Welcome to Asbury Seminary

Asbury Seminary is about here.

Greetings all!

So, some of you probably know this, and some of you probably don't, but I have a tradition that often at the beginning of a new semester, or something big happening in my life, I will write up a great big email that I call a Mara Report. It's typically about what I'm up to, how everything is going, and what I think of my classes etc. I send it out to my family and others who might be interested. Two years ago, when I went on a summer missions trip to Greece, there were a lot of people who wanted to hear about how I was doing, so I turned the Mara Report into a public blog format, as you see before you.

This post is not about Greece, but it is about a really huge transition in my life. I started seminary this week. There are a lot of people who have been a part of my journey to get here, and a lot of people who might want to just peek in and see how I'm doing, so I decided to bring this back to the blog format, and let everyone who wants to hear about this latest transition in my life.

As I have always told my email Mara Report recipients, you are welcome to pay as much or as little attention to this as you want. (I think that my rough draft was about 5 pages long, so I really am not going to criticize anyone who doesn't make it though the whole thing.) I tend to get a lot out of just typing all of this, but if you are curious about how my first two weeks in Wilmore, Kentucky has gone, this is what's happened and what I think about it with all the juicy details.
I'm not sure how much I will continue to post to this blog, given the seminary workload, but I will try to post at least occasional reports to let people know how I'm doing.

Move In

Mom and I packed up for the big move the last weekend in September. Mom came down to Kentucky with me to help me move. We left Sunday, August 26th after church, Mom in the van packed full and me in my Camry that had all of about three bags in the trunk. Dad helped with the "van tetris" and did a very impressive job. The drive went smoothly, and Mom and I arrived in Wilmore at about 7:30pm. We got some food and spent the night at the Asbury inn, which is connected to the Seminary. The next morning we got up. and I drove up to the dorm at 9am on the dot for move in. I got checked in, saw my room, and got my student ID. There was a whole crew of student volunteers there to help haul boxes, and the actual move in part of things went ridiculously quickly. I honestly think that we might have spent more time standing chatting with some of the movers than it took to actually get everything in.

I'm living in Bettie Morrison Hall, a single women's seminary dorm. I have three roommates, and we each have our own room and bathroom, as well as a shared kitchen and living space. I'm really happy with my room. It feels really big and airy, with a high ceiling and a huge window. It took me awhile to settle in, but now it's already started to feel like home.

On Monday, (move-in day), Mom and I set up the furniture and basics in the room, and then made a Walmart run to pick up anything extra we needed and to stock my pantry. While we were there, we actually ran into my cousin, who lives in Wilmore and works for Asbury University, the undergrad school. It felt really cool to just run into her running errands! By the time we got done with everything and back to my apartment it was about 4pm, and I was exhausted, so Mom headed out pretty soon after, and I just crashed in my new room!

Look! Here's a picture of me in my new room!

Tuesday was a pretty laid back day. I mostly spent it settling in and getting to know my roommates a little bit. My three roommates are Kayla, Stacie, and Elizabeth. Kayla and Stacie are returning students, and lived in this apartment since at least last year. Elizabeth, like me, is a first year M.Div. student who just moved in on Monday. I had met Kayla a couple of times over the summer since we knew we would be roommates, but Stacie, who arrived Tuesday afternoon, was new to me, and I didn't even know that Elizabeth was coming! They are all pretty great though. Kayla has been really good about wanting to make us welcome and show us around. She is another redhead, and she has just been really nice. Stacie is quite a bit older than me. She's mentioned her grandkids a few times, so we are clearly at very different stages of life, but she is also very friendly. She actually made dinner for everyone tonight, and likes sharing stories about her life and her family. As for Elizabeth, she and I have been getting along like a house on fire! We went to orientation together, and it's really been nice to have someone whose in the same boat as me in the same living space. Overall, I'm really happy about my living situation for this year.

Orientation

After two days of moving in and settling in new student orientation started first thing Wednesday morning. Elizabeth and I walked over to campus together, and sat at the same table. Each table was grouped together for a TAG group, which I think stands for something, but basically meant that we had a built in group of people to go to the different events with, and one, or in our case two, group leaders that could help show us around. There were a lot of different talks for all of us newbies, like Asbury 101 and and the Transition Talk. Some stuff was more informational about the campus and the seminary, and some was more about social and spiritual issues we are likely to run into. One of the more intriguing events was called Global Classrooms, and was designed to help expose students to the challenges that international students face by modeling classrooms from different continents and cultures. All of it was helpful and most of it was interesting and even funny.

Mixed in with the more informational talks were also social events and opportunities to get to know other students, old and new, as well as meeting various professors and staff people, and learning about the different clubs and activities on campus. I’ve already connected to the brand new Ratio Christ chapter forming at Asbury Seminary, (that’s an apologetics club that I was involved at at Purdue), and I’m planning to check out several other groups in the next couple of weeks.

Overall, orientation was a blast! My tag group got along super well, and I just had a lot of fun with everyone I met. One of the highlights of whole thing was dinner at the president’s house Wednesday night hosted by the seminary president, Dr. Tennent, and his wife. Everyone ate out on the lawn, but was then encouraged to look around the house and grounds. One of my new friends turned out to be an undergrad music major, and after we ran into Mrs. Tennent in her music room, they both played some for us on the piano, and then Mrs. Tennent showed us some of her other instruments. I think my new friend actually jumped for joy when Mrs. Tennent invited her to try the hammer dulcimer out!

Adventures

Orientation Only lasted Wednesday and Thursday, but I kept the adventures up over the weekend. Friday I ran around the county with Elizabeth, and we wound up at someplace called high bridge park at sunset which was just gorgeous. Saturday I went to a single housing bonfire (despite the heat) for all the mens and womens single dorms, and got to hang out with lots of other students I had or hadn’t met. I think I may have spent at least a whole hour talking to one girl who shares my love of science fiction literature. So happy. Sunday I went to the nearby Free Methodist Church for the first time with my roommate Kayla, and them my family came over to see my new place and bring a load of anything that I had managed to forget at home. Monday was labor day, and I mostly spent it resting up, and getting ready for classes to start the next day.

First Week of Classes

Once Tuesday hit, it felt like my seminary career was starting in earnest. First thing for me was the convocation held at the Asbury Seminary chapel Tuesday. I wasn't sure what to expect but apparently the first chapel to the year is a big event. All the faculty was there dressed in their academic robes and various amusing hats, and Dr. Tennent gave the sermon. I've been to chapel three times now, it's held Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, but I have to say, every single speaker has knocked it out of the park. I'm not sure if podcasts are available of chapel services, but if you want to read an awesome sermon for lifelong learners, I did find Dr. Tennent's sermon on his webpage.
http://timothytennent.com/2018/09/04/my-2018-opening-convocation-address-a-spirit-filled-and-sanctified-community/
My three classes this semester are really clustered together, Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning, and Wednesday afternoon, so after chapel and lunch were over on Tuesday, it really felt like I was off to the races!

Class 1: NT520 - Introduction to the New Testament

My first ever Asbury Seminary class was called Intro to the New Testament. This class is taught by Dr. Keener, a professor who spoke at Purdue my senior year at a symposium on miracles, and I have been pumped ever since hearing that I would be having him for class!

I have to admit, it took me a little bit to settle into the pace of the class. My professor gave a very brief introduction, and then jumped into the material at full speed! Once I got used to the speed and not even trying to write everything down, (I am so glad his powerpoints are online), it was really fun. Dr. Keener has literally written the six hundred page book on the New Testament. He knows his stuff, and delights in sharing what he knows with the class. Best of all, Dr. Keener just has such a heart for the gospel. Everything he had to say was just so earnest, and it bled through with his heart for what matters about all of this.

The whole experience was just so satisfying, and really felt like confirmation that I’m in the right place, surrounded and poured into by people who are passionate and knowledgeable about God and His word.

Class 2: CD501 - Vocation of Ministry

Wednesday morning at 8am I had my second class of the semester, vocation of ministry. My roommate Elizabeth is in the class with me, so we went over together. It’s in the same room as my intro to the New Testament class, so I knew exactly where to go. A few people have warned me that this class may seem a little bit basic, and I think that I can see how that fits. At least to start out, we are talking a lot about calling, what it is, if we are called, and what our callings look like. It sounds like there are usually at least some students who get to seminary and really need to wrestle with this issue, but considering how much thought and prayer and study I put into even getting to seminary, I feel like there is going to be a lot that feels like review, at least for the first unit. Other units deal more with issues that may arise in ministry and church cultural diversity, and sound a lot more exciting to me.

My favorite part of this class though came up at the end, after we’d gone through the syllabus and course expectations etc. Everyone in our class was assigned to a 5 person covenant group, which is basically a small group, and given the last hour of class time to meet. In the future we will meet with our groups once a week, and don’t have to show up to class until 9am instead of 8am. My group is going ahead and meeting at 8 just to keep things simple. I really like the group of girls I’ve been assigned to. Students are grouped by gender to help people be more comfortable, so I’ve got four girls who I met and swapped stories with. The group that I’m in had a lot of fun sharing our journeys to Asbury with one another and then just chatting about everything from learning from preceding female pastors to what classes we have had so far. It was a lot of fun, and it seems like an awesome group to just go through the class and the semester with.

Class 3: TH501 - Basic Christian Doctrine

The Wednesday chapel speaker was the amazing and energetic Bishop Swanson of the United Methodist Mississippi conference, and then it straight to lunch and then my last class, Basic Christian Doctrine. Basic Christian Doctrine is really different than what I expected. I've been calling it intro to theology in my head, (which it kind of is), and I think that on some level I've been expecting this class to be really heavy duty, intense, and serious. My first experience during the first class of the semester however has really challenged that picture. My professor spent the first two hours just getting to know us, and getting us to know one another. He had everyone go around and share name, where we are from, church/denomination we are with, and what we do for fun. More than that, he spent time over each person’s answer, picking something to comment on or interact with about. There were lots of jokes and it was a really relaxed atmosphere. This class has quite a few Free Methodists, plenty of board game enthusiasts, and exactly two girls, including me. That felt a little bit funny coming from my all-girl small group in my last class, but it's not too surprising given how many more male than female M.Div students are on campus. Considering I was outnumbered about 1:6 in my Purdue physics program, it honestly feels more than a little familiar. Overall, I think that this class is going to cover a lot of ground this semester, but also have a lot more fun and jokes than I was expecting, and I’m thrilled! I think that I trust this professor to handle all kinds of complicated and potentially controversial topics as they come up with both respect, and a healthy sense of humor that will prevent anybody from going to war over different doctrines of atonement.

Conclusion

Thursday and Friday gave me a little bit more breathing room since I didn’t have any more classes. On Thursday the speaker for chapel was Jessica LaGrone, the director of chapel, and she gave one of the most beautiful sermons I think I’ve ever heard. Beyond official events, I did some productive things, like getting class reading done at the library, and some fun things, like explore the thrift store under Wilmore’s First United Methodist Church. My room looks a lot more settled now, and I feel pretty good about both my workload for the coming week, and the number of people I know to talk to and have fun adventures with. I know that there is a lot more in store for me in the coming semester, and the coming several years, but I’m really happy about how the start of my Asbury career has gone. I feel comfortable, I feel at peace with where I’m at and how I’ve gotten here, and best of all, I feel so, so excited about what God is and will do in my life.

Thank you so much for reading this. Please be sure to keep me in your prayers! I’m off to an awesome start, but I also know that there will be plenty of ups and downs ahead. If you are reading this, then you’ve almost certainly been part of my journey to get to this point, and I am so grateful to you, and to all the people who have knowingly or unknowingly supported me on my way.

May God bless you and keep you, and may His face shine upon you, but most of all, may God be at work in your life to help you grow ever deeper in your relationship with Him.
Amen