Pastor Dave Abu-sara
Dave helped to plant Clearnote Church, Indianapolis, in 2010 and serves as its Senior Pastor. He graduated from New Geneva Academy in 2010. He is married to his lovely wife Vanessa, and they have eight children
What led you to prepare for gospel ministry?
Growing up, I’d never set foot inside a church. Shortly after becoming a Christian, I started getting excited about the idea of spending my life helping other people go through the sort of transformation I’d just undergone in my own life. Up until that point, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life. I had ideas but no real excitement or drive to see any of these dreams come to fruition. But when I became a Christian, for the first time in my life, I knew what I wanted to spend my life doing. I guess the short answer to this question is, I became a Christian. I realize that gospel ministry isn’t for everyone, but I couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life after God saved me.
Why did you choose New Geneva Academy?
I chose to study at NGA for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to be trained by men that knew me, personally. Learning theology and how to write sermons is something that a lot of men could learn to do. But being a pastor is so much more than having proper theology and preaching expository sermons. It’s a man giving himself to being the tip of the spear in the work that God is doing wherever he’s called. I wanted to be trained by men who could assess me, not just academically, but personally and help to disciple me in the areas where I needed to grow as a Christian man, husband, and father. Second, I wanted to be trained by pastors instead of professors. I’ve always been an advocate of apprenticeship-style teaching. I wanted men to take me down into the trenches of pastoral ministry and teach me as someone who’d done the work themselves, not simply read about it in a book. Also, their commitment to training the pastor's wife in how she should help him is priceless. The encouragement and training to work together in this calling has been such a blessing to my wife and me as we’ve left the program and gone out to plant a church.
What was the most challenging aspect of your time at NGA? What was the most enjoyable?
Ironically, the answer to these questions in the same. It was the personal care and attention that was given to me. Hebrews 12:11 came to mind many times during my tenure at NGA. I was challenged in many ways as a student, and not necessarily in the ways I expected. I expected academic rigor but the discussions about my marriage or my children and their behavior were initially surprising. As my time at NGA went on I came to love the oversight and direction that I received. Greek and Hebrew were no walk in the park either.
How did NGA prepare you for your current work?
Theologically, I was trained well. The purpose of the academic instruction wasn’t to become hip or nuanced in our understanding or presentation of the Gospel but rather to be faithful, honest, and loving as we worked with the souls under our care. I wasn’t taught to avoid theology but rather to do the work of growing to understand the whole counsel of God. The theological training I received has been foundational in my work as a pastor. Equally important was being taught how to handle conflict within the church. Being taught that conflict isn’t always a bad thing and that God usually uses it to purify and strengthen the church has been one of the greatest lessons I learned while at NGA. Without this training, I would’ve thought that if there was conflict in the church that I had failed. Knowing ahead of time that being a pastor necessarily means working in the midst of some sort of conflict has kept my wife and me from becoming depressed and giving up more than once. Finally, my time at NGA helped my wife and me form strong, lasting relationships with other families in pastoral ministry. We still keep in contact with our former classmates and are able to help bear one another’s burdens, even from a distance.
Growing up, I’d never set foot inside a church. Shortly after becoming a Christian, I started getting excited about the idea of spending my life helping other people go through the sort of transformation I’d just undergone in my own life. Up until that point, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life. I had ideas but no real excitement or drive to see any of these dreams come to fruition. But when I became a Christian, for the first time in my life, I knew what I wanted to spend my life doing. I guess the short answer to this question is, I became a Christian. I realize that gospel ministry isn’t for everyone, but I couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life after God saved me.
Why did you choose New Geneva Academy?
I chose to study at NGA for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to be trained by men that knew me, personally. Learning theology and how to write sermons is something that a lot of men could learn to do. But being a pastor is so much more than having proper theology and preaching expository sermons. It’s a man giving himself to being the tip of the spear in the work that God is doing wherever he’s called. I wanted to be trained by men who could assess me, not just academically, but personally and help to disciple me in the areas where I needed to grow as a Christian man, husband, and father. Second, I wanted to be trained by pastors instead of professors. I’ve always been an advocate of apprenticeship-style teaching. I wanted men to take me down into the trenches of pastoral ministry and teach me as someone who’d done the work themselves, not simply read about it in a book. Also, their commitment to training the pastor's wife in how she should help him is priceless. The encouragement and training to work together in this calling has been such a blessing to my wife and me as we’ve left the program and gone out to plant a church.
What was the most challenging aspect of your time at NGA? What was the most enjoyable?
Ironically, the answer to these questions in the same. It was the personal care and attention that was given to me. Hebrews 12:11 came to mind many times during my tenure at NGA. I was challenged in many ways as a student, and not necessarily in the ways I expected. I expected academic rigor but the discussions about my marriage or my children and their behavior were initially surprising. As my time at NGA went on I came to love the oversight and direction that I received. Greek and Hebrew were no walk in the park either.
How did NGA prepare you for your current work?
Theologically, I was trained well. The purpose of the academic instruction wasn’t to become hip or nuanced in our understanding or presentation of the Gospel but rather to be faithful, honest, and loving as we worked with the souls under our care. I wasn’t taught to avoid theology but rather to do the work of growing to understand the whole counsel of God. The theological training I received has been foundational in my work as a pastor. Equally important was being taught how to handle conflict within the church. Being taught that conflict isn’t always a bad thing and that God usually uses it to purify and strengthen the church has been one of the greatest lessons I learned while at NGA. Without this training, I would’ve thought that if there was conflict in the church that I had failed. Knowing ahead of time that being a pastor necessarily means working in the midst of some sort of conflict has kept my wife and me from becoming depressed and giving up more than once. Finally, my time at NGA helped my wife and me form strong, lasting relationships with other families in pastoral ministry. We still keep in contact with our former classmates and are able to help bear one another’s burdens, even from a distance.