I occasionally hear from men who feel the Lord has called them to the gospel ministry, requesting I recommend a theological school in which they may enroll.
First: I heartily advise the man called of God to the ministry to further his education. While an education will never replace the call, it will prove quite beneficial. In my own case, I am thankful for the opportunity I had in college to cultivate study habits, and to take courses such as speaking, writing, literature, history, and music.
Second: I absolutely refuse to recommend enrollment in a theological school which denies the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Jesus Christ, and which instead teaches salvation through an act of man's "free will." Such seminaries have rightly earned the pejorative "cemeteries." I myself learned the hard way regarding enrolling in such a school. I consequently spent some years in the ministry unlearning what I had been taught in the pursuit of my theological degree.
(I am now reminded of my friend Tim James. Upon being introduced to a stranger in a hardware store shortly after commencing his ministry in Cherokee, North Carolina, Tim was asked, "What seminary did you attend?" He replied, "I did not attend a seminary." He then was asked, "Do you think this affected your ministry?" He replied, "Yes, I think it helped!") I also do not recommend a school having on its faculty and staff men professing to believe the gospel if that school is affiliated with a church or denomination which denies it. The profession of such men is suspect. Why should we trust one who professes to be gospel-sound if he worships in a church or cooperates with a denomination which is not? Why should we trust one who professes to be gospel-sound in his theology if he approves of Arminian evangelism? Why should we trust one who professes to be gospel-sound if his doctrine is so innocuous that his Arminian associates tolerate it? The principle stated in Amos 3:3 and the exhortation expressed in 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 applies even to theological schools and their faculty and staff.
Third: If one can find a theological school, which is true to the Scriptures, take advantage of it. I myself started two such schools while a missionary in the Caribbean, and rejoice in the blessings of the Lord upon them.
Such a school will be gospel-sound in both doctrine and practice. It will have for its instructors pastor-teachers who are not mere academics. It will operate as a ministry of a church and not as a para-church institution. It will be designed primarily to equip the man called of God for the gospel ministry as an evangelist or pastor-teacher, not to produce mere theological academics and professional clergymen, nor religious psychologists and psychiatrists.
A model for such a school is found in the in-depth teaching and training Christ provided for His apostles (as in Matthew 10), and which Paul provided for certain of his disciples (e.g. Acts 19:9)
Fourth: To the man who cannot find such a school, I heartily recommend attending a secular liberal arts school while sitting under the ministry of a gospel-sound pastor-teacher. Such ministers take seriously their charge to teach others what they themselves have learned (2 Timothy 2:2). And they are glad to provide personal instruction in addition to that which may be obtained in the limited number of weekly worship services a church may provide.