Seminary Extension will again be offered in Charles-ton for ministers to receive training locally and for Christian workers such as Sunday School teachers or deacons, and a meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8, at Faith Baptist Church, 30028 Highway 32, just east of Charleston, to determine interest. Prospective students may call or text 662-647-7021 with questions or to express interest.
As in the past, the classes will be taught at Faith Baptist Church on a weeknight to be determined by the students and teacher.
The classes under consideration this fall are Old Testament and New Testament, but if there is enough interest in another course, it will be considered.
Courses are accredited, and many students have been able to transfer credit to other institutions. Others simply want to be more effective in their service. Costs are held low, partly because the teacher no longer accepts a salary. Classes are open to all, without regard to race, gender or religious denomination.
For now, the teacher will be Joe Young, a local pastor. He has taught such courses since 2009, training many workers for ministry who are now serving locally, and across several states.
Young holds master and doctoral degrees in ministry, with specialization in Bible, particularly New Testament. He earned degrees at Henderson State University in Arkansas, and at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. He has served churches in Arkansas, Missouri and Mississippi, as well as in Panama. For 10 years, he was a missionary supported by Mississippi Baptist Convention to all Hispanics in Mississippi, and a church planter west of I-55, assisting churches in outreach to all people living in poverty. He has also done extensive short-term mission work in Mexico, and Central and South America since 1969. He taught New Testament in the Spanish-language Baptist seminary in Jackson until it closed during the pandemic.
