Bill Pols ('91)

At the Seminary board meeting last fall, I sat at lunch break with some students. The banter and good humor, mixed with seminary talk, brought me back to my time at Mid-America, located then in Orange City, Iowa. Those were good years. Over 3 decades later, here I was having lunch with a first year student, whose parents I married, and whom I baptized. I was moved by God’s grace and faithfulness to the Seminary, to me, and to the young man across the table from me.

Through the past 34 years of serving Cornerstone United Reformed Church of Edmonton, I have remained gratefully aware of the tremendous benefits of attending Mid-America. I still f ind myself quoting my professors in my teaching and preaching. Dr. Cornel Venema’s first year of teaching coincided with mine as a student. From the beginning, I and the one other student in his T heological Foundations class were privileged to learn from one of the “finest theologians of our time”. T his quotation of Derek Thomas is from his recommendation on the cover of Dr. Venema’s book: Christ and Covenant Theology: Essays on Election, Republication, and the Covenants, (P&R Publishing), which Dr. Thomas calls “necessary reading.” I could say the same of this and other writings of Mid-America professors, both their books as well as articles published over the years in the Mid-America Journal of Theology. They have continued to be of great help to me.

I have increasingly appreciated the richness and balance of the theological training at MARS. Throughout my ministry I have worked my way through the major theological works of “heavy-weights” like Francis Turretin, Herman Bavinck, and Wilhelmus ‘a Brakel, as well as Calvin. I am currently awaiting the publication of volume 5 of Petrus Van Mastricht’s Theoretical-Practical Theology. While this continued study has deepened and sharpened my knowledge of Reformed theology, at no point has it led me to any substantial correction or adjustment of what I was taught at Mid-America. In a similar vein, while I hope I have become a better and more Christ-centered preacher over the years, the basic content of my preaching hasn’t changed. On occasion, I have resorted to my collection of old sermons, sometimes preaching those from over 30 years ago. I’ve had to edit them for purposes of simplicity, clarity, and application, yet I’ve found that no major changes in theology or biblical interpretation had to be made. I give much credit for this to the sound foundation I received at seminary. I also received a foundation for interpreting Scripture that has enabled me to continually discover the uniqueness and special significance of the individual sermon texts. I have never run out of new things to see and say from the riches of God’s Word.

This past March I was privileged to meet up with some fellow 1991 seminary graduates at a pastors and missions conference. This reminded me of another great blessing of our time together at seminary. It forged bonds of love and friendship that endure through the years. As our class reaches the point where we are among the older guys, we also share a deep sense of God’s grace sustaining us in gospel ministry, and enabling us to see His faithfulness in so many rich and humbling ways. This includes seeing a growing number of colleagues, including those who seem to be very young, who exhibit soundness in the faith, with gifts and zeal for the advance of Christ’s kingdom.

Looking forward, I am greatly encouraged by the steady course and increasing reach and maturity of Mid-America Reformed Seminary. I see very positive growth in its attention to evangelism and missions, training in pastoral counselling, effective use of media, and high standards of academic excellence and good organization. I also see an unwavering commitment to the Reformation Standards of the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Confession of faith, and to the original purpose of training godly men for the ministry of the Word and sacraments.