The final lesson Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez has for Connor ‘The Highlander‘ MacLeod is to feel what is going on around him. I suppose that is where I am now. As I approach my final week-long intensive course for completing my M.Div. at Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University I should process some feelings.

The Goodis the largest part of my seminary experience.

• I had some exceptional professors. Most notable for me were doctors: Chip Arn, Bob Whitesel, Ken Schenck, John L. Drury, Lenny Luchetti, and Kristina LaCelle-Peterson (guest professor). They were generous with their knowledge, experience, and prayers. Faculty and students have lunch together during the summer intensives, and during such time I have heard Dr. Whitesel (as just one example among the professors) freely consulting student pastors. Interest is taken in the students beyond just academics. They are also friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, with whom we joke, converse, pray (for us and we for them), and support us, especially when we are in transition, and that intimacy goes beyond the professors. It includes the administrative staff and even the seminary vice president, Dr. Wayne Schimdt.
• I liked being part of a cohort. I have not had this many friends since high school that I could really count on and share with, ever! We came together not just from around the country, but from around the world. Males and females, with a range of ages, in a variety life-stages, and ministry contexts. I will miss the regular interaction with these people, and dorm room living during the summer. (I should also mention that I have made good connections with members of other cohorts.) Being part of a cohort provided what should be life-long connections.
• Between discounts, scholarships, and loan-grants, earning my M.Div. probably cost me less than it would to earn an associate degree. It was definitely less than the cost of my undergrad work.
• I look for harmony and connections, so having core courses which integrated the course topic with Bible, theology, and church history appealed to my learning style. I actually enjoyed working on my research papers. I felt like I was earning an M.Div. by taking a Humanities approach.
• Seminary also provided rare opportunities. I got to meet Dr. Keith Drury, have correspondence with Dr. Lee Haines, become friends with David Drury, attend a Multi-ethnic Church Conference in San Diego (paid for by the seminary), take a trip to Israel (covered by a scholarship), and eat at Ivanhoe’s. (and have have my face put in ads 🙂

Only one point for The Bad.

• Because we are a practical seminary (a good thing), many of the weekly assignments required input from from congregation members (also a good thing), but often the number of interviews or surveys we had to complete felt excessive. Even though a student might try to vary which respondents to tap, there are key leaders and influencers that regularly need to be questioned, and other people who either do not want to participate in these types of activities, or cannot participate due to our weekly deadlines. Over the course of three years, I have seen and heard stories of interview/survey burnout among seminary students and their congregations.

Please do not equate “ugly” with “worse than bad.” That is not what I mean at all. For my purposes The Ugly means “difficult or challenging.”

• I made the choice to be part of the first M.Div. seminary cohort. I felt like there was a bit of prestige being part of that group. Three years ago, the cohort members were told during our first week of class what the price for that prestige would be. Regarding the seminary, the dean said, “The plane is in the air. You are on the plane. We are still building the plane.” There were times when course material was still being finalized while we were in the midst of the course. Full-time faculty is still being hired. Members of cohort-01 (online and on-site) were seminary guinea pigs. However, we probably got to give more useful and implemented feedback than any other cohort, and, my hope is, that things were better for every cohort that followed us. I feel good about that.
• The pace is breakneck. I had a professor tell me they could not believe how fast we move through material, but we are not fast and shallow. Add to that the following personal facts: 1) I wanted to finish in three years, not 3+, so I completed my electives concurrently with core courses, 2) we had our first child, and 3) my wife was concurrently completing M.A. in U.S. History, and one can see the potential for burnout. On the positive side, after only three years, my wife and I will have both earned masters degrees, but, at this point, my wife would much rather be pregnant again (morning sickness and all) and have another baby (labor and all) than to do anymore school. Personally, I am still planning on one day earning a doctorate. Work and life during seminary was tough, but I feel good about the new opportunities available to us after three years of hard work.
• This final one I am somewhat reluctant to put up because 98% of the administration was great (Karen in the office and Donna in financial aid are awesome), but what was sometimes lacking in that remaining 2% was frustrating. As a student, and especially as cohort representative, I had to be excessively proactive about getting schedules and logistics for intensive courses. This information is important to receive accurately and early for us who have to arrange flights, vacations, and transportation to get to class. For the most part, information dissemination has improved over my thee years in seminary, but there have been notable exceptions. A more detailed online calender that is kept up to date would fix most of the issues.