Reset.

It has been far too long since I have updated, which seemed to happen much too often over the past year or so.  This past semester was super crazy as far as workload went: I allowed myself to get behind in schoolwork and spent the end of the semester playing catch up the whole time.  I'm still waiting on getting all of my grades back, but I have 3 A's so far.  One of the other classes should be an A.. the other class though is what is kind of worrying me.  I'm just glad to have it behind me, regardless!

Over the semester, I started doing some book reviews on this here blog and slacked up, but I am again tackling my stack of books so be on the look-out for more of those reviews coming soon.  I'll try to do a better job reviewing them too.. My previous reviews weren't all that well written.

This past semester, I took a class called "New Testament Greek Exegesis: James" where we translated the original Greek from the Book of James into modern-day English.  The class was incredible and I got a ton out of it.. Our professor broke up James into passages of about 7 or 8 verses for us to work on per lesson, so all of our translations were completed in a course workbook.  We had some other papers and stuff due too, but at the end of the semester, I decided to take all of that and compile it down into one document for easy viewing for years to come :) I tried to find a way to just link the file on here, but I couldn't figure it out.  Anyhow, I uploaded it on Google Docs so you should click this clause and go read my work :) (btw google docs did some crazy weird formatting to the text when it got uploaded so its kinda weird when you first look at it, but thats not how it was intended haha) all of the date, author, etc. information at the beginning is very consolidated.  We did an entire research paper on that so I consolidated all of that down to make it easier to read and more approachable.

Also, on my original blog from back in the day (xanga.com/lenurd... if you ever get really bored, go have fun reading that haha), I always did a "year in review"post, so since the end of the year is upon us, stay tuned for that post as well.

Farewell loves. Trenticus.

round 2

well school starts back tomorrow.. this summer break has felt like the longest break I think I've ever had whilst (hehe) in school so needless to say, I'm ready to get back into the swing of things.. I miss being on campus, learning more about Christ, opening every class in prayer (still the coolest thing ever), and heck, I even miss the drive haha.. I know, crazy right?!

the Seminary posted a Katrina 5-year anniversary/reflection, showing some pictures of the devastation the storm caused to campus and the restoration that has happened to make it more beautiful than ever.. the SBC wanted to move NOBTS out of New Orleans because of the financial reasons of restoration & the neighborhood around the seminary has only degraded more, especially shortly post-Katrina.. luckily, Dr. Kelley, the seminary President, maintained the original vision of NOBTS, to be a lighthouse to the city of New Orleans (my own paraphrase haha).. there have been tremendous opportunities that have arisen because of the seminary staying in the city, showing their dedication to the city, which has opened up doors to ministry & evangelism that were shut beforehand.. it's incredible how God can work such a sucky situation out for the better and further His kingdom in the process! if you want to see the current weekly newsletter with some various articles, including one by Dr. Kelley, as well as the aforementioned (hehe) photos, click here

this semester I'll be taking Pastoral Ministry (more of the application side of the pastoral role, but also includes administering the ordinances, conducting weddings/funerals, and baptisms.. we actually do an in-class mock baptism one day haha.. quite interesting), Greek Exegesis: James (simply put, exegeting the book of James.. haha who woulda guessed right?!), Encountering the Biblical World (basically, biblical geography), The Church and Political Involvement (how the church is to relate to the political culture of the day in various aspects), and World Religions: Islam (understanding the Islamic worldview in order to better understand how to discuss Christ with a Muslim.. the prof was a missionary in Egypt, then Iraq after the war started, developed all of the Muslim literature for the International Mission Board.. so he definitely knows his Qur'an.. should be a great class). so, it's definitely not the easiest semester I've ever had, but I'm really excited about all of the classes (except for geography maybe), so it should be a really good semester. I'm excited!

well thats all for now. I'll be updating this more regularly hopefully, so I've got some other things worth mentioning but I'll save them for a later post (hopefully the next day or so).

peace and blessings, trent.

(that's from a youtube video I saw the other day, but I just looked it up (to make sure I had it right) and it's actually a religious saying from Islam.. interesting.. and more fitting to this post haha)

down we go

as of yesterday, i have officially completed my first semester at seminary. most of my classes had papers due last week instead of final exams (a 30-pager, a 15-pager (for the same class), and a 5-pager).. but i still had to take my Greek final (non-cumulative) and Worship Leadership final yesterday. it feels really nice to be finished with the first semester and have 14 hours behind me.. just awaiting the grades now =| haha.. its definitely weird readjusting to a 7 point grading scale.. i got so used to the 10-pointer that its weird thinking of an 85 as a C or whatever ya know..

next semester will be 13 hours (both low hour numbers due to this 1 hr. first year class i have to take).. so i'll be taking: Baptist Heritage, Logic & the Christian Faith, Intermediate Greek, Systematic Theology I, and Spiritual Formation (the first yr. class).. so i'm looking forward to getting started on those even though i know its not going to be easy at all haha.

in other news, life is going pretty great. not much to speak of, but theres not much to complain about either so i guess thats a good thing haha. been hanging out with friends alot lately so thats always a good thing too.. although i think i might not be hanging out with other friends quite enough.. ho well. it is what it is.

got some sweet Christmas parties and stuff coming up so those are always lots of fun. i've finished all my Christmas shopping, except for mi padre because i have NO idea what to get him.. any suggestions are greatly appreciated =) Derek & Shelby are coming into town about this time next week (23rd prolly) and stay here til after Christmas.. so that'll be nice to get to hang out with and see them for a while. i know it'll be a much needed break for Derek since he just finished up a project he's been working on for a little over a year :0

Purpose (1130 band) has been practicing up on our Christmas music lately.. getting ready for the Christmas Eve service (4:30) at the church which i'm getting pretty excited about playing.. its going to be great! i've never been to one of LO's Christmas Eve services but i always love those services in general.. just so festive and close-knit and all that good stuff.. =)

anyhow, i think thats pretty much it for now. i'll update again when my grades are posted.. see how good i did haha!

muchlove. trent.

day 1

today started my first day of seminary at nobts. first day of grad school. i haven't been to all of my classes yet, in fact, i've only had 2 so far, but i can already tell its going to be a good bit of work.

intro to greek is going to be interesting for sure. i am excited about the end product of learning greek, but not all that excited about actually learning the language. as far as the work goes, the course is nothing unreasonable and the professor seems like a pretty good guy.. its just the task of learning a new language with an unfamiliar alphabet, structure, etc. i'll keep you updated.

philosophy of religion is going to entail an enormous amount of difficult reading, as well as a number of pretty lengthy, in-depth papers. dr. stewart is an awesome guy and is very knowledgeable in the study of philosophy, apologetics, religion, etc. he has an incredibly dry sense of humor, which makes class extremely enjoyable. i'm really excited about getting deeper into the subject matter of this course because i know he has a lot of knowledge to offer and i can learn a great deal from his lectures and from the course readings. but its definitely not going to be a cakewalk either.

next up is worship leadership. haven't been to it yet so my only knowledge is what i read on the syllabus online. it'll definitely have some nuggets that i can take from the class and apply in worship, ministry, and just in my daily walk. one of the projects in the course requires us to attend 3 different styles of worship service.. examples included Jewish, charismatic, Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Vineyard.. anyhow, it'll be really interesting not only to attend these services, but to be there with the primary purpose of taking notes and learning from the way in which these other groups "produce" worship services

spiritual formation is a thursday only course. it's basically a small group (8 people) discussion course designed for first year graduate students. i'm also taking an Old Testament hybrid course which meets on Fridays once a month and supplements the rest of the course with online material and independent readings.

so thats where i'm at. not much else has been going on in life. i need to find a job and i need to find one soon. if you know of anywhere that is hiring, please let me know! tuition and books wiped out the rest of the money i had collected for the trip to ecuador, which, by the way, was incredible! i just realized i still havent posted a "post-ecuador blog" so i'll have to get on that pretty soon.. if you havent seen the pictures, head over to the facebook and look at em there. the landscape/scenery/terrain was amazingly beautiful. everywhere i looked there was another view that just blew me away.

enjoy.