Each year on the weekend of the first Sunday in March, the Southwest congregation hosts its Arise! workshop. This is a blessing and benefit to our congregation and the SWSBS student body. The study, singing, and social fellowship are hard to beat.
One of the best parts of the Arise! weekend is the opportunity to spend time with alumni. Most SWSBS graduates work as local preachers. They have pulpit and evangelistic works that bless those churches whom they serve. But, we also have a very diverse group of alumni. Of those who were able to join us for Arise!, we had directors of schools of preaching, teachers in such schools, youth ministers, college minsters, evangelists, foreign missionaries, a recovery home director, associate ministers, elders, deacons, even an insurance salesman. Each of these men work faithfully in various capacities to serve the church of God’s glory. We were also blessed with some of our alumnae who taught in ladies’ classes, served tirelessly, and helped wherever they were needed. Each of these ladies also work with their congregations, not in violation of 1 Timothy 2:8ff, but within their Godgiven roles to His glory.
In settings like Arise!, the SW elders and SWSBS staff are reminded and encouraged by the work we do each day, each week, each quarter, and each year. We love the work we do, but the work isn’t in simply the training at SWSBS. The real fruit is when we get to sit at the feet of those we’ve taught, when we get to listen to the lives they are impacting, and when we get to see the gospel impact the lives of their students. Because then, we see the eternal good of places like SWSBS in carrying out God’s will (2 Tim. 2:2) to His glory.
-Trent Kennedy