February 11, 2019
This week, we continue our conversation about partnership by looking at how ministry training networks create opportunities for amazing collaboration in the Kingdom of God.
Gospel Depth is an organization located in Wichita, KS, and it is led by Dr. Vic Gordon. After graduating from Stanford University in 1973 and receiving a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1975, he earned a PhD in Biblical Theology in 1979 (with Dr. George Eldon Ladd as his mentor). Gordon was ordained in 1975 and has served as a pastor for over 40 years, oftentimes serving simultaneously as a professor of theology and/or biblical studies. He always saw being a resident theologian for his congregation as a necessary and vital part of his pastoral ministry. Out of this depth of experience, he sensed God’s strong call to invest his full time and full energy in the vocation of being a theologian for the broader Church.
In the first sentence of his book, The Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster writes, “Superficiality is the curse of our age …. The desperate need today
is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.”
Gospel Depth seeks to address this. Gospel Depth desires to bring serious theological reflection and teaching to the churches, helping them to understand, discern, articulate, teach, and live the unique and personal word God has specifically for them.
One of the unique ways in which Vic, through Gospel Depth, is doing this is by creating learning pathways for followers of Christ that are tailor made for each person and each congregation with whom he works. At its core, the ministry of Gospel Depth can perhaps be summarized in the phrase, “biblical theology for the building and renewing of Christ’s Church.”
This passion for deep mentoring and discipleship is a blessing to each person or congregation that works with Vic as well as to the broader body of Christ.
As seminaries begin to think in collaborative ways, they will unleash, rather than stymy, the amazing work being done by people like Vic and ministries like Gospel Depth. When theological education becomes something that must be “housed” in the context of a school, building, or institution, we lose the voice of people like Vic.
Sioux Falls Seminary has had the privilege of walking alongside and supporting Vic in his work for several years. In many ways, Gospel Depth has shaped the very nature of the Kairos Project and will continue to in the future. It is partnerships like this, and others we have shared previously, that reveal what is possible when the body of Christ comes together to create deep disciples of Jesus Christ.
Come back next week to hear a story about City Life Church and a student being served by Gospel Depth.