Joel Vancil serves as church planter and pastor of Church of the Redeemer in Ashley, Illinois. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in historical theology at Midwestern Seminary, where he previously earned his undergraduate and M.Div. degrees through the Spurgeon College Accelerate program.
MBTS: What led you to pursue a Ph.D. in historical theology at Midwestern, and how do you hope to use your studies for the Church?
Joel Vancil: As a church planter, I have a heart for the many unchurched regions of the Midwest, so geography and accessibility played an important factor. The Global Campus at Midwestern Seminary allowed me to interact with professors and classmates while continuing to serve my local church. Studying under professors such as Dr. Kidd, Dr. McMullen, and Dr. Duesing while reading their works was a great joy. It was Midwestern’s Global Campus options and convenient location that first caught my attention as an undergraduate student; and it is the experience, intellect, and character of Midwestern’s professors that convinced me to remain with the school on this next step of my academic career.
I am also a firm believer in the seminary’s mission to be for the Church. As a pastor, I have a responsibility to “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:16). Every aspect of Midwestern seeks to serve that end.
MBTS: In what ways has your seminary education shaped your approach to preaching and pastoral ministry?
Joel: My seminary education has helped me to be more well-rounded. I have more tools in my tool belt, as well as a deeper love and appreciation for the church. A practical example is preaching. Prior to seminary, I had a difficult time organizing my thoughts in biblical exposition. Oftentimes, my preaching sounded more like a commentary of the text than a sermon. Through Dr. Allen’s expository preaching course and Dr. Awbrey’s subsequent preaching lab, I developed the art of crafting an introduction, organizing an exegetical outline into a homiletical outline with clear and concise points that arise from the main point of the text, and landing the sermon with a practical conclusion. I was helped to simply explain, illustrate, and apply the biblical text.
MBTS: Tell us about how God led you into church planting.
Joel: God called me to pastoral ministry when I was 20 years old. As a farm boy from the rural Midwest, I initially saw myself as more of a revitalization and replant guy. I fell in love with what the Lord was doing through men such as Mark Clifton in places like Linwood, Kansas, and I desired to see fresh life breathed into small, dying churches across the heartland. I had been pastoring in this setting for nearly a decade when the Lord began to prick my heart with the fact that many communities don’t have churches to revitalize or replant. Several of these communities are within a few miles of where I was raised.
As I prayed about this, I began to zero in on the little town of Ashley, Illinois. Historically, Ashley was home to both a United Methodist congregation and a Southern Baptist congregation. However, both churches disbanded in recent years, leaving the town with no gospel presence. What Ashley needed was its own community church where locals proclaim the gospel to each other and live out the gospel in community. I came to be convinced that church planting is biblical evangelism, and I realized that bringing the gospel to communities like Ashley was going to require more gospel-centered churches raised up in these communities.
MBTS: What advice would you give to pastors who desire to pursue more theological education while balancing the demands of full-time ministry?
Joel: Do it! I am a part-time, tri-vocational church planter, teaching high school and managing the family farm. Although the juggle is heavy, every minute is worth it. You will appreciate the accountability of being given a subject to study and books to read. Pastors need this discipline. Iron sharpens iron (Prov. 27:17).
Pastors, we have been called to the great task of proclaiming the wonderful riches of our infinite God. One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Matthew 13:52: “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” We have at our disposal infinite treasures both new and old. Let us never become weary of going deep into the mine and doing the hard work of theological education so that we may come forth every week to our people and say, “Look what I have found! Look at the infinite treasures of Christ!” We must always be digging, learning, and proclaiming the new and old treasures of Christ. My advice, therefore, is simple: do it.
