A Call to Persevere

Dear Alumni,

Since I began teaching at WSC, my responsibilities have required that I travel throughout the U.S. and abroad much more than when I was a pastor in the Washington D.C. area and attending graduate school. Sometimes I have gone to a location for business with my church; for example, Presbytery, General Assembly or a committee meeting. Sometimes I have traveled in order to deliver a paper at a Society of Biblical Literature meeting on some aspect of research that I have been doing. I have had the privilege of going to the Ukraine, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, and Ireland as well as many regions in the U.S.

What has especially impressed me during my stay in these places is that there is a desperate need for the preaching and teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I remember walking through the streets of Amsterdam and London thinking, “This city needs a Westminster grad to help plant a church here and preach the Gospel.” I remember thinking the same in many of our own cities here in the United States, especially the Pacific Northwest. Numerous times I have had this thought in the past six years, both in this country and outside this country.

What does that tell me and why am I sharing this with you? Because as I reflected upon this thought of mine, it testified to me what great confidence I have in our institution and its graduates. We are just a small school with a small faculty and a small student body. Nevertheless, we are having an impact - not just in the U.S. but elsewhere in the world.

When I have been weary in well doing, I have been greatly encouraged by worshiping in some of your congregations and hearing you preach and teach. I have heard the mercies of Christ showcased from your pulpits and I have drawn upon new reserves of courage because of you and your ministries. I have several concrete memories of being in the midst of some of your churches and finding renewal to persevere in my work and in my particular station, because you were preaching or teaching the pure gospel of Christ. I hope that by sharing this brief reflection, you too will find some slight renewal to bear and persevere in your particular work. It is good work; perhaps the most important.

Bryan D. Estelle
Associate Professor of Old Testament

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