Although he is now a man with a dual-major undergraduate degree, two graduate-level degrees, and a PhD, he had never wanted to go to college.

Jeff Stivason had already been out of high school for four years when he began his studies at Grove City College in western Pennsylvania. He sensed a call to ministry but was not quite sure how he might balance college, work, and—having been married only a year—marriage. He arrived to enroll at the college but was so intimidated walking across campus that he and his wife, Tab, turned around and headed back home. During the entire ride back to Meadville, Pa., Tab pleaded with Jeff to follow through with his original intention. When back at home, she got out of the car and sent him straight back that same day to enroll.

During the first day of class, Jeff knew he was moving in the right direction.

Jeff’s journey to the pastorate began in earnest while in his late teens. He was raised in the Presbyterian Church USA until his early teens, but his family left the local church when their biblically conservative pastor left the ministry. They next went to a United Brethren in Christ church, which was pastored by a growing Calvinist. When Jeff was 18, the death of both of his very dear grandfathers within a six-month span, along with the serious illness and hospitalization of his soon-to-be-wife drove him to an increased reading of the Bible. Though he was not living a life that was pleasing to God, he continued to attend church, where he sat under the preached Word, which God used to awaken him from his sinful slumbers.

Dr. Stivason graduated with a BA in Christian thought with a second major in philosophy from Grove City College. He went on to earn a master of divinity (MDiv) at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (RPTS) in Pittsburgh, Pa., and a master of sacred theology (STM) at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Eventually, he completed his PhD at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pa., with a concentration in systematic theology. His dissertation, From Inscrutability to Concursus: Benjamin B. Warfield’s Theological Construction of Revelation’s Mode from 1880 to 1915, is an amazing look at how God communicates with His people.

Pastor Jeff, as he is called by the congregants of Grace Reformed Presbyter­ian Church in Gibsonia, Pa., where he serves as pastor, has an amazing energy level and a wonderful desire to teach. “I loved college and seminary,” he notes, “and I especially loved teachers who could teach well.” He admired the differences in teachers. For example, not every teacher handles the Socratic method (a teaching style that leans heavily on questioning to stimulate critical thinking in students) well. “I have had two professors who were exemplary at that method. There have been others with different abilities which I have admired and enjoyed for the way they helped me to understand the Bible, theology, history, philosophy, and other topics,” reflects Prof. Stivason. When he sat under the teaching of a good professor, he found himself wanting to teach just as that professor did. “I wanted to help people understand the gospel in the way I was being helped to understand.”

What advice would Pastor Stivason offer to men considering the pastorate? The answer is a basic question: Do you love the church? He is not asking if potential pastors love the doctrines of the church, but, rather, Do you love the people who belong to Christ, who make up the church? Do you love them so much that you are willing to sacrifice your time and energy for them? If your answer to these questions is yes, then the next step would be to speak with your pastor and session about how best to proceed.

With all his education and training, what was it about RPTS that helped to bring Pastor Jeff to a willingness to serve the RPCNA by teaching at its seminary? He says, first, that it is the current faculty—Keith Evans, Richard Gamble, David Whitla, C. J. Williams, and Barry York—that drew him. With great gratitude, Jeff has been blessed by these gifted and capable men who have been a source of encouragement and knowledge. He has gone to each of them for help in their fields of study and has never been disappointed with their answers.

Second, these men are academicians. Each man is deeply involved in his area of expertise and works to contribute to the advancement of Christ’s kingdom through their chosen topics. Not only does the faculty teach, but they write, blog, and podcast. “It is an exciting time to be a professor at the seminary and a great time to be a student,” says Jeff.

Third, he observes, “RPTS President Barry York is the kind of man other men are glad to follow.” He is the sort of man that students can respect, finding in him a godly example of a servant of the Church. “These are things of great importance, and I have not even mentioned the staff that makes both professor and student feel as if they have joined a great and diverse family.”

Systematic theology is the queen of the sciences. However, any queen happily rests upon the curia regis, or the pillars, of her rule. Dr. Stivason says that in the case of theological disciplines, the pillars upon which systematic theology rests are the Old and New Testaments, and he is thrilled to be teaching the New Testament. When asked why studying the New Testament is so important, he said, “It is the revelation of all that is hidden in the Old Testament as Augustine’s dictum so clearly articulates. The New Testament is the mystery of God’s will made known and set forth in Christ (Eph. 1:9–10). But it also spells out the wisdom of kingdom living.”

Dr. Stivason added, “RPTS continues to be different by remaining the same. As other seminaries have allowed languages to become an elective or nonexistent, RPTS has kept them front and center—and for good reason. The Westminster Confession 1.8 teaches us that all controversies of religion must appeal to the Hebrew of the Old Testament, or the Greek of the New, for resolution.”

Dr. Stivason was elected to the position of Professor of New Testament Studies by the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America in June 2019. Full-time professors at RPTS must be teaching elders within the denomination and elected by the Synod.

The seminary tagline, “Study Under Pastors,” is apt, as all full-time faculty members either have been or, like Pastor Jeff, currently are pastors. This merging of the academy and the pastorate yields a rich environment of instruction that is incredibly academic while still being very pastoral. The faculty imparts deep theological truths while emphasizing the heart of the shepherd, which is a vital part of the calling of a pastor.

Jeff married Tabatha in 1991. They have a son, Nathan, and a daughter, Abigail. Jeff enjoys reading (obviously), weight training, hiking, and kayaking. The Stivasons particularly enjoy hosting Hotdog Night after evening worship as the church family gathers to fellowship, sometimes for hours after services are concluded. He is also incredibly productive leading Bible studies around the greater Pittsburgh region, teaching at other seminaries, and leading several book study groups. He is the executive editor for the Place for Truth, part of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, and is a contributor to The Jonathan Edwards Encyclopedia published by Eerdmans. He has also placed materials in The Westminster Theological Journal, The Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, and The Confessional Presbyterian.

Professor Stivason joins a long line of gifted men in the teaching of Greek and the New Testament. Dr. Jack Kinneer, Jeff’s predecessor, faithfully trained a generation of men to appreciate the need and importance for a pastor to understand the original languages. Kinneer and Stivason will spend this academic year in transition, a pattern that has served RPTS well in the past decade of faculty and presidential transitions. Dr. Ed Robson, professor emeritus, is another in that long line of faithful servants. A member of Pastor Stivason’s congregation, Dr. Robson still reads his Greek New Testament during Pastor Jeff’s sermons. Pastor Jeff counts it a singular blessing to number two of his own seminary professors, Drs. Robson and Wayne Spear, among his congregation. They are a great blessing to him.

Since 1810, the Lord has sent gifted men to RPTS to train those who will step into the world and proclaim God’s truths. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:37–38). Jeff Stivason, following the paths worn by generations before him, focuses his eyes and his prayers on those laborers.

Mark Sampson is chief administrative officer and director of institutional advancement for the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pa. An RPTS feature appears semiannually in the Witness.