Winter 2017 seminary update
As my friends and family well know, I have been pursuing a Master of Divinity degree through Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University. Early this morning, I received the final grades for Fall 2017, and I am pleased to report that I have passed both Christian Worship and Goal Setting & Accountability.
In fact, I passed both of these courses with strong A’s, which pleases me greatly. Truth be told, I have always regretted that I missed graduating from undergraduate as cum laude by only a couple hundredths of a point, and the difference was one particular class in which I did not show up (mentally, anyway) for the first half of the semester. In fact, it was only by the grace of God and the professor that I managed to eek out a C in the course. Further, I know for a fact that there were other classes in which I failed to fully apply myself and so finished with a grade that was somewhat lower than what could have been. To receive A’s in graduate school, then, is particularly gratifying.
As you may know, this semester, I also engaged in an independent study in which I observed a consultation with a church seeking revitalization. For this course, I was asked to read a bunch, examine case studies from two other churches, and provide an analysis of the subject church. Earlier this week, I received a score on the final paper for this, but I have not received the full scores for the rest of the course. If the final paper is any indication, though, I expect I will be fine.
The completion of this third semester is something of a significant milestone. I have now completed half of the core classes required for my program. I also took some time to examine the course catalog and start noodling out the rest of my schedule. In addition to the core classes, I am required to take four classes for my Church Health and Revitalization specialization. The independent study I just concluded counts as one of these, but I am uncertain whether it is wise to complete the others concurrently with the larger core courses: the electives are half as many credits as the core courses, but they are condensed into half as much time. Thus, for the half of the semester that they are running, it is like taking two larger courses simultaneously.
In addition, I must complete a fifth elective. At this time, I am seriously considering Hebrew for Ministry. This is significant because it is only offered March through May in even-numbered years. Thus, if I do not take it this spring, I will have to wait to take it in 2020.
When I started this M.Div program in August 2016, I initially thought I would be finished in 3 1/2 years (i.e., graduate in December 2019). As things sit right now, this is still possible, but it would be challenging. On the other hand, I could extend the process to May 2020 with a lot less stress. I would appreciate prayers for clarity because if I am going to shoot for the more aggressive strategy, I need to make that decision very soon.