isn’t the determining factor, but it is certainly one you must consider before making this decision.

So, what should you do?

Well, first, you need to figure out you current cost of living. This means taking ALL your monthly expenses and get them on paper. Here is a list to get you thinking. List how much you spend per month on:

• Rent/Mortgage
• Groceries
• Power
• Water
• Trash
• Internet
• Cable
• Auto Insurance
• Car Payment
• Gasoline
• Student loans
• Clothing
• Entertainment
• Eating out
• Tithe/Donations
• and so on…

Now, if you don’t know exactly how much you spend per month, then estimate. The key here is to estimate HIGH. So, if you think you spend $100 a month clothes, but you aren’t sure… go ahead and estimate $125.

Once you have it all listed out… add it up. This is a good idea of your current cost of living.

Now, the fun part. Ask yourself how you plan to pay the bills when you go to seminary. Here you need to be realistic. You’re not going to be working a 40 hour a week job making $60K while you’re in seminary. The coursework will be grueling. I estimate (current seminarians help me on this one) that you can work 20 +/- hours a week. This alone will limit your job options. So, honestly evaluate your income potential on a monthly basis. Here, again, you might need to estimate. This time, however, estimate low. Better safe then sorry. Also, if your spouse plans on working, figure that it too. Add it all up and you have your estimated monthly income.

Now, take your estimate monthly income and subtract your current cost of living. This number might scare you… it’s probably a negative. That means you won’t make enough to support your current lifestyle while at seminary.

Now, don’t take that to mean seminary is out of the picture for you. Now the fun begins.

Take your current monthly living expense and begin to trim the fat. What areas can you cut down? Entertainment and eating out are the first easy targets. However, don’t be foolish and drop them to zero. Unless you are super-human, you’ll eat out from time to time… or at least get a coffee or tea. To say zero is just dumb. Be rational and cut the excess, but don’t drop to zero.

Now, I’m not going to talk about all the ways to cut cost (I’ll do that on another post) but you get the picture. As you cut the cost you’ll notice you’re inching closer and closer to making that negative a positive.

Now, as our decreasing the gap here, (warning, bad news ahead) don’t forget to add some of the expenses that might not have been on your first list… like books, health insurance, tuition, etc. These are certainly going impact the monthly budget.

Now, what happens if you’ve cut all you think you can legitimately cut and the numbers still don’t work? Well, I can’t tell you exactly. This is where prayer, council, and discernment kick in. Just because it doesn’t work on paper doesn’t mean it is out the window. Pray and be wise.

For me… well, the paper (aka the “can this work” excel spreadsheet) says no. We’re about $700 a month short. However, we’ve decided to take the step of faith. We’ll have some equity to cushion us for a bit to test the water, so our decision is not reckless… but it isn’t ’safe’. But I feel like that is part of the experience. Stepping out and trusting God. It isn’t for everyone (you know what I mean)… just do your homework.

First Seminary Blogger added to Blogroll

Congrats to Terry at Diary of a Seminary Student for being the first seminary blogger to make it on the goingtoseminary.com blogroll.

All you seminary bloggers out there, share your wisdom and insight here on goingtoseminary.com and get some nice link love in return. Check out the blogroll for details.

Life is hectic

My apologies for being absent the past few days. As any seminarian will tell you, life is hectic.

In preparation for our departure for seminary in January, I’ve been working full time at a start-up company in my town helping them with system/process management and optimization; preparing the company for, what I think is, its soon approaching tipping point. While it is a great job and lots of fun, it has been a lot of work. On top of that I’ve been trying to increase my client base for my web development company, as this will be the main bread winner while we are at seminary (at least according to my spreadsheet).

So, every day I get home from work and then… well, go to work. Which I guess is good preparation for seminary. There is no doubt that there will be a lot of work… I guess the upside is that there are no cubes involved. For those of you who’ve ever been trapped in a cube, may I recommend a cubicle freakout (I pretty much sing this theme song every day).

On top of all the work, there is of course the kids and wife. I think a big danger we all face is neglecting our family for the things we think can’t wait… and, lets me honest, there are those of us who hide from our families in our work and school. There are certainly days where it is just easier for me to say I need to get to work (which is true) but in reality I just can’t handle the kids, the mess, and the stress. Now, I’m sure that is just me… good ole sinful me… but anyone feel me on that one?

Well, enough rambling here. Just needed to let you know I’m alive and well. In fact, I’m celebrating my 7th wedding anniversary this weekend and I have a bit of a surprise up my sleeve for my gal (little man and sweetpea are being shipped off and we’re shipping out). So, I’ll be off the next two days, but I hope to post some good stuff on Saturday. Just writing this post has given me some great ideas. I think I’m going to write about some preparatory steps to take when deciding to go to seminary… like figuring out if you can afford it (hint… you probably can’t).

(Also, if you happen to know what squidoo is, then check out the lens I recently created. I mostly created it for SEO purposes. But if your a Squidoo fan, then hook me up with some votes… and while I pathetically asking for some SEO help, please vote for the site at the bloggers choice awards… ok, ok… enough shameless marketing talk…)

Is a virtual campus for you? A seminary’s advice

While tooling around the net looking for seminaries with online and distance education options I found a good bit of help from a post on the Asbury Theological Seminary web site.

The elements you bring to online learning are vital to the learning process. Here are some questions to ask yourself as you consider the possibilities of virtual learning:

• How well do I manage my time?
• How do I rate my reading & writing skills?
• How do I rate my computer skills?
• How do I learn best?
• Will I have the support of my family and friends?

In the post they break down these questions a little further. Certainly something worth checking our if you are thinking about going to online or distance education route for seminary.

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