The End of the Beginning, part 1

96 credit hours + 35 classes + 23 As + 9 Bs {3 classes were Pass/Fail - I passed all 3} + 5 years = 1 degree.

Five years ago, Corrie and I had just moved back to Wilmore, KY. We had been married just over a month, and within the next few days I would be going back to school. I had spent the previous year as an intern for Wesley here in Oxford as a way of confirming my call to ministry (and to be close to Corrie - whew, glad that worked). Now, I was about to start Asbury Theological Seminary - a more formal way of beginning my life as a vocational minister.

We lived in a basement apartment just behind

Asbury College. In fact, I even did laundry in my old dorm a few times because it was closer (and cheaper) than the laundromat. The basement was maybe 500 square feet, and as I started school, our income came from Corrie teaching adjunct English classes, and I working part-time for a church in downtown Lexington.

I remember listening to JD Walt during New Student Orientation talk about how seminary comes from the word seminarius, meaning "seed bed". He went on to say that seminary is much more than a place to learn about God, but it is a place where we begin a season of growth to really come to know God.

As I went to my first classes, I could see that what JD said was true. I sat in awe of my professors; they had spent their lives studying, writing, and living in their respective fields of study. They were so knowledgeable, so published, so well known, but more than that, I could tell that they really desired to know God.

My dad thinks seminary is a place that teaches you to grow facial hair to be more like Jesus. He's half right - it is a place to learn to be more like Jesus (I grew the goatee just because). Many think seminary is a place to learn theological terms, theories of biblical interpretation, ancient languages, and pastoral counseling skills. As if it's the vo-tech for pastors. But seminary is much more; seminary is place to be fed from the rich resources of Christian tradition, passed down from those who first heard, saw, and touched (1 John 1:1) the minstry of Jesus to those who faithfully give their lives to teaching it to men and women called of to God lead the Church.

Just after a year of living back in Wilmore, Corrie got the itch to start the process toward her PhD. Soon after that we received word that the Wesley position at Ole Miss was going to be hiring for the next year. We began to pray about our next steps. We didn't really want to live in Mississippi (10 and 12 hours away from our families), and I wasn't sure I was ready for a full-time ministry position. God called us anyway. With 56 of 96 hours complete, and no full-time ministry experience, we moved back to Oxford from Wilmore on July 1, 2006. Corrie received a full fellowship from Ole Miss to pursue her PhD, and we were expecting our first baby the following January.

to be continued...