A NEW CHAPTER

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A NEW CHAPTER

Thank you again for your notes and encouragement over the past few weeks. You’ve lightened the burden of saying goodbye through your support and prayers. I’m even more grateful for our church. Your love continues to lift me.

I wanted to share about this new chapter in our lives so you can pray specifically for Northern Seminary. No institution can ever replace the local church, but I’m grateful to be serving a seminary that exists for the church. Northern has a historic tradition. Second Baptist Church of Chicago and other Baptist churches in Chicago started Northern Baptist Seminary in 1914 to provide training for pastors to serve the church. Their first graduate was a woman named Amy Lee Stockton from California. Many of Northern’s faculty and graduates were instrumental in the start of Fuller Seminary and Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary.

Throughout her history, Northern has been supported by American Baptist congregations and has affiliated with National Baptists and Progressive National Baptists. The seminary also works very closely with many evangelicals throughout the Midwest. Northern’s main campus is located in Lombard, a suburb of Chicago, located 23 miles due West from downtown Chicago and 26 miles from Wrigley Field. Northern also has a campus in Lawndale affiliated with Lawndale Community Church and the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA). This campus trains ministers on the West side of Chicago and brings holistic racial reconciliation and restoration to this area. We have a trustee board of 17 members, many of whom live in the Chicago area. All of them are active in their churches; two are Pastors.

As President of Northern, I will be responsible for overseeing the seminary, seeking financial support for the school, growing the enrollment, and teaching. We have 250 primarily part-time students who commute from across the Chicago area. I will be the Professor of Pastoral Theology and Preaching on faculty and will teach a class on Preaching in the Fall on Mondays. Northern is on the quarter system, and the winter term ends March 18; Spring Term begins April 5. I will represent Northern to churches by preaching and speaking regularly.

Kelly, Parker, and Drake will finish the school year here in Tallahassee. We have one more big swim meet in March before they wrap up the short course season. Once we sell our house and finish school, they will relocate. We have not found a home yet in the Chicago area, but we have found a swim team. We plan to live relatively close to Northern and the West Swim Team.

I will leave for Chicago late in the afternoon on February 28 so I can be on campus March 1. I’ll be living in student housing for the first few months while we look for a house. My new contact information will be

Northern Seminary
Office of the President
660 E. Butterfield Rd.
Lombard, IL 60148
P: (630) 620-2101
bshiell@seminary.edu

Inauguration weekend is tentatively scheduled for October 14-16 in Lombard. Even if you can’t join us, we do hope you’ll continue to pray for us. I look forward to sharing two more Sundays with you together as Pastor and people.