Cherished Freedoms Bring Joy to Romanian Professor

Under his leadership, curriculum has taken a new focus, offering a balanced emphasis on academics and practical application to ministry. Biblical studies majors will benefit from ministry internships in addition to classroom instruction.

“The main idea is to prepare biblical studies students to have the biblical and academic knowledge that will prepare them for serving in the local church and mission field,” explains Rata.

Another change is that Rata is teaching undergraduate and graduate students simultaneously in all of his classes. Rata, who had previously worked only with seminary students, sees this as a challenge and also an opportunity.

“I’m really, really enjoying the undergraduate classes,” emphasizes the professor, who believes he is learning also from the students. He says he enjoys getting to know about their joys and struggles and praying with them. It’s almost as if he had been “sheltered, but in a bad way” because his role as a seminary professor separated him from the college students. He jokes that being around the younger students might help him stay young.

“I believe I have the gift of teaching,” says Rata, an experienced pastor. “But I also have a passion for preaching.” Before joining the seminary faculty, he led congregations in Sacramento, Calif., and Birmingham, Ala., and has served as interim pastor at several others.

“I think I have and will always have a pastor’s heart,” he adds. “I hope I never lose that.” He treasures the opportunities he has once or twice a month to preach in churches.

Rata thinks having been a preacher helps him as a professor. As he prepares his lectures, he considers how the students might use the content for their future ministries. He hopes to inspire them to share his passion for the Bible.

Rata is also involved in missions. For three years he has been on the board of directors of World Reach, an evangelical, nondenominational Christian missionary organization. He teaches in the organization’s mobile Bible institutes, which offer college-level teaching in various countries where students have limited opportunities.

In addition to teacher, preacher, and mission worker, Rata is a writer. His book, The Covenant Motif in Jeremiah’s Book of Comfort: Textual and Intertextual Studies of Jeremiah 30-33, was published in 2007. He is currently working on a commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah and articles to be included in a Bible dictionary.

By his own admission, Rata leads a multi-faceted life. He and his wife, Carmen, who also grew up in Romania, have two sons, Nicholas and Timothy. The family attends the Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church (Bruce Barlow, lead pastor).

At home, the professor tries to take the best from the Romanian and American cultures. The couple speaks Romanian, and sometimes prepares Romanian food. In the Romanian tradition, families are close-knit, something the Ratas strive to continue, even though extended family members live a distance away.

Rata also keeps busy with Grace campus activities. He enjoys participating in intramural sports, and he often attends soccer and basketball games with his sons. “I try to be involved in the Grace life as much as I can,” he says.

With all that is happening in Rata’s life, he still values one thing most: “What brings me the greatest joy personally is when I study the Word of God.” It’s a cherished freedom in his adopted homeland.

Jamie Hoffman was an editorial intern with the Brethren Missionary Herald Company during the fall semester 2008. A senior at Grace College, Winona Lake, Ind., she is from New Carrollton, Md., and is a member of the Grace Brethren Church at Lanham, Md. (Paul Mutchler, pastor).