Latest / 4-Freedom Podcast / 177. Summer Interview With Luther Rice College - President Steven Steinhilber and Dr Marcus Merritt

Transcript

177. Summer Interview With Luther Rice College - President Steven Steinhilber and Dr Marcus Merritt · 4-Freedom Podcast

• 0:00
  You guys are not brothers with that hair.
• 0:03
  I mean it's the same view and. My hair actually, as a kid used
• 0:07
  to be that color. Over the years, it's over the
• 0:10
  years it's darkened up. When is y'all first?
• 0:13
  How old How? How old were y'all when you met
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  No? Kidding.
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  Bourbon and meet up. Bourbon meet up.
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  OK, we really. Didn't know each other that
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  well. Israel was the time we really I
• 0:28
  did not. Know that?
• 0:28
  Yeah. Yeah, and I said, Brett, I think
• 0:32
  John's going to bail out the podcast.
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  Would you come on and help me as a Co host?
• 0:39
  Wow. It was you.
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  It was all you. It was all you, Mark.
• 0:41
  Brought you together. 7° of. Separation from.
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  Kevin Bacon, it's it's time. I just.
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  Assumed they were best buddies. They hung out together the whole
• 0:50
  time, just. Brothers from another mother.
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  I mean you, you got sick and I had some really good over the
• 0:58
  counter medication and I'd left it on the bus and I felt so bad.
• 1:02
  So I could tell you didn't feel good.
• 1:03
  It was a quick sink this weekend.
• 1:06
  I missed out on that fish house though.
• 1:08
  Yeah. I found my freedom in you.
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  I found a toy I can't lose, and thank God it's true.
• 1:30
  You wrapped your arms around me and heaven broke through from
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  the moment she found me. I found my freedom in you.
• 1:41
  Welcome to the Four Freedom Podcast.
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  This podcast exists to bring the freedom of the gospel for
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  everyday Christians. With everyday issues.
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  Now here are your hosts, James Sabre and Brett Moore.
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  All right, well, we're here today with Steve and Marcus from
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  Luther Rice. And if you don't know Luther
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  Rice, this is the combination of Martin Luther and John R Rice.
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  They came together and formulated a independent
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  fundamental Baptist college. It fits our series of the
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  fundamentals, the foundation of fundamentals.
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  And so they're just going to talk, sort of share the history
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  of where we're at. If you listen to RFP, Marcus was
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  just on there and got to share a little bit about what's going
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  on. But we've got the president
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  here, Steve, the man in charge, the myth, the legend, and we
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  want to just sort of hear the heart of what's going on at
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  Luther Rice and what you guys have going on.
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  I appreciate that James and Brett, it's, it's good to be
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  here and good to be here with Marcus as well.
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  I. Appreciate the independent
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  fundamental. Introduction I've I've been here
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  over 13 years. That's the first time I've ever
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  heard us explain like that. But now we've been around since
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  1962. Doctor Robert Witty started the
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  school in Jacksonville, FL. He decided that not only were we
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  going to train people for ministry, but we're going to
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  train people in the ministry and a lot of the pastors.
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  Could not pack up their families and move their family to a
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  seminary. So he decided he was going to do
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  it by a distance education, and he started out by doing a
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  correspondence. Well, here we are.
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  Now with the Internet, we think that thing is going to take off
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  here sometime soon and we use that for online education now.
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  So here we're still doing distance education primarily.
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  I think we have what about 1000 students right now, Doc, I would
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  say almost 99% of those students do their work 100% online.
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  A couple of the doctoral students come in for the one
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  week modules, but. It's just.
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  Our average age student right now is anywhere.
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  Between 30 and 50 years old. It's a It's a man or a woman
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  that's in ministry, has a job, has a.
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  Family and it's crazy enough to try to figure in you know an
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  education so that's what we're really good at and our
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  professors are dedicated to that but the most important thing is
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  the fact that we still believe that God's.
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  Word is infallible, inspired, inerrant and authoritative for
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  our lives. So.
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  That's what we teach at Luther Rice.
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  It undergirds everything we do, and we're not ashamed of that.
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  You. Guys aren't a Southern Baptist
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  seminary, but you guys sort of, I think if I remember correctly,
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  you spawned out of the Conservative resurgence.
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  Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah.
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  So we we don't get any of the cooperative.
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  Funds from from the They let us play in the reindeer games here.
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  Right. So we can, we can get a booth
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  here and and hang out and recruit.
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  But no, we've always been independent since 1962.
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  But yeah, we spawned out of really where I think we gained.
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  Our traction was a conservative resurgence, so Doctor Charles
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  Stanley's a graduate of ours. Jerry.
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  Vines is a graduate of ours. Steven Oldford is a graduate of
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  ours. So back in the day when that
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  was. Hot and heavy.
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  Our guys were on the. Pulpit or being?
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  You know, nominated as president, president to rock.
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  You know to to. Move this convention into a
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  conservative perspective. So we still stand on that today.
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  Now before we started, Marcus, you said you had the perfect
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  face for podcasting, so I wanted to ask you a question.
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  What kind of programs does Luther Rice offer for anyone
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  that might be interested in attending?
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  Well, thank you, Brett. Obviously, I think everybody
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  should do a Doctor of Ministry because I'm the director of that
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  program, but not everybody's there and I understand that
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  thanks to our President, we have all kind of new offerings now.
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  For example, say you have no education at all, no formal
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  education on your pastor of a church.
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  You don't have the time or the money or the ability to do a
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  full degree. Well, you can do a certificate
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  now. A certificate is 3 courses.
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  For example, if you took a certificate in biblical
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  education, that would be the three courses would be like Old
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  Testament survey, New Testament survey, and Introduction to
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  Hermeneutics. I mean, what 3 better classes
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  could a pastor ask for than that?
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  And then once they complete that certificate, they could actually
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  come to graduation in Conyers, GA and they could March in cap
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  and gown and, and graduate with that certificate.
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  That could be done there. Or that pastor or that Christian
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  may say, I want to do another certificate or they may say I
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  want to roll this certificate into a full degree and
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  everything they've done would go right into a bachelor's degree
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  and they could work towards that 120 hour bachelor's degree.
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  So I love the front end offering of certificates for pastors, for
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  ministry or for anybody that's in ministry.
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  And then we also have another new program that Doctor
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  Steinhilber has has spearheaded. We have an associate's degrees
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  in general studies. We also have, in addition to our
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  long Hill, which is what I have, a Bachelor of Arts in religion.
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  We have now a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from a biblical,
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  conservative Christian perspective.
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  So not everybody in your church is called to full time ministry.
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  And so that's why we've added some of these degrees.
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  And obviously we have all the master's degrees, Master of
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  divinity, Master of Arts and the Demon, which is my program.
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  And we have two PHDSPHD in organizational leadership which
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  could be used. Maybe you work for Coke or
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  Delta, you know, you could use that in a secular setting.
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  We also have a PhD in Christian scripture and anyone that
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  graduates with that degree would be qualified to teach not only
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  Old Testament, but also teach New Testament.
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  So it's a, it's a wonderful all-encompassing PhD.
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  And in addition to that, again, and I hate to, I don't want my
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  president to think I'm just gloating on him because he's
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  standing right here and because his name's on my paycheck.
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  But another one of part of the reason is that, but another one
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  of his vision was not only are we to equip for the ministry,
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  but also for the marketplace. How many people in your churches
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  are going to be full time ministers?
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  Not many probably, but everybody's going to be in the
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  marketplace. So we've now have the funds in
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  place to begin the Nall School of Business.
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  And I'm sure Doctor Steinhilbert has much more information about
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  that than I know. So, but those are just some of
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  the the degree programs that we offer.
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  Now one thing you when you say 100% online, you absolutely mean
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  that me, me being in Mississippi, I could take it and
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  not have to go to Georgia at all.
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  It's just 100% online the whole program.
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  Yeah, and you don't have to be online at any particular time.
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  You just have to get your weekly.
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  Assignments done so the. The academic week.
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  Starts at Monday. At 12:00 AM and then goes
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  through 1159. On Sunday.
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  And so our, our. Classes are what's called
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  asynchronous, right? So.
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  You can access them at any time. We have the video lectures.
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  Already recorded for you so you can.
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  Watch them, rewatch them, rewatch them, fall asleep, write
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  down what time you're at, come back the.
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  Next morning, wake up and watch it again.
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  So it just offers the flexibility.
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  You know, I was in school and. Yeah, I I just didn't have the
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  time to to go to the classroom and and Luther Ice helped me do
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  that. So we.
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  We had a cigar this past week with a guy named Daniel Wynn,
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  and Daniel and his wife that went to a unaccredited Bible
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  college, had received credits, and now they sort of got burned
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  out. But now she has a reintervigored
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  spirit to begin to go back to school, to get a teaching
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  education, teaching degree. And she enrolled in several
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  colleges and they wouldn't accept any of their college
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  credits that she took. They couldn't provide syllabuses
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  for the classes that she took. The college wouldn't do that.
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  So no college. So she had to start back to
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  square 1. So in our world, a lot of that
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  we. I have an unaccredited Bible
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  college degree. Brett has two unaccredited Bible
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  college degrees from two different colleges.
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  He was able to go through a college that helped out a little
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  bit of that. What would you say to someone
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  that has that college experience, but maybe it's from
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  an unaccredited college. I know you guys are full tracks
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  and sacks accreditation. Yeah.
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  And So what would you tell to someone that is warning that
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  they've spent all the money in the of the years that someone
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  told them to go there? How would you advise someone in
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  that area? Yeah, first.
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  First of all, I would say, listen, the education that you
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  got from that unaccredited school, just because it's
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  unaccredited does not mean it's not worth anything.
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  Normally at the. Under at the, you know, the
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  Bible college level or the Christian School, a lot of those
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  schools just don't have the financial resources to get that
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  accreditation that has. No bearing on the quality of the
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  education you got so first of. All I just tell anybody even
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  like yourselves, like don't. Don't don't worry about that,
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  right? Like it's it's more about what
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  you. Learn in the education versus
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  versus the. The accreditation that you have
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  now if you. Wanted to further your education
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  at a place like Luther Rice? We do.
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  Accept non accredited. Schools, but we do have to
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  evaluate the courses. And the syllabi and so forth.
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  But so my recommendation would be just go to a school like a
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  Luther Rice. And just ask them and say hey,
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  listen this. Is this something that you would
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  evaluate and most? Schools will.
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  Try to. Do that.
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  We try to. Give the the.
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  Student the benefit of the doubt, because we know the arena
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  we're in and and we know that the education that you got was
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  worth it. It's just the the school didn't
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  have the resources. So selfishly, I'm going to say,
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  hey, give Luther Rice a try. Let our Office of Admissions
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  evaluate those transcripts and we'll see if we can get you in.
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  I'm not going to call school names, but I'll tell you, I've
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  seen credits be given for some schools that aren't, you know,
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  on the level that we're on. So I know it can it can happen.
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  Now, y'all, you mentioned something a while ago about
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  business going into that arena. Can you tell us more about that?
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  Yeah. So I'm going to count by trade.
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  I'm a bean counter, right? So I came into higher Ed about.
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  13 years ago, I discerned to call the.
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  Ministry and just enrolled as a student at Luther Rice.
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  And then here. I am, 13 years later as
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  presidents, bonkers. But again I I I worked in the.
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  Marketplace for about 15 years and I was a winsome ambassador
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  for Christ in the business world.
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  And so when we had the opportunity, we had a major
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  donor give us a a $300,000 gift this year to start a School of
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  Business. So Lord willing, we get this, we
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  get the accreditors approval. Starting this spring, we'll have
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  a Bachelor of Arts and Business Administration, and our goal is
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  just to equip men and women who've called to be businessmen
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  and women, but but also want to be Winston ambassadors for
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  Christ in the. Marketplace so we're.
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  Going to teach it from a biblical worldview, very heavy
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  on business, right? We want this to be a business
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  degree that you can utilize and succeed.
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  In that market. But we also want to equip you to
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  be able to do it from a, you know, an ethical worldview, you
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  know, So what we're going to, we're going to business.
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  Ethics degree class. An evangelism class, and you
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  name it, it'll be from a biblical worldview.
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  So is this going to be like business of is there will there
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  be specific business degrees would just be a general business
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  degree? Yeah, it'd be a, it'll be a
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  general Bachelor of Arts and Business Administration degree,
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  but you're going to have economics, accounting,
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  marketing. Finance.
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  Statistics, you name it, it's it's it's going to be your
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  general degree. Little Birdie told me that you
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  guys were thinking of starting an associate's degree for bikers
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  that were looking to be a biker education.
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  Just trying to figure out where that was at.
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  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Doctor Merritt is a
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  resident biker. You know, I, I had to give up my
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  bike about about six years ago. I used to ride quite a bit, but
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  we leave the bike in the dock now, you know?
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  When you have a beard like that, you got no choice but to be a
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  biker. Absolutely.
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  And you know, he shared something on Facebook.
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  I think he shared more about the bike exhibit around here than he
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  even did Luther Rice's exhibit. So I'm trying to figure out
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  where that was going to be incorporated.
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  The guy's never in the office anymore.
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  It's like, hey man, it's Doc, I got to go to Israel, I've got to
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  go to Greece, I got to go to Daytona for bike week.
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  He's going to Sturgis. So yeah, he's only here for our
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  modules anymore. That's good.
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  That's why it's all online, because doctors got to be going
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  all the time in my. Defense, I am not a biker, I'm a
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  motorcyclist, and there's a big difference.
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  That's right. Well, my dad, he drives
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  motorcycles as well, so I've been in it my whole life.
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  So you said you enrolled 13 years ago at Luther Rice.
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  Was Doctor Merritt one of your teachers or how how was the?
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  Now he, he was still with the the mission board at that time
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  actually like real quick, funny story is we had, we were hiring
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  for his position. So I called him up knowing he
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  knew everybody in the state of Georgia.
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  I said, man, I got an open position.
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  You know everybody, you know anybody that'd be interested in
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  it. And he goes, yeah, I know one
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  guy. Me.
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  I was like, yeah, it's exactly who I wanted.
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  He was, he was ready to get out of the convention work and ready
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  to get back into education. I love it.
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  Well, any final thoughts or closing things from Luther Rice
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  to encourage someone that's trying to figure out where
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  they're at, where they want to go?
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  Well, I would say so many of us that Luther Rice that are on the
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  faculty are guys and some ladies too, that maybe later in life
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  was called a ministry. I have a heating and air
• 15:04
  conditioning certification. I had a heating and air
• 15:06
  conditioning company when I was in the in the 80s and 90s.
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  So it you don't have to be fresh out of high school to go into
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  college and then in the seminary and then into the ministry
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  wherever you're at. If God's calling you to
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  ministry, then God's calling you to prepare and Luther rice Doc.
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  What's our average age like 35 to 50, something like that.
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  And it's never too late. It's never too late.
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  And since our our offerings, our courses are online, really you
• 15:35
  have no excuse. If God's calling you in the
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  ministry, or maybe you're already in the ministry, but you
• 15:39
  feel like God is calling you to take it to the next level, then
• 15:42
  I would encourage you to just go online.
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  Check out Luther Rice, give us a call, and we'd be happy to talk
• 15:49
  with you. And it's a lot less complicated
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  to get enrolled and to get started than most people
• 15:55
  probably think. Well, thank you man for coming
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  on today. Appreciate you guys giving us a
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  little bit of time. Looking forward to a lunch
• 16:01
  tomorrow with you guys. It's always been a highlight in
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  the last three years that Marcus has invited us to be there as
• 16:08
  friends, not alumni, but as friends of Marcus's.
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  And I think there's more friends of Marcus there than than there
• 16:14
  are alumni should be the the friends of Marcus.
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  And so we appreciate it and thank you guys for all your
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  work. Until next time, to God be the
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  glory. Great things he has done found.
• 16:24
  My new name found my, my good grace found that healing, and
• 16:30
  the tears fell down my face when I found my beginning.
• 16:34
  It has no ending. I found my second chance, found
• 16:36
  my best friend, found my forgiveness, found my happiness.
• 16:38
  I've been singing ever since I found my freedom.
• 16:55
  Thanks for listening to the For Freedom podcast.
• 16:58
  If you enjoyed our content, do us a favor by liking,
• 17:02
  subscribing, or sharing our podcast or whichever podcast
• 17:05
  platform you use. Be sure to join us next time for
• 17:09
  the For Freedom podcast.