We are a bit late posting our winners. Our deepest apologies for the delay.
Thanks to all who entered. We pray for your seminary journey to be one of great transformation.
We’ll post the first article on Monday, September 6.
And, the winners are:
I Keep My Eyes Open During Prayer – Nick Ng Rebuilt Houses – Jason Chamberlain Serving Pizza and Making Copies – Seth Ross What They Don’t Tell You On The Walking Tour – Anthony Russo
Its time for another writing contest! We’re going to give away four e-readers or $200 toward books. (winner’s choice)
Have you thought about sharing your seminary journey with the world? Perhaps you are interested in pontificating about how seminary could be better, or have questions that you’re not finding answers to regarding your seminary journey. Maybe you already have a blog, but not the readership you’d like to have.
Now is your chance to build readership, pontificate about seminary to your heart’s desire, or give blogging your first go around.
Submit your 500 to 750 word article on whatever topic you like as long as it has to do with seminary. You must be a current seminary student and the articles must be original work not previously posted or submitted to another website.
Out of the entries we’ll select the four winners. Those winners will then submit three more articles, one per month, over the next three months. At the end of those three months they will get their choice of the e-readers. A Kindle, a Sony e-reader, a Nook, a Kobo, or a $200 gift certificate to purchase textbooks from Amazon, B&N, or Borders. All four writers will have their choice! Or if a new ereader is on the market at the $200 price tag we’ll gladly substitute it instead.
Submit your article by August 23, 2010, via email to justaguy[at]goingtoseminary.com. We’ll announce the four winners on August 30, 2010.
—–Update 8/20/2010—–
We’re going to extend the submission deadline until Friday, August 27. We’ll still announce the winners on Monday, August 30.
Need some ideas for writing about your seminary journey? We took a few “hot button” issues from past comments and experiences to help you get started. Feel free to use them.
Plaza Research, a market research firm in San Diego, California, is currently performing a study regarding Religious Leaders. This is a nation wide study that can be completed from the comfort of your home, and you will be compensated for your time. For this study we are looking for Fathers and all seminary students.
This will be a 1 hour interview via web cam, if you don’t have one we will send one to you that you can keep after the study! If you already have a web cam you will be compensated $100.00 dollars, if not it will be $75.00 and you will be sent a web cam to keep.
If anyone is interested in please contact Taylor Katz via email @ taylor.katz@gmail.com or phone @ 858.200.3000. Their hours of operation are M-TR 9am-845pm and Fr 9-5. You can also visit their website for more info @ http://plazaresearch.com/.
By far our most popular post over time has been our Seminary Scholarship post. The problem with this post is how narrow it is, and without great amounts of effort and time it would never be very inclusive. Not to mention how dated it has become.
So, we decided it might be best to let our readers build the listing. Below you will find the list and a form to submit other scholarships. As new submissions come in they will be added nightly to the list.
Of course we can’t verify all the details of each scholarship submission, that part will be up to you if you decide to apply for a specific scholarship listed here. We hope this list helps make seminary available to more people all over the globe.
Logos Bible Software
Description of scholarship: Now there is a scholarship that is open to everyone and doesn’t take a week’s worth of late nights to apply for. At SeminaryScholarship.com all you have to do is watch a demonstration of Logos Bible Software and fill out a brief application. Once your application is submitted you will be entered to win a $1,000.00 scholarship AND a digital theological library that, in print, would cost over $6,100.00!
url: http://www.seminaryscholarship.com/
Rockbridge Seminary
Description of scholarship: Rockbridge Seminary does many things differently from traditional seminary. Cutting a new path for fully online seminary education doesn’t stop at the learning model and method. Students write their own scholarships at Rockbridge. Literally, they write blog postings and emails telling others about their experience and Rockbridge and the people who read that writing become students. When that happens the student making the referral gets $250 in tuition credit added to their account.
url: http://www.rockbridgeseminary.org/learning-upgrades/create-your-own-seminary-scholarship
Chattanooga Christian Community Foundation
Description of scholarship: Two scholarships currently available.
url: http://www.cccfdn.org/page18325.cfm
The Arkansas Baptist Foundation
Description of scholarship: Eight scholarships currently available.
url: http://www.abf.org/individuals_scholarships.htm
The Baptist Communicators Association
Description of scholarship: In order to encourage the growth and professional development of college, university, and seminary students in the field of Baptist communications, the Baptist Communicators Association will award one $1,000 scholarship to an undergraduate student, one $1,000 scholarship to an undergraduate of minority ethnic or international origin, and one $500 scholarship to a graduate student.
url: http://www.baptistcommunicators.org/about/scholarship.cfm
Acton Institute
Description of scholarship: Calihan Academic Fellowships: Scholarships and research grants of up to $3,000 for graduate students and seminarians studying themes promoted by the Acton Institute.
url: http://www.acton.org/programs/students/calihan_academic_scholarship.php
Mississippi Baptist Foundation
Description of scholarship: Mississippi Baptist Foundation- Scholarship Ministry: Due to the generosity of many faithful Christian stewards, the Foundation has the privilege of providing needs-based supplemental financial assistance to Mississippi students who are pursuing a degree at a Mississippi Baptist college or a Southern Baptist seminary. Most of these endowed scholarship accounts offer specific eligibility guidelines for awarding a scholarship grant.
url: http://www.msbaptistfoundation.org/templates/cusmbf/details.asp?id=23841&PID=79554
Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary
Description of scholarship: Golden Gate Seminary gladly cooperates with Southern Baptist partners throughout our nation to assist students in ministry preparation. Many SBC state conventions, foundations, associations, agencies and individual churches support students directly through scholarships, grants or loans. Most of these “external” organizations govern their own procedures and systems, and quite often post different application deadlines.
url: http://www.ggbts.edu/financialaid/BaptistAidSources.aspx
Instead of beginning with how we judged I’ll just tell you who won.
Congrats To:
All submissions were blindly ‘graded’ by three seminary professors and myself. Just like seminary:) All four scores were totaled and the top four were deemed our winners. (Blindly= all names and references were removed before grading.)
If you’re a real seminary geek and want to know the score curve post in the comments and I’ll oblige.
Thanks to all who entered. We feel this was a great success and will be holding another contest, open to all previous entrants and winners, in June.
Have you thought about sharing your seminary journey with the world? Perhaps you are interested in pontificating about how seminary could be better, or have questions that you’re not finding answers to regarding your seminary journey. Maybe you already have a blog, but not the readership you’d like to have.
Now is your chance to build readership, pontificate about seminary to your heart’s desire, or give blogging your first go around. AND, we’re going to give you your choice of an e-reader to do it.
Submit your 500 to 750 word article on whatever topic you like as long as it has to do with seminary. You must currently be a seminary student and the articles must be original work not previously posted or submitted to another website.
Out of the entries we’ll select the four winners. Those winners will then submit three more articles, one per month, over the next three months. At the end of those three months they will get their choice of the e-readers. A Kindle, a Sony e-reader, or a Nook. All four writers will have their choice! Or if a new ereader is on the market around the $259 price tag we’ll gladly substitute it instead.
To submit your article email it to justaguy[at]goingtoseminary.com. We’ll announce the four winners on April 1st. And this is most certainly not an April Fool’s joke. 
————Update 3/9/10———–
Submission deadline is 3/30/10
————Update 3/30/10———-
Thank you to all who entered. We’ll announce the winners on Thursday April 1. We had several entries in the last few days so it will likely be Thursday afternoon before we announce.
Cyber Monday, or everyday: The good folks over at Logos Bible Software are offering the GtS readers 25% [update 7/1/10] they now offer 15% off the latest Logos software. Either click here or use coupon code GTS1 when checking out.
iPhone users should check out their recently launched iPhone app.
Jenn and I are trying to wipe out our last bit of debt. Prior to packing up and moving to Orlando, we (er… ok, it was mostly my stupid decision) took out a loan in order to buy a Jeep. We used part of the loan to pay for the 1979, midnight blue, custom rebuilt 350, dual side exhaust, CJ7 (oh, how I miss that jeep). The rest of the loan we used to cover some expenses prior to the move. In retrospect, there were some good and bad things about taking out the loan, but nothing we can do now about that decision except pay it off.
So, like I said, we’re trying to get rid of it. On Tuesday I finally caved in and decided we would cancel our cable service and some of the extra features we have on our phones. It started with a call to comcast. I explained that I need to keep my internet (for obvious reasons) but wanted to cancel my cable service. Our last bill was about $120 and I was looking to drop it in half. The representative explained that my internet, by itself, would be about $60. She said that there was promotion going on that could get me my internet and cable for $100. I said that I needed to drop my bill more than that and that I’d probably be just fine with internet only. She replied, “Can you hold for a moment?” After a minute or two she returned and said, “I’ve found a promotion that would keep you in the same package you have for $79 a month.” Now, the deal is only good for 6 months, but hey, I just knocked $40 off my cable bill and I have EXACTLY the same package. Sweet!
After that I call Sprint. This was the call I was really dreading. Jenn and I both have a Blackberry Curves. I love this phone. Best one I’ve ever owned. With it, we both had a data plan ($30 each) and I also had an option that allowed me to connect my laptop to my phone via bluetooth to surf the web ($15 a month). Over time I have grown VERY accustomed to these features and use them every day. But, I kept looking at that cell bill and thinking, “I could save $75 a month by getting rid of those features.” So, today I did. Sadly, the Sprint rep wasn’t as willing to hook me up as the comcast rep was. But I took off those options and added some text messaging for a net monthly savings of $65. Throw in my cable savings and we just saved $100 a month!
So, today’s Thrifty Thursday lesson is this. Don’t be afraid to call any of your service providers and ask if they can reduce your bill… they might just do it. Also, sometimes you have to let go of things you like… Like 1979 CJ7s and 24-7 access to email.
How about you? Got any good stories on saving a buck or two on monthly bills?
I need an assistant. Come to think of it, don’t we all? Imagine all the projects you could complete if you had an assistant. Imagine all the mundane and annoying tasks you could pass off to him or her so that you could focus on the stuff you want to do. Well, are you willing to pay for it? Because, I am.
So, here’s the deal. I’m looking to hire an assistant to help me with various project that I have underway. Now, the job will pay $10 an hour, but it will NOT be full time. At best, it might be part-part-time. Basically, if you’re looking to make a little side dough to take you guy or gal out on a date night, or to buy a new game for you Wii, then this is for you.
So, here’s what I’m looking for:
Right now I have two projects that need to be done and, depending on your performance and my ability to come up with more projects, there will be more work down the road. For my projects I will give you details on what I want done and a realistic deadline for completion. Within those bounds you’re welcome to work when and how you want.
So, if this sounds intriguing and you’d like to be considered for the job, send an email to ryan@goingtoseminary.com. Make the subject: I can COpy and Paste. In the email, all I want you to include is 2 sentences telling me why I should hire you and one link to any seminary that is on twitter (the link should go to their twitter page).
So, there you have it. It isn’t exactly a thrifty tip for everyone, but it might put a few bucks in someone’s pocket.
Tomorrow is July 1st and summer is in full swing. Now, summer means different things for each of us so I thought it would be fun to see what everyone has planned. I’ve put a few items in the poll already, but feel free to add your own answer and drop a comment below.
