Saluting Professor Timothy Johns for Earning a DMin
Congratulations are due! MBU Professor Timothy Johns recently earned a Doctor of Ministry degree with an emphasis in biblical counseling from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, home to the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors, “the oldest and largest biblical counseling certifying organization in the world.”
Beginning as a dorm supervisor in 2002, Dr. Johns held several other MBU staff positions before becoming the Dean of Men and eventually joining the full-time faculty, teaching counseling classes in the College of Bible and Church Ministries. Desiring “to be better equipped to teach biblical counseling and to be able to teach students at the seminary level,” Tim began his doctoral pursuit.
During one class discussion, doctoral students addressed “the confusion that exists in our culture between suffering and sin. Where does suffering start? … Are we suffering because of something that we did?” “The world presents solutions without hope for suffering people,” they noted, “but what does the Bible say?” In further conversation with his professor, Tim’s doctoral project topic crystallized, a project he later titled: Guilty or Innocent? The Biblical Framework that addresses Man’s Heart Desires in Suffering.
Having identified the “vital need,” Tim’s objective was to develop a plan for teaching “undergraduate biblical counseling students a biblical framework of suffering that accurately categorizes heart desires and leads to biblical solutions.” When asked if he had key mentors or collaborators in the project, he mused, “I would say that those who were most encouraging were my students who helped me think through the project and implement it in class.”
Roots of potential broader implications of his project developed during his defense when one of the readers recognized the lack in biblical counseling curriculum regarding a theology of suffering and determined to include it in all introductory courses he teaches. Likewise, Tim anticipates incorporating it into his undergraduate and seminary courses.
Dr. Johns appreciates the “iron sharpening iron” aspects of the DMin experience and predicts, “Now that I am finished focusing on the degree, I will be able to use some of that extra time to do additional reading and research, which I look forward to sharing with my students.”