Timothy Tennent

My Charge to the spring 2013 Graduates of Asbury Theological Seminary

The first sermon series I ever preached as a newly minted United Methodist pastor back in 1984 was a series on the Seven “I Am” sayings of Jesus found in John’s gospel : Jesus said, “ I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the gate, I am […]

Charge to Asbury Theological Seminary’s 2013 Graduates

If shepherd is used as a verb – “to shepherd” – it means to lovingly care for. To shepherd is the opposite of “to abandon” or “to leave in danger”. You are called to shepherd God’s flock. Many of you will be pastors. Love your flock enough to faithfully preach God’s word. Don’t waste your […]

Charge to December 2012 Graduates of Asbury Theological Seminary

From the iconic Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz we learn afresh of the importance of courage. Who can forget those memorable words, “what makes the muskrat guard his musk? What makes the Hottentot so hot, or put the “ape” in apricot? Courage. Like the Lion, we may feel we’re not very courageous, but […]

My Charge to the 2012 Graduates of Asbury Theological Seminary

We live in a world which if it were reduced to a jar with a label on it, that label would probably include the word impossible. We live at a time when almost everything around us is framed by impossibilities… ● Peace among Israelis and Palestinians…impossible ● An America where the threat of terrorism is […]

Charge to 2011 Graduates of Asbury Theological Seminary by Timothy C. Tennent

One of the great privileges which are mine as President of Asbury Theological Seminary is to give a final charge to our graduating seniors. This is my 2011 charge to the graduates of the Seminary. 2 Cor. 4:8-10 (NIV) We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 […]

My Charge to the 2019 Graduating Class of Asbury Theological Seminary

Every year I give a brief charge to our graduates as a part of the graduation ceremony. Here is the charge I gave this year. — The core mission of Asbury Theological Seminary is to “spread scriptural holiness throughout the world” and we do that primarily through training men and women such as yourself. You […]

My Charge to the Asbury Theological Seminary Graduating Class of 2018: Three Gospel Phrases

Leslie Newbigin, in his classic book, Foolishness to the Greeks, speculated as to what would it mean if seminary students like you graduated and actually conceptualized the Western world as a mission field. He speculated what it would be like if the West was no longer the Christian center, but a culture in spiritual decline. […]

My Charge to the Asbury Theological Seminary Graduating Class of 2017: The Church of Jesus Christ

This year marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. There are countless observances unfolding throughout the year, culminating this October 31st when Christians all over the world remember the date 500 years earlier when Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg. The Reformation unleashed a seismic […]

My Charge to the Asbury Theological Seminary Graduating Class of 2016

Brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, my charge to the 2016 graduating class centers around two Greek words which appear together as a sacred pair—a technical coupling—in the writings of St. Paul. These two words are parelabon and paredoka. They are translated “received” and “passed on” and go back even further to the […]

I Came, I Saw, I Loved: My Charge to the Asbury Theological Seminary Spring Graduating Class of 2015

Julius Caesar famously wrote to the Roman Senate in 46 B.C. in the wake of his stunning victory in the east: veni, vidi, vici—I came, I saw, I conquered. That famous phrase veni, vidi, vici has become almost the summarizing motto of the confident, unbridled triumphalism of the Roman era. If their motto was “I came, […]