Tim Satryan
Pastor Pittsburg
Presbyter
Tonight we
interviewed Tim Satryan, who is pastor of Wilmington First Assembly of God and
an A/G Presbyter in the PennDel district.
When he first arrived, there were about 170 people. Since then, the church has quadrupled in
size, mostly via church plants. He sends
out devotionals every Friday, and has 5000 people on that email list!
CREDENTIALING PROCESS
We talked
about the A/G credentialing process, as this is one of his primary jobs as
presbyter. He tries to make this process
encouraging, especially because the interview is one of the last steps of the
credentialing process. He is
specifically looking for the interviewee to articulate that God wants them in
full-time ministry; they feel like they can’t do anything else, and know that they are called.
As a
somewhat side note, Tim encouraged us to journal about the times when God
speaks to us about the Call on our lives.
It is important to have these written down, so we can refer to them
during the times when we struggle or doubt.
As far as
the credentialing process, Tim recommended that we brush up on A/G
doctrine. He asks if the interviewee
knows and believes in the eschatology of the A/G. He wrote down a brief “end times” timeline
that he believes everyone going for credentials should know and believe. He isn’t looking for a theological
dissertation, but a basic understanding of these points:
-Currently
in the Church Age
-Next event
is the Rapture
-7 Years of
Tribulation (second half is the Great Tribulation)
-Millennial
Kingdom (1000 year reign of Jesus)
-Battle of
Gog and Magog
-New
Heavens and New Earth
He also
talked about knowing the Biblical support for the initial physical evidence
doctrine. They are: Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts
10, Acts 19.
Overall, he
said that the endgame of this interview process is not to simply “pass the
test.” The endgame is to make the
interviewee a more effective minister.
That is the purpose of the interview and credentialing process.
FINANCES
He also
talked about the importance of having a grasp on your finances, and that you
are able to handle your life situation appropriately. If you can’t handle your own finances, how can
you run a church? Especially with the
amount of debt we as college students will graduate with, it is important to be
smart with our money.
He suggested that we be prudent
with our student loans, and even if we qualify for them, that doesn’t mean that
we have to use them. He also suggested
not rushing to graduate in four years, but spacing it out so it is more
affordable. If you can handle your debt,
that can only help you. He recommended
the book, “Total Money Makeover” by David Ramsey.
MY CONCLUSION
Overall, I
found this interview to be very insightful, especially with regard to the
credentialing interview. Sometimes I get
nervous thinking about this, and so I found this helpful and encouraging.
One thing that stood out in
particular, however, was his suggestion on graduating in over four years. I am not saying that I wouldn’t agree with
this mentality later in life, especially when you compare four to six years
with the rest of life, but I do not feel that I want to take longer than four
years to graduate. I am already a
Senior, so at this point it doesn’t really make a difference, but I know that
if I heard this as a high school student, I would still feel this way. I have a girlfriend and wish to get married,
and have a strong desire to be in ministry.
Being that college is set up in this way, I would do it in four years,
as I obviously have!
In conclusion, I enjoyed this
interview and found it very insightful.
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