God has blessed me with a good and godly wife and two little arrows for my small quiver. I am blessed and thankful to have them. And they are the reason I am writing this, the reason why I went to seminary in the first place.

When I first became a father, I realized how little I actually knew of the Bible and how little I knew of “why” I believed what I believed. I knew that if I didn't know it, then I couldn't pass it on to my children. This was extremely important to me, to pass on the faith to my children so that it could one day be their faith. I not only wanted my children to be able to defend their beliefs, but I also wanted them to be able to attack other worldviews and false faiths and show how futile and empty they were.

So I set out to studying and reading and listening to podcasts and sermons. After several years of doing this, I realized that I was developing a “swiss cheese” theology, a theology with a great many holes in it. I was developing a theology without any real or robust foundation. I focused a great deal on books and sermons on raising children and how to biblically discipline, instruct, and raise up my children. What I realized is that raising my children should flow out of my theological beliefs and out of my understanding of the Bible. And as I realized this, I realized that my theological foundations were sorely lacking.

As a result, I sought to build and develop a sound theological foundation. And from this sound foundation, I knew everything else in my life would flow out of it. I determined the quickest and best way for me to build this foundation was by attending a seminary program. Being in federal law enforcement and living in Mexico at the time, I knew that I would have to find an online program. After numerous searches, I became discouraged at how expensive a seminary education was. I was also discouraged at the quality of the seminary programs that I came across and how liberal and progressive they seemed to be.

But then I stumbled across the Reformed Baptist Seminary (RBS) website. I found what appeared to be a solid program, taught by many men I respected and had already been reading or were listening to. It seemed to be a quality education provided by quality men that loved to defend their faith. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that RBS provided this quality education at a fraction of the cost of other seminaries.

Over the course of my studies, I have not been disappointed. I have found the studies to be challenging – especially keeping up with all the reading. But I have also found the studies to be fruitful. I have used what I have learned in my studies in teaching my family and in service to my local church. As a church layman, with aspirations of eldership one day, I am thankful for having the opportunity to attend RBS and to virtually sit and study under many great men of God.

Steven Ohman