Luke Riffle had only been a Christian for six months when he first arrived at The Master’s University in August of 2016. So, it comes as little surprise that he was hungry for a place where he could learn and grow in the truth.

As Riffle reflects on his four years at TMU and his current studies at The Master’s Seminary, he believes he received even more than he hoped for.

The story began in Alabama, with something that is rarely considered a blessing: a long work commute. After spending time at a community college, Riffle was taking a semester break to work at Toyota. He had to drive an hour each way.

At first, he listened to music. But his mom had gifted him a MacArthur Study Bible, and as he began to read it, he thought, “Maybe this MacArthur guy has an audiobook or something.” Then he discovered Grace to You.

“I ended up listening to about four or five hours of MacArthur every day for about five months,” Riffle says. “I plowed through his sermons.”

Riffle had grown up going to church, but he says, “I was very legalistic in my thought process. If I did the right things, I thought I could be as rebellious as I wanted in my heart, as long as I said ‘the prayer’ once a month.”

But as he began listening to MacArthur and other preachers, Riffle heard a very different message.

“The Lord brought me to an understanding that salvation isn’t about what I do — it’s all about the Lord bringing me to Him,” Riffle says. “It was revolutionary to suddenly realize that it wasn’t how I act that gains me salvation, but what Jesus has done for me, and what He continues to do for me as my high priest.”

At the time, Riffle attended a church that espoused teaching in stark contrast to what he was hearing from preachers like MacArthur. The dissonance inspired him to study Scripture on his own and to look for a place where he could be formally trained.

“I had looked at some schools in the South, since I was living in Alabama at that time,” he says. “But I couldn’t figure out what these schools believed. And that was frustrating, because I was listening to people who were clear on what the truth is.”

Then Riffle heard reference to someplace called “The Master’s College,” and he remembered that his mom had given him a pamphlet for the school three years prior. “I looked at it online, and I prayed, ‘Lord, if this is where you want me to go, make it clear.’”

Meanwhile, Riffle put in his two weeks’ notice at Toyota. Two days later, he got a call from his cousin. “He asked, ‘Hey, want to take a month-long road trip out to L.A.?’ And I looked up where TMC was located, and I saw that it was right next to L.A,” Riffle recalls. “So I asked the people I was working for if I could quit the next day instead of putting in my two weeks, and they said yes.”

Riffle and his cousin drove out to Southern California, and Riffle ended up meeting with Dr. Thomas Halstead, dean of TMU’s School of Biblical Studies. Halstead encouraged Riffle to apply for the upcoming fall semester, and Riffle listened.

That was how he ended up on campus within months of being saved. “I knew that I wanted to study the Bible, and that I needed to know God, and that I needed a place where the truth is spoken and I can rely on what the professors say.”

Riffle found that at TMU. He also found that the student-faculty interactions at Master’s — where the student-teacher ratio continues to hover around 12:1 — were invaluable.

“Getting to know and be known by my professors is so beneficial, and it’s been such a blessing to have the freedom to meet with them,” he says. “Having people who are patient enough to share their own life experiences — and to help you not just know how to fix your problems, but how to better behold God for who He is and to strive after Christlikeness — was foundational to those four years.

“Their teaching me how to correctly look at Scripture and understand it, and how to correctly look at the world and understand it through biblical eyes, is worth more than the tuition we pay.”

Whether it was Hebrew with Abner Chou or Jared Kingsley, Bible classes with Jason Beals and Todd Bolen, or World History with Jeff Jensen, Riffle could tell that his professors’ concern was not only his academic performance, but also his growing love for Christ.

Very early into his time at TMU, Riffle knew he wanted to continue on to The Master’s Seminary. Now, after transitioning into seminary, he’s looking ahead to whatever ministry God will be preparing him for.

“I love languages, so if the Lord takes me toward missions, wonderful! If not, I’ll do what He gives to me.” More so than striving toward any particular kind of future ministry, Riffle wants to instead focus on learning to be faithful with what he has been given and trusting God to orchestrate what comes next.

For right now, Riffle ministers as a children’s ministry intern at Grace Community Church and as a Grace Equip liaison. And he encourages TMU students to find their own way of being involved with and serving a local church.

“Master’s is wonderful, but it’s not the church,” Riffle says. “When you’re involved in a local church, you can take what you’re learning, see it applied and serve others. It helps remind you that this education isn’t just for you. You’re made, as a believer, to be in communion with God’s people.”

Not every student at TMU is called to vocational ministry, but they’re all called to fellowship and service in the local church. The school’s prayer is that all of its students, from Bible majors to biology majors, will graduate better equipped to be a blessing to their churches and communities for the rest of their lives.

TMU offers a variety of emphases in the School of Biblical Studies, along with a five-year B.A./M.Div. cooperative.