minary W orld Class Seminary - Bethel Seminary - Bethel University

St. PaulAdolf Olson MemorialLecturesThe Adolf Olson lectureship was establishedto perpetuate the memoryof Professor Olson’s 40‐year ministryat Bethel. It is designed to bring notedtheologians to the seminary for lecturesin biblical and theological fields. Theselectures are presented at intervals as determinedby the income from the trustfund that has been established. Presentershave included John Weborg speakingon “Spirituality: Questions andQuest”; Wolfhart Pannenberg addressingthe subject “Christianity, Marxism,and Liberation Theology”; and StanleyGrenz lecturing on “The Gospel andthe Star Trek Generation.”Ebenezer LectureshipThe Ebenezer Lectureship was madepossible by a special fund given to BethelSeminary by the former EbenezerBaptist Church of Duluth, Minnesota.Ray Bakke, formerly pastor of FairfieldAvenue Baptist Church in Chicago,brought the inaugural Ebenezer Lectureship,“Issues in Urban PastoralMinistry,” in April of 1978. Subsequentlecturers have included Saphir Athyal,Walter Brueggemann, Carl F. H. Henry,Howard Hendricks, Bruce Waltke, andEugene Nida.Photo by Scott StrebleThe Howard CarlsonMemorial Lectureship inPastoral MinistriesThe Howard Carlson Lectureship wasestablished by the family of the ReverendHoward Carlson, former executiveminister of the Southwest BaptistConference, and is designed to emphasizethe practical areas of ministry, suchas evangelism, discipleship, preaching,and counseling. The first Howard CarlsonLectureship was held in October1984, and brought William E. Pannell,professor of evangelism and black studiesat Fuller Theological Seminary, toaddress current issues in evangelism.The TransformationalChurch SeriesOne of the best ways to infuse ourseminary with the passion and ethosof churches God is using greatly isto bring their key leadership to sharethemselves in person. Each year, a dayis set aside for the entire seminary communityand area pastors and their ministryteams to hear from church leaderswhose passion is to reach unchurchedpeoples and help them to become fullydevoted followers of Christ. In October1996, Bill Hybels and the ministryteam from Willow Creek CommunityChurch of Barrington, Illinois, presentedthe first annual TransformationalChurch Series. In October 1997, theseminary hosted Erwin McManus andthe ministry team from Mosaic (formerlyThe Church on Brady), a multiethnicministry team from East Los Angeles.In October 1998, attendees were joinedby Tony Evans and the ministry teamfrom Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas,Texas. In the fall of 1999, Gordonand Gail MacDonald from Grace Chapel,Lexington, Massachusetts, focusedon spiritual and personal formationissues. In October 2000, the seminaryhosted Henry Blackaby, revival leaderand author of Experiencing God, whopresented “A Fresh Encounter forTransformational Leaders.” In October2001, Wayne Cordeiro and the staff andministry teams from New Hope ChristianFellowship in Hawaii presentedthe sixth conference in the series. Theseventh event, in 2002, featured thereturn of Bill Hybels and the team fromWillow Creek Community Church.In 2003, seminary students and locallay ministers heard from Joel C.Hunter and the team from Northland: AChurch Distributed of Longwood, Florida.In 2004, the series featured PeterScazzero and the New Life Fellowshipteam from Queens, New York. In 2005,Erwin McManus and the ministry teamfrom Mosaic partnered with Bethel for atwo-day event focused on “TransformedHeart, Transformed Church.”And in 2006 Bethel againhosted a two-day conferencefeaturing Pastor John Jenkinsexploring the theme “Journeyto Another Level.”Students who are enrolled inon-campus programs in St.Paul are required to attendthe Transformational ChurchSeries. Students in Master ofArts programs will attend aminimum of two conferencesduring their seminary years.Students in the Master ofDivinity program will attend aminimum of three conferencesduring their degree program.26