The Next Chapter

Spring is in full bloom here in Wilmington!  Sunny skies and 70-degree weather is the norm once again, and I am trying to enjoy every last minute of it as I prepare to move forward.

I have officially decided to go to Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri!  It was a weight off my shoulders once I finally decided, and now I am excited to start classes.  Currently I am working at finding and raising the needed funds to go.  Praise God that I have been provided with around $23,000 for my first year's tuition and living expenses, and only need about $7,000 more to afford my first year!  It has been amazing to see the Lord's faithfulness and provision, and a real encouragement to any doubt that remained about my calling to ministry.  If you would like to continue to support me throughout my seminary, please call me at 814-571-6688 or email me at jason.m.pogue@gmail.com.

I will be getting my Masters of Divinity which is a 3-4 year program at Covenant.  My hope is to complete it in 3 years in order save on some financial expenses, but I hear that completing the degree in 3 years is a big undertaking!  To get a head start, I will be taking my first classes this summer.  Classes start on June 5, which means in a little over 5 weeks I will be sitting in a new place, with new people, and (unfortunately) a new climate!  Crazy.

I am definitely excited to get started, but I must admit I am a little anxious of all the unknowns in the equation.  I've never really moved to a new place where I had to find an entire new community of friends (when I moved to Wilmington, I was blessed to have a great friend of whom I absorbed a community...thanks Britt!).  I will be a graduate student.  What?!  I will be studying all the time, while trying to work and pay my bills, I will be very broke all the time and will have to learn to budget my money very carefully, I will have 8 new roommates to learn how to live with, and probably most difficult, I will have to find a new church family.  These things will all be good for me, but it is a lot and all at once.  I'll be jumping in with both feet, and I know it will call for much leaning on the Lord and His love and faithfulness to me.

I am so thankful for all of you.  I am thankful to you for financial support that has enabled me to learn and serve all this year.  I just got to attend a great conference called The Gospel Coalition in Chicago where I sat under some amazing teachers and dialogued with many great pastors and church leaders across the country and even the world all thanks to your generous giving.  I am thankful for the encouraging conversations I've had with some of you over this year, and the way you have cared for me and prayed for my discernment and growth.  I am thankful for the way in which each of you have invested in my life from my birth until today.  God has used all of you to shape me into the man I am today, and he continues to use you along with His Word to mold me everyday.

This will be my final post on this blog.  I will likely start a personal blog once I get settled in at Covenant to stay in touch.  If you would like to continue to receive updates on my time at Covenant please email me at jason.m.pogue@gmail.com and let me know.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
Jason