Ernest “Butch” Patrick

M.Div. Pastoral

How many pastors fondly recall their seminary Greek classes? Current student Butch Patrick will, calling them the “most stimulating, challenging, and rewarding classes” he’s ever taken. “Greek stretched my brain in ways I never thought possible. The demands of the course required me to be diligent and disciplined, but it was rewarding in that my diligence and discipline always paid off.”

Butch has a B.A. in Political Science and an M.P.A. (Master of Public Administration) from the University of Delaware. A pastoral intern at Christ Liberation Fellowship, a mission church plant of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, he works with the church's youth, as well as unchurched youth in and around the community. He plans to complete Westminster’s M.Div. Pastoral program in May 2007.

Butch’s eyes were opened to the glory of the gospel in his late teenage years. After high school, he enrolled in a one-year military prep school, and though he lifts weights and holds the Delaware state high school high jump record, “the structure and physical rigor was unlike anything I had ever experienced,” he recalls. When he became homesick, he read the Bible because it reminded him of his Christian mother. “In my reading of the Gospels I came face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ. I was confronted with my sin and my need for a Savior. The Scriptures sent me to my knees desperately seeking the Lord to take residence in my heart.”

After he came to know Christ, he developed a hunger for the Word of God, concluding that there was “no better way to spend my time than an extended period to intently study the Scriptures and theology.”

Butch chose to build his biblical foundation at Westminster because of the Seminary’s “adamant stance on the authority, inerrancy, and infallibility of the Scriptures” and “God-centered perspective on life and education.” And then, of course, were the memorable Greek classes he’d heard about. “Greek has taught me much about myself and the Lord. I thank God that it is a requirement for all students pursuing ordained ministry.”