Friday Classes

Fellows will take seminary-level core classes on the topics of “Christian Worldview” and “Bible Orientation” each Friday. The classes are taught by Assistant Pastor David Bowen, Assistant Pastor Barton Kimbro, and Pastoral Executive Todd Erickson.

Kimbro and Erickson’s class, held on Friday mornings (9:30am-12:00pm), will study the details of a Christian view of the world, and how that view affects the way a Christian lives life. In the first semester we will consider the theology that makes up that view, and in the second, we will have a look at many aspects of life through the lens of that worldview, including, work, leisure, marriage and sexuality, the arts, technology, politics, and popular culture.

Friday afternoon's class (1:30pm-4:00pm), led by Bowen, provides an overview of the Bible, including discussions of its historical context, accurate methods of interpretation, and personal applications. Scripture is the core text, and the course provides both a plan for reading the whole Bible during the Fellows year and a framework for learning, retaining, and using it for life and ministry.

Speaker Seminars: Before classes on Friday (8:00am-9:30am), morning seminars are presented by Christian community leaders who share their personal testimonies and workplace experiences with the Fellows weekly.

Class Course Schedule:

Christian Worldview class will focus on “Developing the Christian Mind” in the fall semester and on “Applying the Christian Mind” in the spring semester. See the topics below (six lessons per semester).

  • What is the Christian Worldview?

  • Competing Contemporary Worldviews

  • Our Worship

  • Our Identity

  • Our Biblical Framework

  • Our Discipleship

  • Life with a Missional Purpose

  • Engaging the Lost World: Evangelism

  • Engaging Culture: Cultural Ethics

  • Engaging Differences: Christian Civility

  • Engaging the Arts

  • Engaging Contemporary Issues: Gender and Sexuality

Bible Orientation class will focus on the Old Testament in the fall semester and on the New Testament in the spring semester. See the topics below (six lessons per semester).

  • Introduction to the Bible and to the OT Generally

  • Law (Pentateuch)

  • History

  • Poetry

  • Major Prophets

  • Minor Prophets

  • Intertestamental Period

  • Gospels

  • History (Acts)

  • Pauline Epistles

  • General Epistles

  • Revelation

Teachers

Barton Kimbro is from Memphis and graduated from the University of Mississippi. He graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and has been in the pastorate since 2009. At that point, Barton joined Second staff as a pastoral intern. From 2010-2013 he served as the Campus Director of Campus Outreach at Rhodes College and as part-time pastor at Second. Starting in the summer of 2014, he began serving as the full-time pastor to young adults. He and his wife, Sarah, have two sons and a dog, Wrigley. Barton is passionate about Ole Miss football, Cubs baseball, grilling, and spending time with him family. 

David Bowen is from Knoxville, TN and graduated from the University of Virginia. He then taught history and coached football and basketball for two years, before heading to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, outside of Chicago. After serving for two years as an assistant pastor at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, David earned his PhD at Vanderbilt in the History of Christian Thought. From there he went on to plant a PCA church in North Carolina called The Church of the Good Shepherd, where he served as senior pastor for 29 years. He and his wife, Lee, are actively involved in the 2pc community and can’t wait to get to know the new class of Fellows. Their daughter Marie was a Charlotte Fellow and they have hosted four Fellows in the past few years. 

Todd Erickson is a graduate of Covenant College and has served on the staff at Second since 2001. He studied at Reformed Theological Seminary and, prior to coming to Memphis, served as a youth pastor at churches in Rock Hill, SC, Augusta, GA, and Greenville, SC. In 2013, after twenty-seven years in Youth Ministry, he transitioned to the role of Pastor of Spiritual Formation here at Second. Todd also loves soccer and has coached high school soccer in every city he has worked, currently as the assistant varsity coach at Memphis University School. His wife, Lynn, is a full-time early childhood teacher and is also very active in discipling young adult women at Second. They are both looking forward to this new year with the Fellows.