What I learned in Bible College...

January 18, 2026

The older I get, the more I understand why the psalmist cried out, "Remember not the sins of my youth...." True confession: I did a lot of dumb stuff—the kind of stuff later in life you wonder, "What in the world was I thinking?" Can you relate? For example, this picture below. And I think this was way before the "Where's-Waldo?" craze. I know for certain that the good folks who ran the Bible college didn't quite know what to do with me some times. Hey—I get it. I didn't know what to do with me either. And sometimes, I still don't know.

As I look back on those years in Bible college, I didn't necessarily agree with all of the rules. Let's just say I did have to get a haircut and most of my music collection stayed home. And I did spend a considerable amount of time in the offices of the various Deans. I like to think of those many times as "fellowship."

Yet, so much of what I experienced at Bible college could be summed up as: Good friends aspiring to live Jesus' disciplemaking mission together—starting right where we were—and not stopping until the whole world knows and follows Jesus.

I know. I should be talking about all the great teachers and the classes. The teachers were great and I'm so thankful for the solid biblical teaching—and especially the mentoring and all that went with it. But by far, the most important take-away that has shaped my life more than anything else from Bible college was what happened outside the classroom and in those life-giving friendships.

Iron was sharpening iron.

We were friends on Jesus' mission.

We were learning to follow Jesus together in all of its glorious messiness. Yes, it was "sloppy agape."

Fast forward: After all these years aspiring to study, live, and share how Jesus transforms the world one heart at a time, I've come to understand and explain it this way...

(TW + K4) x D3

It's a deceptively simple way of life like Jesus and most likely already happening in your life right now—but you may not even recognize it... yet.

So here's to "crazy" people—young and now old—who hold—and multiply—the conviction that Jesus Christ is the King of all kings and that the only real hope for this wobbly, broken world is Jesus-like disciplemaking.

Until the whole world knows.