100% Online Degree Makes Seminary Possible for Missionary

There was never a good time for Terri Baer to go to seminary.

Baer and her husband, Bill, were missionaries for more than 25 years in Chile, but their ministry together began when they married during college.

After graduating, Terri and Bill moved to Fort Worth, Texas, for Bill to attend seminary while Terri supported them teaching school.

Though she had been called to ministry two years earlier and felt the need to receive more training in ministry, Baer could not imagine how it would have been possible for her to start seminary along with her husband.

“My husband was pastoring a small country church,” Baer said. “We commuted every day, we didn’t have much money, and it just wasn’t a good time for us both to study.”

During their time in Texas, however, the Lord did make it clear to Terri and Bill that he wanted them to serve as international missionaries. They were appointed in October of 1978 and spent more than 20 years ministering to the people of Chile. Between maintaining their ministry and raising a family, including home schooling their children, seminary never seemed like a viable option for Baer.

Then several years ago Terri and Bill returned to the U.S. for an extended amount of time, and Baer started to think more seriously about receiving more training. At the same time, Baer heard from her senior pastor about a new seminary, Rockbridge, that offered an online program for a Master of Ministry Leadership degree. When she heard from another friend about the same program, Baer decided to explore more, and soon applied to Rockbridge.

After many years, God provided a way for Baer to go to seminary. But any long-term program Baer pursued had to accommodate her still-busy schedule. Terri and Bill worked as personnel consultants for their mission agency and traveled often throughout the country.

“I was looking for something that I knew I could finish and was practical,” Baer said. “It would have been very difficult for me to do a traditional seminary program where I had to go to class and had to be tied down to one place.”

Because Rockbridge offered all its courses online, Baer found she could easily keep up with her assignments by taking her books and materials with her when she traveled and connecting to the Internet from her hotel rooms in the evening. Baer also had the freedom to travel out-of-state to take care of her aging parents because of the flexibility her online coursework allowed.

Baer began her studies at Rockbridge with a desire to grow as a servant leader and deepen her knowledge of scripture so that she could better share with the people groups God had called her to in South America. However, Baer found that she could also apply what she was learning at Rockbridge to her current ministry in the U.S.

“Rockbridge was very current,” Baer said. “We had been out of the U.S. for a number of years and coming back you always have this reverse culture shock. I wanted to know the current practices and thinking in ministry and Rockbridge was very much on the cutting edge.”

Being on the cutting edge also means using the latest tools in technology, and Baer admitted that having to start seminary while learning how to keep up her computer skills was a challenge.

“I think at the time of life I was studying for my degree, it was very helpful to me to take one course at a time, to be able to focus and get the most out of that course,” Baer said.

Asking her husband and Rockbridge’s “tech guy” many questions also helped Baer to focus on her studies without getting distracted by computer challenges.

“It was a pilgrimage for me,” Baer said. “I started [Rockbridge] scared because I was very technologically challenged. I had times when I thought, ‘Can I even do this?’ I’m going to be 55 [this year]. I’m not a member of the ‘technology generation’ but, you know, it’s not about that. It’s about honoring God and growing in his image, letting him expand our horizons and doing new things in our life.

“It doesn’t matter how old we are or what we have or haven’t done. Even if I were not a missionary and even if I weren’t married to an ‘official minister,’ the training that I received would have been very beneficial, because we’re all called to minister.”

Baer’s ministry focused again on South America when she and Bill moved to Paraguay after graduation to begin their work as strategy coordinators for the city of and region surrounding Asuncion. Their work includes evangelism, discipleship, and training of national leaders as they work with them to start a church planting movement among their people group.

Related Posts

1. Rockbridge Seminary Offers “Test Drive” of Online Courses
2. If you are looking for a seminary
3. Making school, family and ministry [and seminary] work
4. A glimpse into seminary