UPDATE
In January 2008, the following post was identified as the 22nd all-time most popular post with readers of this blog. The 23rd most-read post was the concluding segment of my interview with Wendy Alsup, a deacon at Mars Hill Church in Seattle.

Dr. Albert Mohler is a phenomenon who, by God's grace, accomplishes more than ten ordinary men could possibly hope to do!

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It is a real pleasure to welcome to my blog again today, Dr. Albert Mohler. Dr. Mohler should need no introduction to most of my readers, but I include a link to his biography for any who need to know more, as well as a link to my Together for the Gospel Conference Round Up Post.

This interview is being serialised over several days. So far I have published parts one, two, three, four, five, and six. Today we conclude the interview and discuss one of the most controversial things Dr. Mohler said at Together For the Gospel.

A full version of the interview can be downloaded here.

Adrian

One of the striking things that you said at the conference was that you wanted to put SBTS out of business—what exactly did you mean by that, and what do you think the rest of the board would make of you being successful in that quest?

Dr. Mohler

There is always the danger that my statement will be taken out of context! I do not mean to say that Southern Seminary should cease to exist in the very near future. I emphatically believe that the best and most proper place for the education and preparation of pastors is in the local church. We should be ashamed that churches fail miserably in their responsibility to train future pastors. Established pastors should be ashamed if they are not pouring themselves into the lives of young men whom God has called into the teaching and leadership ministry of the church.

I do believe that there is a role for formal theological education, but we should not be seen as an agency that is assigned the task of training ministers by franchise. I want to assist churches and to assist pastors in training pastors. But, after fourteen years of service in this capacity, I am absolutely certain that the finest theological seminary on earth is absolutely incompetent at replicating the actual life of a gospel congregation. I want to train a generation of pastors who will train pastors, and I want to help them in that task.

Adrian

What would this concept of a seminary in every church look like?

Dr. Mohler

Well, the concept of a seminary in every church would look pretty much like what I just described. As a matter of fact, I think it would look pretty much like what we see in the New Testament, and especially in the relationship between Paul and Timothy. Paul poured himself into Timothy, exhorted him, taught him, corrected him, and entrusted significant ministry to him. Undoubtedly, Paul served as his mentor and model in preaching and teaching and in the leadership functions of ministry. This is what I hope to see develop in healthy gospel churches—a group of young "Timothys" studying under the directed leadership and teaching of a senior pastor. I want to help those churches and those pastors by providing a program of theological education that assists them, working in partnership.

Adrian

How can a local church begin to take the first steps towards accomplishing this?

Dr. Mohler

I am sincerely honored by your interest, Adrian. I guess the one thing I would want to say here at the very end is that I can only hope that every minister could come to know friends as true, as faithful, and as genuine as I have come to know in C. J., Mark, and Lig. We are exhilarated in being together, and we take tremendous delight in each other. One of the problems we face in today’s church is that men are not often sustained by authentic friendships. This is especially deadly for pastors. I hope and pray that pastors could come to know friendships as I know in these brothers. And I would hope that those friendships are, like ours, established in the deepest Christian convictions. I truly believe that God is glorified in this.

Adrian

Well, our time really is coming to an end here. Thanks so much for joining us today Al!

Dr. Mohler

Thank you again, Adrian. We are sincerely thankful to have a friend of this movement in you and we admire the good work you do in Great Britain and beyond.

Adrian
Well, there you have it—a wide-reaching interview with one of America's leading evangelicals. I hope you got a sense of the man—a man driven by a sense of call to the church universal to help it theologise and train its new pastors and who recognizes that what he is doing in his ministry is what we charismatics call "apostlic."

A man who recognizes the need to interact with our culture and what is going on, but is not afraid to hold onto unchanging truths. A man who is prepared to risk the dislike of others to complete the task to which he feels God has called him. A man who is not afraid to say that tongues speakers and paedobaptists are plain wrong in his understanding, but holds a fellow Baptist, a charismatic, and a Presbyterian to be his closest friends who center his life. A man moving through life at great speed and yet who believes the greatest need for the Church today is for pastors who have real friends in other pastors.

Albert Mohler is truly a gift of the risen Christ to his universal Church today. It has been a real privilege to have interviewed him here.

BLOGS BY AL MOHLER . . .

• http://www.albertmohler.com/ — includes Dr. Mohler's main blog and information on his radio show
• Crosswalk.com - Al Mohler's second blog
• Conventional Thinking - Al Mohler's blog on current issues
• Together for the Gospel - Group blog

Note: Headlines from all the above blogs appear in the "Warnie Winners" box here on my site.

OTHER SITES ABOUT AL MOHLER . . .

• Albert_Mohler — (Page at Wikipedia)
• Al Mohler bio on monergism.com
• Al Mohler's audio messages and sermons
• Dr. Al Mohler's day job