Inside...:

Professorial Profiles: ETS Welcomes Prof. Maguire! .…
President Guzman, Dr. Roberts, Traveling....
Rev. Gibbs, Visiting ETS ….
EDITORIAL: ¡Así lo veo yo!.…
Rev. Young, Chapel Speaker…..
Dr. Hilbrands, in Nicaragua...
¿Saben?: …

Professorial Profiles ...

ETS Welcomes Prof. Maguire!

Kerygma :   Welcome, Prof. Maguire, to Kerygma, our student newsletter.  We have been enjoying your counseling class, and would like to ask you some questions.  To begin with—where did you grow up…were you a “city boy,” or from the “country”?

Maguire : I was born in Harrisburg , the capital of Pennsylvania , but my Father was a Sergeant in the Army so that we moved about every three years. I lived in Germany , Wisconsin , Alaska , and then finally we settled in State College , PA , the home of Penn State University where my father taught R.O.T.C.

  Kerygma:   Did you grow up in a “church/religious” family?  

Maguire : I was baptized as a child in the Methodist Church where my parents were members but I doubt that they were Christians at that time as we never attended any church as I was growing up or had any religious instruction in the home.

Kerygma :     When you left for college, what college did you go to, and how did you pick it out?

Maguire : I attended Penn State University . My Father had died as a result of Viet Nam the year before I started, so I decided to go to school in State College and stay at home to help care for my mother. I picked my major (Individual and Family studies with the emphasis on the Adolescent), because I wanted to avoid, as much as possible, taking math or language courses!

Kerygma :     How did you become interested in church ministry?   

 Maguire: Upon graduation from college, I began to work for Young Life, a ministry that reached out to high school students. After five years, I found myself enjoying ministry to the students’ parents more than working with the teens themselves—so I began thinking about going back to school for a counseling degree. I was advised by a counselor at R. C. Sproul’s Ligonier Valley Study Center to go to Seminary, where I would learn the Scriptures and have something to truly help them with. Kerygma :      Which Seminary did you attend, and why did you choose this one?   

 Maguire: I went to the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh , PA , because it was local and Biblical.

Kerygma :     Were you married while in Seminary? I am sure our unmarried ETS students are wondering just how hard it would be to be married and study at the same time.

 Maguire: I was married and had a newborn daughter. My wife worked full time as a middle school teacher. Our schedule at Seminary was that I had Monday off and classes from 8:00 a.m. until noon on Tuesday’s through Fridays, so I was able to watch Katie every afternoon and all day on Mondays and squeeze in studying when I could.

Kerygma :    Was Harlingen your first church?

Maguire : No, Harlingen is my third Church, where I have been for five years now. My first church was Hillcrest Presbyterian in Volant, PA, where I pastored for ten years. My second was church was Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church in Barboursville , WV . I was there for nine years. 

Kerygma :     When did you first hear about the Rio Grande Valley—was it when you were called to Harlingen, or had you any previous contact?

 Maguire: I had no idea where Harlingen and the Rio Grande Valley were. When I looked at the map, I was shocked to see that you can’t go any farther south and still be in the U.S. !

Kerygma :    You have a longstanding background in counseling, as evidenced from your teaching; can you give us, in a nutshell, the heart of Biblical (vs. psychotherapeutic based methods) of counseling?

Maguire : Biblical Counseling is God centered in the fact that God’s Word is sufficient to save and then help redeemed men with all of life in a sinful world. Second Peter 1:3 says, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.” Psychotherapeutic methods start with the idea that man is basically good, and either has the answer for life’s problems within himself, or by education or medicine is able to get on the right track.

Kerygma :     Also in summary, how does counseling “fit in” with the other aspects of pastoring?

 Maguire: People with problems should not be “farmed out” to “professionals” or neglected because of the time involved as dealing with these difficulties is really only helping people to grow in Christ through “progressive sanctification.” Counseling or Biblical Discipleship is much more than meeting with people in your office but happens throughout the week during home visitations, lunches out, after meetings and through teaching and preaching.

Kerygma:   What, as you would see it, is the hardest part of being a church pastor?

Maguire : I have always been in small churches where I’ve had to wear many hats and do a little bit of everything (whether I’m gifted in those areas or not!). I can get overwhelmed at times as I am not good at delegating.

Kerygma :   The Staff of Kerygma wants to thank you not only for your willingness to answer our questions, but for the exciting course we are taking with you!     But before we go, do you have any final words for the student body at ETS?

Maguire :  I heard a statement in a sermon at Presbytery a couple of years ago about John the Baptist that has stuck with me. John emphasized that he was not the Christ (and did not have to be Him). His job was to point people to Jesus. I find myself in trouble in ministry when I try to be the Messiah, rather than be used to lead people to Him. John 3:28 – “You yourselves bear me witness, that I (John the Baptist) said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him’ (To prepare the way for Him).”

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President Guzman, Dr. Roberts, Traveling

Viajan... NOTICIAS DEL PROFESORADO

Inglaterra, Francia

— El director de nuestro seminario, Presidente Pedro Guzmán, tuvo la oportunidad de realizar, este verano, un viaje más al continente europeo. En esta ocasión, el motivo de su viaje, juntamente con su esposa Sara y su hijo Eliud, fue el de asistir a la ceremonia matrimonial de su hijo mayor, Efraín, con su prometida Kelda, la cual tuvo lugar en un pintoresco pueblo al sur de Inglaterra. Sigue, Pág. ..........................................3

D.F. México

— el Dr. Roberts H . ha sido invitado a dar una conferencia sobre el “Pasado, Presente y Futuro de la Reforma”, en un ciclo de ponencias organizadas por CIER para el H. Presbiterio de la Ciudad de México.

Por motivos de los trabajos en ETS, no le fue posible al Dr. Roberts atender esta amable invitación por los dirigentes de CIER, pero espera grandes motivos de celebración por los trabajos de digna organización.

Sureste de México- Seminario John Kempers

— el profesor Roberts ha sido invitado a dar una conferencia magistral para la graduación de los estudiantes en una institución hermana, el Seminario John Kempers. La invitación, por el director del Seminario, el Pbro. Didier González Galindo, será concretizada en los días por venir. .

Querétaro, México

—el Dr. Roberts H. aceptó la invitación hecha por la Iglesia N.P. Betania, de Querétaro (Rvdo. Samuel López Medina, PASTOR), para impartir unas conferencias, en celebración del DECIMO ANIVERSARIO de la Iglesia. ¡Felicitaciones a los miembros, administradores, diáconos, ancianos gobernantes y, en forma especial, al pastor de la grey festejada!

Presidente Pedro Guzmán, VIAJA ... Esta es la tercera ocasión en que el Rev. Guzmán viaja al viejo continente. La primera vez lo hizo hace unos veinte años cuando, invitado por la Asociación Billy Graham, participó del Segundo Congreso Evangelístico celebrado en Ámsterdam, Holanda.

El Prof. Guzmán, que también es el maestro titular de la materia de Historia Eclesiástica en nuestro Seminario, nos cuenta algunas de sus experiencias en este viaje:

“Una vez más tuve la oportunidad de visitar, en Londres, la Abadía de Westminster, flanqueada por la imponente torre del reloj Big Ben, donde se redactaron los llamados “documentos de Westminster” que dieron formalidad a la doctrina de la Iglesia Reformada en 1647. Junto a esta abadía se yerguen la estatua de Oliverio Cromwell, quien tuviera un papel muy importante en el parlamento inglés durante la lucha entre presbiterianos y puritanos, y la de Ricardo Corazón de León, el gran jefe legendario inglés en la época de las cruzadas quien luchó arduamente contra el Sultán Saladino por el control de Jerusalén.

“Nuevamente visité la Iglesia anglicana de Santa María, en Oxford, donde fue juzgado y posteriormente quemado vivo el impulsor del protestantismo en Inglaterra, Thomas Cranmer, y donde Juan Wesley, el fundador de la Iglesia Metodista, predicara sus primeros sermones.

“Por supuesto que también visité la ciudad y la casa donde vivió el gran poeta nacional inglés William Shakespeare. Y, en París, tuve la oportunidad de visitar el lugar donde Carlo Magno fue coronado emperador en el año 800 d.C., esto es, la Catedral de Notre-Dam, a orillas del Río Siena.

“Sin duda que faltaron muchas cosas por ver, pero espero tener la oportunidad de hacer otro viaje al viejo mundo, esta vez en plan de investigación, para visitar otros lugares donde se desarrollaron los acontecimientos más importantes de la Historia de la Iglesia, si Dios me presta vida”.

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Rev. Gibbs, Visiting ETS

From the growing Redeemer Church of San Antonio, Rev. Tom Gibbs has been invited to give a lecture on Covenant Theology, part of ETS’s series DOCTRINES THAT HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD. A pastor with a passion for preaching and teaching, it is our desire that he visit soon, and often, as a participant in our doctrinal theology conferences. !Bienvenido, pastor!

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….EDITORIAL: ¡Así lo veo yo!

Growth is measured by inches marked on a door post when you are a kid—a seminary measures it by growth of vision, deepening doctrinal studies offered, commitment of professors, a growing student body, to name a few of the ways of measuring “growth.” We assume all of these, but point with pride to the numerical growth too, for it has a special meaning to us: it comes not from paid advertisement, but from mouth to mouth: it is a value our students have found at ETS, shared with their friends and acquaintances on a daily basis, and that “advertisement” is, as the TV add goes, “priceless.”

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Rev. Young, Chapel Speaker…

The Rev. Dan Young, visiting on behalf of the border ministry of PCA best known as BEAMM (“Border evangelism and mercy ministries”), will lead our devotionals at Chapel today. Coming from outside of the Valley, Rev. Young has worked in Peru and in border ministries in the El Paso area for several years. ETS extends a warm abrazo para el hermano!

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Dr. Hilbrands, in Nicaragua

Dr. Dario Hilbrands, Rector of our sister institution Instituto Libre de Mexico de Estudios Superiores, will be traveling to Nicaragua in representation of the University Consortium of which ETS is a part. His report, on the trip will be shared with our students at his ETS lecture in December. For more info:

( www.ilmes.org/index.html )

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Se hará saber como usar los buzones electrónicos del Seminario para los estudiantes de posgrado ETS durante nuestra próxima reunión de Cohorte—el sábado 4 de noviembre.

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