Resurrection Baptist Seminary
by Ronnie Autrey
After arriving in the Dominican Republic in August of 1993, we
began to work with the national pastors and quickly realized that
they had not been formally trained through a Bible school. A part
of God's vision for the Dominican Republic has always been the
necessity of preparing national pastors. Seeing this need first
hand increased the burden that God had already placed in my
heart. Shorty thereafter the Resurrection Baptist Seminary began in 1995 while I was
pastoring Resurrection Baptist Church and has continued as a ministry of New Life
Baptist Church under our leadership.
The Bible school is a four-year school whose purpose is to prepare men for the ministry
of preaching the Gospel and planting churches in the Dominican Republic and in
other countries of the world, as well as preparing young men and women to aid their
churches through obtaining a three-year Bible diploma in Biblical Studies. Each student
is recommended by his local church pastor and takes an active part in soul winning,
children's ministries and working with the youth efforts of his church each week. As the
seminary monitors the progress of each student in academic areas, we also know that the
work of God needs men and women of vast practical experience. Before graduating, all
students will have taken part in planting at least one new church in the DR.
Since 1995 we have been blessed by the Lord with 64 graduates from Resurrection Baptist
Seminary with our last graduation in December of 2008. Out of the 31 national works
that are currently working together for the furtherance of the Gospel, all are pastored
by graduates of RBS and 15 of these 31 are new churches planted with national pastors
from the Bible school. We currently have 55 students in attendance and hope to see more
students with the September enrollment quickly approaching.
Recently, the need of the Bible school rang through very loudly as one of our oldest
nationals of 72 years of age had a stroke and went to be with our Lord. This pastor was
responsible for three different
churches in the area of La Romana.
But working alongside him were
two graduates and three young men
currently attending RBS. They are all
working closely together to ensure
that God's work continues to grow
till the Lord returns. We were all
sad to see Pastor Wilfredo Alfonso
passing away but we were also glad
to see that even Pastor Wilfredo was
able to see the need of preparing
men for the work of God.
Please pray with us that God might
continue to bless our efforts through
the training of national pastors in
the Dominican Republic and that we
might see many more new churches
planted. 8
Islander – No 2, 2012