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205. Marcus Merritt on Luther Rice College · 4-Freedom Podcast

• 0:02
  All right, welcome to the Four Freedom Podcast.
• 0:05
  We are here live on location in Jerusalem, Israel and me and
• 0:11
  Brett are excited to be here in Israel.
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  Brett, why don't you introduce our guest for today?
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  We have the one, the only, the renowned, the astounding Dr.
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  Marcus Merritt. From Luther, Luther.
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  Rice Seminary and we're glad to have, we've been spending all
• 0:29
  week with him and couldn't think of a better guy to go to Israel
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  with. And we are thankful that you're
• 0:35
  here with us there, that you're taking time, and thank you for
• 0:39
  being here with us. It is my joy and my delight and
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  my pleasure, and I can't believe you guys aren't sick of me yet.
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  And you let me come up and do a podcast episode with you.
• 0:50
  I'm honored. Yeah.
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  Well, you know, I was someone was talking about how it's been
• 0:54
  a good day and I'd mentioned any day with Marcus is a good day.
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  And so that's always a blessing. It's always a great thing.
• 1:01
  It's I remember a second time. It's our three-year reunion from
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  being in Israel and man, we're going to we're going to talk
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  about that in our next episode. But but we're excited about
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  what's going on. Luther Rice.
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  We are trying to be some, even though me and Brett are not
• 1:16
  graduates of Luther Rice, We're we're ambassadors for good
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  causes and we like to promote things that are good and they're
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  healthy and they're going to be good for people's education and
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  spiritual growth. And so you were telling us just
• 1:30
  a couple of days ago and looking through some new things that are
• 1:33
  going Luther Rice. They've got a new bi vocational
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  bachelor's two year degree. Tell us a little about what's
• 1:41
  going on and then we'll throw it to Brett for some a couple other
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  things. Be glad to yeah, it's a two year
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  associate's degree to a four year bachelor degree program.
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  And I'll tell you how that works.
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  But let me just first tell you about my experience.
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  I came out of high school and was not going into the ministry,
• 1:59
  was not going to be a past or anything like that.
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  So I come out of high school and I go to Marietta Cobb, a
• 2:04
  vocational technical school, and I take heating and air
• 2:08
  conditioning. And yes, I can still do heating
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  and air conditioning to this day.
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  And so that was what I did. I was, I did eating an air.
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  And then when God called me to preach and I began looking at my
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  theological education, I knew I needed, you know, some grounding
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  in the ministry and in the word of God and preaching and all
• 2:28
  that you learn in in Bible college.
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  So I start off at Ground Zero. I've got this associate's
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  degree, this technical degree, but that doesn't mean no good.
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  So I start out with nothing and I work, start working towards a
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  Bachelor of Arts in religion at Luther Rice.
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  And it was a great, great experience.
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  I mean, you know, those days you go just sit in the classrooms
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  and you know, there was 1000 students on campus and it was
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  just a bustling place. It was very, it was a very good
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  experience. But it was four years, it was 4
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  long years and I'm working still and you know, going to school
• 3:03
  and working that in it was, it was a lot.
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  Well, now with this program that you were talking about, it's
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  called a Bachelor of Arts in Workforce Readiness.
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  Now that title may change a little bit.
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  It's kind of a working title for us right now.
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  But here's how it works. Let's say you're a plumber or
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  you're a welder or your electrician, HVAC, whatever, and
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  you've got your two year degree from a technical school.
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  Now in that two year degree, I had a little bit of Gen.
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  Ed in that. I think there's some math and
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  you know, I don't know about history, but maybe some science,
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  just very light, but it had some in there.
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  Well, what Luther Rice is doing now we have a partnership with
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  this, with the state of Georgia with the technical school
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  system. You can take that two year
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  associate's degree, bring it to Luther Rice and you're not going
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  to start all over. You're basically going to have a
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  halfway point. You're going to be about halfway
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  finished with your, your bachelor's because you've got
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  two years, the next two years you're going to work at Luther
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  Rice and you're going to be getting your preaching or
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  theology or whatever you're you're majoring in.
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  And so you're going to get your theology at Luther Rice, You're
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  preaching your hermeneutics, all of your Bible classes that
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  you'll take. And if you needed a little more
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  GN Ed, you can get that here too.
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  And then in 2-2 years, two years at Luther Rice, plus the two
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  years at your trade with your trade school, Luther Rice is
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  going to give you a four year Bachelor of Arts degree.
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  So you, you have beat me by two years.
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  I think it's a wonderful partnership.
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  And Doctor Evan Posey, our Provost, has been working really
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  hard with the technical school system in Georgia to make this
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  happen. You know, I'll tell you one of
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  the biggest fears that you can have when you're changing
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  education, when you're changing careers, is starting over,
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  starting over at Ground Zero with nothing.
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  I remember when I was trying to get my masters and I had this
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  unaccredited degree and I, I didn't, you know what the
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  biggest obstacle was? Starting over at Ground Zero.
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  But thankfully there was a college that had a program that
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  didn't allow me to just start over fresh.
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  And I'm really encouraged by this because it's an op.
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  It takes care of an obstacle that.
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  A lot of. People have.
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  I think it's a great opportunity.
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  I think it's going to benefit a bunch of people, yeah.
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  And I think, Brett, one of the things that are so intriguing
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  with this is I don't know how many guys I've talked to in
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  North Carolina, we right now we've got 40 churches that are
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  running 40% of churches that are running 100 or less that can't
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  support a full time pastor. And our association alone, we've
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  got 19 in our association. And I think eight or nine of
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  those guys are bivocational. So this would allow a guy to be
• 6:02
  bivocational, get a plumbing degree, and essentially, I guess
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  you could do this simultaneously.
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  Yeah, you. Could go, yeah.
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  You could simultaneously be a plumber working in the field and
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  then be taking your biblical courses at the same time at your
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  own pace roughly to be able to work through that.
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  So I think that's great. I think it helps out some of
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  these churches that are struggling with revitalization,
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  trying to get in a healthier way that can't support a pastor full
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  time and and he's got a supplement somehow.
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  So how can we find those avenues to help those guys out that are
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  doing a good work that just need that help so.
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  And let me let me give you the the rest of the story.
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  As Paul Harvey would say, this is the other good news.
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  So not only do you not have to start over, but you can can take
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  that that two year degree or as you're working on it two year
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  degree, also be working on your two year degree at Luther Rice
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  to get that bachelor's degree, bachelor's degree in religion at
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  Luther Rise or or in a workforce readiness.
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  But for me, I had to take all day Tuesday and all day Thursday
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  and go sit on campus all day long.
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  Man, you guys have done it. You know how you don't have to
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  do that anymore either. We are a fully sax accredited
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  institution. We have the same accreditation
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  as the University of Georgia or Alabama or Southern Seminary or
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  New Orleans Seminary where Brett and I have our they have our
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  money and but you can do it online.
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  We're a fully accredited college and seminary, but you can do
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  100% of your work online. You don't have to take off.
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  You can, you can be going to your your tech school and
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  working and doing your Luther rights or you can get your tech
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  degree 1st and then come to Luther rights every how you want
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  to do It's fine. But we Brett, I love that
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  thought. We've taken the obstacles out.
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  The Satan will throw every obstacle at you as to why you
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  can't do this or you shouldn't do this or you put it off to do
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  it later. All those obstacles have been
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  removed. And so you know, hey, e-mail me,
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  e-mail, e-mail the guys here, e-mail Doctor Steve Pray our our
• 8:20
  registrar Luther Eyes. And by the way, if you work for
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  a seminary and your last name is Pray, how cool is that?
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  Steve? Pray steve.pray@luthereyes.edu
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  and he can get you or you can go to the website.
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  Just hit apply. But yeah, don't, don't let any
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  of these things keep you from doing what God's called you to
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  do. I have questions.
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  We're talking about Luther Rice. One of my things that I've been
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  looking at from Luther Rice and several other colleges is I have
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  no desire to get my Master's degree.
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  Brett is all in on education and, but, but I have a heart for
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  counseling and certified through ABCD and the certificates that
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  you have that are three courses that give you a certificate at a
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  master's level program. Share that with us.
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  Maybe the, the different specialties that you've got that
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  could help a guy that's about that's got his bachelor's
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  degree. Me, I've got a bachelor's degree
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  from my credit college. So I'm looking to add some of
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  those things, but I, I don't have the time or the means to,
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  to jump into a full 2 year, 4 year master's degree level
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  program. What does that look like?
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  How does that look and what what is the success I guess since you
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  started that of guys doing that? Well, we've, we've had great
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  success with it and we have these certificates available on
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  the bachelor's level and the master's level.
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  So anybody again, no excuses jump in.
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  I'll give you an example. One of the certificates is one
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  of the most popular ones is we call it bib studies, biblical
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  studies. You say, oh, that doesn't sound
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  really exciting and it may not, but let me tell you why it's
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  probably our most popular. The three courses that you take,
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  you take a hermeneutics course. And if you're going to, you
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  know, if you're going to be preaching, you're going to be
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  leading teaching, you need to know how to study the Bible.
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  So you're going to take a hermeneutics course and then
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  you're going to have an Old Testament overview.
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  It's going to be a second course.
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  Your third course is going to be a New Testament overview.
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  I mean, what 3 better courses could you take for a guy that's
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  just starting out preaching or a guy that's been preaching for
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  for 10 years, you know, to take you to the next level.
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  It's a great. And then you take those three
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  courses and you can literally, if you wanted to come to Atlanta
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  and put on a cap and Garret and graduate with the graduating
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  class in May, you literally can do that and people do.
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  But here's the other thing. So you take that that bib study,
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  you're like, man, I really like that.
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  Now I think I want to take a, a counseling or I want to take a,
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  a biblical Greek, three courses in Greek.
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  I want to take biblical Hebrew, three courses in Hebrew, or I
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  want to take counseling or what I think we said counseling
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  already or whatever options are there.
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  They're all on the website. By the way, these things stack,
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  meaning the three hour credit that you got for that bib
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  studies would apply towards a full degree.
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  If you wanted it to. You could take another
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  certificate and apply that towards a full degree.
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  You're not losing anything. Or you can take one certificate
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  and say that's all I needed. It was great, thanks.
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  I'm done. So it that's the, I think the
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  technical term is stackable, but that's what that means.
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  It would apply towards a full degree.
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  And, you know, I think what I'm hearing is like, there's there's
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  nothing wasted. Everything you do counts.
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  Everything you do matters. Everything if you.
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  Start with a. Certificate, if you want to roll
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  that over into something else, you want to go further, you
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  change your mind one day, you want to get a degree.
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  You know, with all these options available.
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  I can't remember the last time that I heard about a college or
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  heard about a seminary that had this many options.
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  It's really unreal how many y'all have.
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  It's great. Yeah, and I don't know why
• 12:01
  anyone wouldn't take the trip down to Atlanta to walk because
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  you're going to be able to see and hang out with Doctor Mark
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  Merrick for a weekend. You can make it a whole week and
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  and go and hang out in his camper and just have a great
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  time with him. It would be a great thing.
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  Yeah. So I'm excited about what you
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  guys are doing and love getting to talk with you guys at the
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  convention and and now here at this moment.
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  So if you got questions, we'll link in our show notes, the
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  website and go to the website and check it out.
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  Maybe there's an option where you're looking to increase your
• 12:35
  education or start your education, or you're one of
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  these guys that have a two year degree in plumbing and you're a
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  pastor and you've never had the opportunity to get your degree.
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  Now you can add this on a lot of the two year degrees in North
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  Carolina, the Fruitland, it's it's getting close to closing
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  its doors, which was a great training facility for two year
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  degree for pastors. And so this is an option to to
• 13:01
  be come out with a an accredited 4 year degree and use those
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  trade schools today. So I think it's a great idea And
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  thank you, Marcus, for coming on talking with us.
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  And I hope you guys enjoy this. Any closing words from you,
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  Marcus? Yeah, let me.
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  Give you one final thought if you're interested, Brett, I
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  appreciate you saying that the third Thursday in every month we
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  have Chapel and you can watch that online.
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  It's it's I think it's Facebook or YouTube one it's you can
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  watch it online. You can Google it or just look
• 13:33
  at the website. But we also have another thing
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  that we do for prospective students during Chapel Chapel as
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  always at 10:00 and but before Chapel at 9:00, we have coffee
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  with a Prof and prospective students or just, you know,
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  pastors sometimes come in for that.
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  So the the professor that's preaching Chapel that month will
• 13:58
  do coffee with a Prof before. So he'll, he'll do this little
• 14:01
  teaching session at 9:00 and then move out of the classroom
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  and move into the Chapel. And then the same the same
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  professor will will preach at 10 and the the guy in February
• 14:12
  that's going to be doing that. It's a real shady guys name is
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  Merritt, but he would love to meet you.
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  But seriously, I would love to meet you.
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  I'll be, I'll be preaching and doing that and it'd be a great
• 14:24
  chance to get to meet some. Folks, that's great.
• 14:26
  Brett, have either one of us got invited to chat with you?
• 14:29
  Brett, I don't think we have waiting for that invite.
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  Maybe one day that'll happen. But thanks for tuning in today.
• 14:37
  Hope you guys enjoyed it and I look forward to next week as we
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  start talking through Israel. We were in Israel at the time of
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  this recording and we're going to be, I took a device with me.
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  I hope it worked. But I've recorded all of our
• 14:51
  teaching sessions at all the sites and as many of those as I
• 14:55
  can get on here in the month of February.
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  We're going to be putting on there the messages that were
• 14:59
  preached, the scripture that was read on site and location.
• 15:03
  So you can really feel like you were there.
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  And we're going to talk next week about what it what is was
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  like and all the things we went to the question that we get
• 15:13
  asked is is Israel safe? Am I going to get a bomb dropped
• 15:17
  on my head when I walk over there?
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  And so we're on location. We're going to talk about it.
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  So TuneIn next week as we jump into that.
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  So until next time, to God be the glory great things he has
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  done.