The Need and Support of an Educated Ministry

I recently had an email from Mike Partridge who used to be one of the teaching elders at Woodlands and who is now studying at WEST, where I studied. Perusing Mike's website pointed me to a couple of great articles by Dr Robert Letham (currently at WEST) entitled, An Educated Ministry, and Support for the Ministry. Both articles are worth studying. Here's a taster: writing of the tendency to deride the need for an educated ministry, Letham makes the following observation:

It is a striking fact that the average tenure of a pastorate in the United States is little more than two years. Why is this? In recent decades many seminaries have focused on practical matters, shying away from the theoretical or merely cerebral. Surely, our pulpits need men with experience who can address real-life issues?

Well, yes. But without the tools to unlock the Scriptures and to place those Scriptures in historical, theological and contemporary context, many end up preaching the same sermon over and over again — an enigma with few 
variations!