When I began my journey through seminary one of the verses laid on my heart was Ezra 7:10: “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.”

I originally began my degree online at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary but I quickly found that their online environment didn’t suit my needs and their course instruction wasn’t confessionally based but more broadly evangelical. I didn’t grow up in a confessional environment but I became convinced of confessionalism, and the 1689 London Baptist Confession specifically. I knew that I wanted a rigorously confessional education from a seminary that knew what it believed and why. I found that at Reformed Baptist Seminary through the counsel of one of its professors, Michael Emadi.

Not only was RBS confessionally grounded and affordable for a student with a wife and four children, it also was committed to the local church. I live in Utah, just 30 minutes north of Salt Lake City. There are very few churches here, especially of the Reformed Baptist persuasion, and my heart has long been to serve the church in Northern Utah so leaving for seminary wasn’t an option. RBS’ emphasis on church-based education and mentorship allowed me to learn and serve my church at the same time.

My wife, Kayla, and my four children (Jude, Sailor, Evia, and Boaz) have been greatly served by RBS as well. The flexibility of the courses, the help of the professors, and the quality of the education allowed me to focus on my home first while still pursuing the call God placed on my life. The education at RBS has been thorough in its theology and intensely practical and devotional as well. The professors and lecturers are committed to the same principles Ezra was. They want their students to know and study the Word of God, to do it, and to be equipped to teach it to God’s church. Through the equipping I received at seminary and because of RBS’s commitment to the local church I began the process of planting a church along with one of my elders from our sending church earlier this year. And by God’s grace we will begin a new work in the city of Syracuse, Utah this September. Covenant Grace Church will be a confessionally Reformed Baptist Church seeking to make disciples to the glory of God through the ordinary means of grace.

Thank you to my amazing wife, Kayla. Your love for me and willing sacrifice to see this through has been a rock and strong help when I was weak. You keep me grounded and you lift me up. Thank you to my children who sacrificed so many nights so that I could do homework. Thank you to my pastors Matthew, Ben, and Saeed, and my church, Crossroads, who made going to seminary possible and encouraged it at every turn. I am forever grateful for you. And thank you to all of my professors. Thank you Dr. Gonzalez for your leadership, guidance, open ear, and wise counsel. Thank you Professor Emadi for your constant help as I navigated (or suffered) through the languages. Thank you Dr. Borgman, Professor Chanski, Dr. Johnson, Professor Briggs, Professor Johnson, and Professor Smith for your depth of thought in your theology and depth of love for God and for his church. Thank you to my parents and friends. Your love, prayers, and encouragement helped keep me going and strengthened me. Thank you most of all to my blessed Savior who rescued me at a young age and has kept me these many years despite and because of my weak and needy heart. You opened my eyes to see you and you have kept my eyes fixed on your gospel throughout my life. To you and you alone belong all the glory both now and forevermore. May I ever be your faithful servant until you bring me home.

Darren Colwell