Graduate Profile: Ryan Bechdel (DTS)

My name is Ryan. My wife Kristen and I live in Arcade, NY, with our two sons, Jackson and Hayden. We are members of Freedom Baptist Church in Freedom, NY, where I currently serve as an elder.

Despite attending church from a young age, I spent over forty years wandering in darkness before the Lord called me to be His own. Over my adult life, my accomplishments have afforded me many titles, including husband, father, Registered Nurse, entrepreneur, and Director of Nursing. However, the most precious titles I have ever received include servant of Christ and child of God, neither of which had anything to do with my own accomplishments. Like other Christians, I owe my eternal gratitude to Christ for paying the price for my lifetime of sin. For this reason, it pleases me to worship and serve a merciful God in any way he will have me.

Being saved later in life allowed me to consider the many years I spent living for myself, seeking pleasure and following my own sinful desires. As I pondered the decades wasted pursuing self-gratification instead of a life dedicated to the Lord, I began to realize I need to be “redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16, LSB). I started praying daily for God to show me how I could serve Him. As I was discerning God’s will for my life through prayer and Scripture, I began to have a deep desire for the Scriptures and teaching God’s word.

I looked at traditional Bible colleges and seminary programs, and they all seemed unattainable due to financial or time restraints, or a need to relocate. One day, the pastor of our church asked if I had ever considered attending seminary, and I admitted I had, but that I neither had the time nor the finances to pursue it. I am grateful he knew about the Reformed Baptist Seminary (RBS) and the Church Partnership Program, which provided me with both the time and means to pursue my Diploma of Theological Studies.

Being relatively new, not to the visible church but to the faith, I had a lot to learn. Despite excelling in other higher education environments, seminary courses were quite a challenge for me. I’ve started many mornings on my knees pleading with the Lord for help in focusing to learn and understand these divine doctrines, something I couldn’t have done without Him. Therefore, I would first thank the Lord and give all the glory to Him for allowing me to complete this program. Our Lord has also used His faithful servants mightily to assist me in completing this program, a feat that would not have been possible without them.

I have been blessed by many who have edified or encouraged me in some way during my time at RBS, but I am especially thankful for my wife. Without her unending support, devotion to the children, and rearranging her own work schedule or taking time off so I could study or write, I could not have completed this program. I’m also thankful for my brothers and sisters at my local church for all the prayers regarding the tests and papers I’ve been working on over the last few years. I’m thankful for Pastor Steve Hammond, who encouraged me to attend seminary and continues to mentor me in the ministry. I’m particularly grateful for Pastor Greg Nichols, a professor at RBS, who has gone above and beyond, taking time to help me navigate some particularly challenging real-life ecclesiological matters, and for leading his own congregation in prayer for ours.

I’m not sure how God will use me in the future, but I’m thankful for Reformed Baptist Seminary, the RBS professors, and the RBS staff who have equipped me for whatever He has in mind!

Ryan Bechdel