Living Sent at Seminary

Serving at southwestern baptist theological seminary

by Landry Bennett

My time at First Baptist Starkville was a provision of the Lord and prepared me for this next season of my life. Transitional phases of life are tough, and no one really understands that until they go through one.

I found myself in one such phase in the fall of 2020 when I transferred to MSU at the beginning of my junior year.

It was a difficult time to find community with everyone social distancing and wearing masks. However, the Lord made it very clear to me that wherever I am, meaningful community will be found in the local church. Eventually, He led me to First Baptist Church of Starkville. For the next year and a half, I served the local church in many capacities.

Nathan Taylor encourages college students to be involved in the church beyond just the college ministry, and First Baptist certainly welcomes us. As soon as I began to pray about how I could serve First Baptist, Nathan announced to the college group that the church needed someone to help run tech on Sundays, and that is how I met Emily Washburn. Everything that Emily taught me about running sound would take up too much space on this page. Through Emily, I met people like Josh Rodgers and Christine Ellis, and my passion for serving in the worship ministry grew.

In the spring of 2021, with a couple of months of experience as a sound tech, the Lord opened the door for me to meet the Associate Pastor of Music and Media, Dr. Tom Jenkins.

Tom offered me opportunities to serve on the praise team and in the choir. By the end of the summer, I became a member of First Baptist and joined the choir. Once the fall semester of 2021 started, many college students saw a need to have the Gospel presented through worship nights. A college worship band comprised of students who attended First Baptist started to host worship nights in different people’s homes (Thanks Mike and Linda Blake).

Dr. Andy Brown had been the Senior Pastor for about six months when we became friends. At first, I wasn’t sure how approachable he was because he sounds like a Georgian Liam Neeson and has a doctorate from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. However, it didn’t take long for Andy and me to become friends. The Lord had established a strong Christian community made up of friends, deacons and their wives, and pastors when He turned my attention to seminary.

At this point, I had a degree in secondary English education from MSU, and I could have gotten a job easily in education. However, I knew that God was calling me to do something else. I had known for a while that I wouldn’t teach my whole life. Even so, I knew that God had called me to pursue an education degree at MSU, which led me to First Baptist Starkville. After months of trying to discern the will of the Lord, with help from the wise counsel of our pastors and by God’s grace, it was clear that seminary was the next season of my life. It was also clear that the Lord used First Baptist Starkville to help me take those first challenging steps of obedience to go to seminary. It was as if the Lord had cracked a door open, and as I timidly peaked through the crack, He blasted it open the rest of the way.

While adjusting to seminary life has been a challenge, it has been filled with much joy. Currently, I am in my second semester at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary pursuing a Master of Music in Worship Leadership, where I sing in Southwestern A Capella and Southwestern Singers.

Additionally, the Lord has provided a wonderful church home and place of service at First Baptist Church of Keller in Keller, TX, where I serve as the Worship Arts Intern.

Living eight hours away from my family and attending seminary is difficult, but I am often reminded of Psalm 9:1: “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart: I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.” First Baptist Starkville is a gracious deed of the Lord that I recount often. When I help with tech at my current church, I think of Emily. When I design graphics, I think of Josh and Christine. At deacons’ meetings, when I am asked to give a report, I look at that body of leaders and am reminded of all the men and women who helped with college Bible study on Sunday mornings (a special thanks to Casey and Martha Ann Welch and Michael and Tricia Newman). Whenever I pick up a microphone and approach the platform for the praise team or stand in the choir loft, I remember Tom’s encouragement to communicate the joy of the Lord with a smile and how he would remind the choir that worship is not about us.

When I am writing out chord charts, I think about how I used to roll my eyes at Noah Hebert, the acoustic guitar player in the college worship band, for preferring chord charts over sheet music (Noah, I’ll admit, chord charts aren’t all that bad). When I served at our DNOW a couple of weeks ago, I think about how Neil Tullos allowed me to work my first DNOW. When I feel pitiful or prideful, I remember what Nathan would make us repeat before mission trips, “This trip is not about me,” which applies to life in ministry as a whole. Whenever I feel the love of my current church family, I am reminded of the love of my church family at First Baptist Starkville. Lastly, every day, I read the daily devotional from the copy of My Utmost for His Highest that Pastor Andy gifted me. I thank the Lord for giving me a source of joy and family through First Baptist Starkville. May we always recount the deeds of the Lord and see His light on the path ahead when the road we walk is dark.