Raising Up Pastors

An Realistic Approach for Most Churches

In my assessment, training the next generation of pastors requires both seminary and real-life ministry. You can’t forsake either. A hybrid model is the most realistic path forward: use seminary for the deep theological and technical work, and use the local church to form men through hands-on training.

I don’t buy the idea that pastors in local churches can or should handle all the training themselves. Most pastors are generalists—they’re already carrying the load of preaching, counseling, visiting, leading, and a dozen other things. They don’t have the margin or the specialization to teach Greek, Hebrew, hermeneutics, or exegetical theology at the level it needs to be taught. That’s where seminary still and probably always will play a valuable role.

But I’m not a big fan of the full MDiv route. It takes too long, costs too much, and tries to do too much. I prefer a focused Master of Arts in Theology with the original languages. It hits the strengths of seminary—exegetical skill, systematic depth, historical grounding—without pulling a man out of church life for three or four years or even longer. It’s concentrated, rigorous, and more flexible.

That said, seminaries don’t prepare men for the trenches. They don’t train you to deal with funerals, weddings, angry deacons, broken budgets, or messy counseling cases. They don’t teach you how to write a church-wide email that doesn’t cause a firestorm. They’re good at theory, not practice.

That’s why the church has to lead on the practical side. At East River Church, we run a two-year internship that combines theological education with real ministry. We invest in a man we believe in—help him get his MA or MDiv (if that's the route he chooses), and bring him in as an intern. Over those two years, we involved him in the full life of the church wherever we can: budgeting, planning, leading ministries, preaching, counseling, discipling leaders, officiating funerals and weddings—the whole deal.

By the end of that stretch, he’s not just “trained”—he’s tested. Lord willing, he’s ready to serve as an assistant pastor, and with more time, could become an associate or plant his own church.

And just to be clear—I’m not talking about some perfect ideal. I’m talking about what can actually be done right now. Too many churches outsource everything to seminaries and then act surprised when they get a theologically sound but practically clueless man who can’t lead. Others swing the opposite direction—start their own bootstrapped pastors’ college—and crank out men with zeal and instinct but without theological depth. I’ve seen both. I want something better. Not for the exceptions, but for the average faithful church that wants to raise up pastors.

The reality is: most churches could pull this off. Support a sharp young man through a solid MA. Bring him alongside for three years. Give him real responsibility. And by the end, you’ll have a man who knows how to teach the Word and shepherd the people.

That’s what we’re doing at East River. And my plan is to always have at least one man in that pipeline. Because over time, that produces what we actually need—pastors with backbone and wisdom, trained in truth, shaped by the grind, and ready to lead.

Every time I talk about this, someone reminds me how things ought to be, and I get it. I know the ideal. But we have to start with where we are. I’m all for broader reform, which is why I support a seminary financially and plan to double that support over the next five years. It’s the same basic vision: do what we can now, and keep pushing toward something better over time.