The Board of Trustees of Mid-America Reformed Seminary recently announced the appointment of Rev. Andrew Compton as Assistant Professor of Theology to teach Old Testament courses, beginning June 1, 2016.

Dr. Cornelis P. Venema, President of Mid-America, says, “Andrew was judged to have the combination of pastoral experience and academic excellence in Old Testament studies that we hoped for to fill this position.”

Rev. Compton has served as associate pastor at Christ Reformed Church (URCNA) in Anaheim, CA, for the last few years and is a 2007 graduate of Westminster Seminary California. He has an M.A. in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of California, Los Angeles.

At Mid-America, Rev. Compton will work with Rev. Mark Vander Hart, Associate Professor of Old Testament Studies.

“I am very much looking forward to working with Rev. Compton as he adjusts to the Seminary work environment,” Rev. Vander Hart says. “He is articulate in his positions, and he appears to be very well-read, not just in matters pertaining to the Old Testament, but to other areas of dogmatic and pastoral theology.”

In addition to his teaching duties, Rev. Compton may take on some administrative responsibilities and will serve as a faculty counselor, encouraging students to cultivate godly conduct and pastoral attitudes.

In recent years, he has worked toward a degree in pastoral care and counseling from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Although he has given up that pursuit in order to resume his study for a Ph.D. in the Old Testament, it remains an area of interest that he hopes to incorporate into teaching as well as counseling aspects of his work.

“I have been richly blessed to spend so many hours with my congregation in counsel and discipleship,” he explains, “so it is a topic dear to my heart and one I hope I can carry on to the seminarians, even in my OT instruction.”

Andrew and Pamela Compton have three young daughters and anticipate another child in December. Before next June, they plan to move from Lakewood, CA, to St. John, IN. He describes himself as “humbled by this appointment and excited to support the mission” of Mid-America.

He hopes to guide students in becoming careful and literary readers of Old Testament texts, while they gain awareness of how those books are connected with each other and used in the New Testament. He wants to help students utilize scholarly insights but effectively challenge the “naturalistic and anti-revelatory assumptions” of many critical conclusions, dismissing those that do not accord with the Bible.

His prayer is that his labors will benefit Christ’s church through any personal preaching, speaking, and writing opportunities, but primarily in the training of future pastors, “who will bring what they have learned from God’s Word in seminary to God’s people over the course of their ministries.”

Rev. Compton enjoys cycling, playing trumpet, and listening to classical music.

The above article by Glenda Mathes appeared on pages 9 & 10 of the January 13, 2016, issue of Christian Renewal. Rev. Compton has since taken up his new position.