3 Questions with Dr. Daryl Eldridge

I'm excited to share with you this conversation with a ministry hero of
mine, Dr. Daryl Eldridge.  Dr. Eldridge is one of the founders and the
President of my seminary, Rockridge.  Rockbridge is a 100% online seminary
that is creating an affordable and flexible yet highly effective seminary
training for ministry leaders without having to leave ministry to attend.  

Where did you get the idea for Rockbridge Seminary to be 100% online?

In 2003, the founders of Rockbridge were serving in residential seminaries.
Wherever we traveled, prospective students asked us if they could do their
studies without going to our campus.  For prospective students already
engaged in a ministry, uprooting their family was just not an option.  At
that time, schools could only allow 1 year of studies online, which meant
students still had to travel to a residential campus. So we asked how we
could put a seminary 100% online and design it around the purposes of the
church. A friend pushed us over the tipping point by asking, “If you don’t
do this, who will?”

What has been what you expected since the launch of Rockbridge and what has
been completely unexpected? 

We expected to deliver an online educational experience that was
comparable, if not better in some ways, to a residential seminary.  There
were several things we didn’t expect.  First, we thought we might have
trouble attracting qualified faculty members that would embrace online
learning.  We discovered there were more than enough qualified
teachers/practitioners who wanted to invest their lives in training a
generation of servant leaders.

Second, while we knew that meaningful relationships could be developed
online we were surprised the online learning environment provided better
opportunities for long lasting friendships with students and faculty.  

Third, critics said you couldn’t effectively teach content areas like
preaching, languages, or spiritual formation through online environments.
 We’ve discovered you can accomplish learning objectives for a given
subject if you think creatively about how to design the learning experience
in an online medium.

What do you see ahead for seminary training as a whole as well Rockbridge
seminary specifically?

The number and variety of options for seminary training will continue to
explode.  As technology improves, we’ll see more interactive learning
environments such as gaming, Second-Life, and hologram conversations.  We
will also see more churches custom tailor their own brand of seminary for
staff and church leaders. 

Content will not be the driving force for seminary education as it has been
in the past.  In milliseconds a person can Google search a topic and find
more information about a subject than they could 15 years ago in the most
comprehensive seminary library.  Social conversations will be the hub of
learning management software.  Seminaries must provide sacred learning
environments where students can learn to interpret biblical truth,
understand the culture, and effectively lead a church or ministry
organization to reach that culture.  

Our vision at Rockbridge is to provide accessible, affordable, and
practical ministry training to this and the next generation of servant
leaders.   These are exciting days to be in ministry.


You can connect with Dr. Eldridge on Twitter - @drdaryl and find out more
about Rockridge Seminary by visiting their website at
http://Rockbridge.edu.  

If you are considering seminary at all I cannot recommend more that you
highly consider Rockbridge Seminary.  If you have any questions please
don't hesitant to leave a comment or send me a message.

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