Hello! My name is Tony Romero. I am in ministry with Blue Letter Bible. In fact, I have had the privilege of serving with them 18 years next month. Wow how time flies! Really, I just celebrated my 60th birthday! I have just begun my Master’s program here with CCU.
Why did I wait so long? Well, it is very difficult in today’s world to find and online institution for advanced degrees (such as a Master of Arts in Biblical Leadership), that has a similar heart to our ministry. CCU has shown a strong support for not just the infallibility of Scripture but its inerrancy and sufficiency. I’ve looked around and this position is rare and wonderful to see. That is one reason I signed up. God set up the situation in many ways and made it evident to me that I was to go for it.
Self-examination questions. The other side of it…60 years old…really? I had not written a paper in over 40 years! Yet, I did well! Will the program tell me all things I don’t know? So far, I am learning many things that complete and complement my lifelong learning about God and (insert list of topics here!) Can I keep up? Yes. The program is designed to keep you on track with week by week assignments. Before you know it, you are done with the course! I am in the middle of my third course and I am finding a rhythm to the work each week. It does take a little bit getting used to the on-line interface but it works. Am I learning anything? Oh yes! I am indeed. I do believe that I am growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18 NKJV
From the very first course, Foundations of Faith, I have been surprised by what I did not realize. Have you ever heard of George Muller? I had, but hearing is not the same as studying his life. This man was a man of faith like a Daniel. I read how George Muller so drenched his life in prayer, that he seemed to live a life of Hebrews 11 proportions. I know that we all pray. We ask in emergencies. We ask when our will seems thwarted seeking to know the reasons why. We pray when we gather together in our churches. We even pray when we are part of a small group interceding for others such as the sick or the lost. But this man, this George Muller breathed prayer. The very surrender of his soul to the will of God was a prayer. This man mimicked his Savior.
I was expecting, as many of us in the West often do, a course on “99 Ways to Improve Your Faith,” with the accompanying lists, charts, graphs, practice exercises, etc. My undergraduate degree is in general engineering so you have a general idea why I would say that. Yet with first book of the course, I got a narrative biography of a man dedicated to God’s will, yet not in the Bible, but very much in real life in London. This was a real man, with a real relationship with God, doing impossible things for incredible good. We also are very real people with a very real God, with Whom we can have a very real relationship. That is the purpose of the information we are studying. So, as I increase in grace and knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I do give Him the glory and thanks!
Blessings in Christ,
Tony Romero
Blue Letter Bible