Editorial -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 53:1 (Mar 2010)
Article: Editorial
Author: Anonymous


Editorial

One of the most significant developments in the life of our Society this past year was doubtless the appointment of our Society’s first-ever full-time executive director. After a careful search and vetting process, the ETS executive committee selected Mr. Michael Thigpen to serve in this important role. In writing this year’s editorial, I thought it would be beneficial to the members of our Society to get to know Mike better. Mike graciously agreed to field a series of questions, and you’ll find his answers below.

The Editor: “I understand you have a rather unique background, Mike. Can you tell me a bit about some of the major milestones in your educational and professional pilgrimage thus far?”

Mike Thigpen: “I did my undergraduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My experience there had a profound effect on me. It was at UNC that I first learned Hebrew from Dr. Jack Sasson. He was a knowledgeable and patient teacher who really led me to love the language. At UNC I also had the opportunity to study NT with Dr. Bart Ehrman. He was an excellent professor who challenged me to think deeply about the text. I think one of the greatest lessons I learned was to appreciate how much I could gain, even from someone with whom I deeply disagreed.

Seminary, as for many in our Society, was a transformative time in my life. The deep love for missions, passion for the Word, and dedication to personal discipleship instilled by my professors at Columbia Biblical Seminary has truly left its mark on my life. In particular, studying Hebrew and OT with Dr. Chip McDaniel and Dr. Alex Luc helped me confirm that this was the area of study I needed to pursue further. Their passion for helping the church understand and appropriate the OT was contagious.

It was also at CIU that I had my first opportunity to teach. While serving as the seminary’s faculty assistant, one of my duties was to teach the intensive summer Hebrew sessions. As difficult as those long summer days were, I found that I loved being in the classroom and that God had gifted me to communicate in that venue.

From Columbia we moved to Cincinnati so that I could pursue my Ph.D. at Hebrew Union College. I cannot say enough about the program or my professors. It has been a truly humbling experience to study there.

While doing my coursework, I started working at U.S. Bank. Little did I know that I would end up spending almost seven years there! What started as a part-time job ended up as a full-time career. Along the way, I answered phones in the call center (studying Akkadian in-between calls!), managed call center teams, and eventually became a call center director. My last position at the bank was as a proje...

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