News
Fagerstrom Releases 14th Book
Oct 23, 2009
Dr. Douglas Fagerstrom, president of Grand Rapids Theological Seminary (GRTS), recently released The …
Cultural Intelligence
Sep 19, 2009
Leading with Cultural Intelligence by Dr. David Livermore NOW AVAILABLE! How do you lead with cultural …
Alumni in Action
Joel Shaffer
M.A. Intercultural Ministries, GRTS '06
One of my former students whom I’ve known for over ten years was recently shot and killed. About five hundred people paid their respects at the funeral, including about forty Urban Transformation Ministries (UTM) students. Regrettably, the majority of the three hundred inner-city teens and young adults who attend UTM activities have had friends or family members shot and killed on the streets of Grand Rapids or other cities in Michigan. Despite the violence, God continues to transform many lives in the ‘hood’. Here's a taste of how God has been using the ministry of UTM…
Darin - As an eighteen year old who faithfully attends UTM programs, Darin has experienced more trauma, sorrow, and death within his immediate family than most people experience in a lifetime. Three of Darin’s brothers were shot and killed on the streets of Detroit, two of his brothers are serving long prison sentences, and his mother is in and out of the hospital fighting cancer. Having recently given his life to Christ, fellow students of UTM have embraced him as family. Darin continues to trust God to give him the strength to fight the uphill battles that he faces, including helping his mother, finishing school, finding full-time employment, and securing housing.
Elise - As a seventeen year old, Elise has avoided some of the negative influences of the inner-city. At Creston high school, she’s involved in choir and volleyball, while she maintains a 3.4 grade point average. Besides her active role within UTM programs, she faithfully attends Berean Baptist Church. Even though she avoids the streets, violence touched her family when her gang-banging step-brother was shot and killed a few years ago. In the future, she sees herself going to college with the goal of becoming a social worker serving in the inner-city or in African refugee camps.
Michael - Growing up in a family where his father regularly sold drugs, when Michael was old enough, he began selling as well. However, through the help of his mother, friends, and UTM staff, Michael turned away from his “pharmaceutical street corner business,” recommitted his life to Christ, and got a legitimate job. Although at times he’s tempted to go back to his old lifestyle, his friends, his mother, UTM staff, and UTM programs keep him accountable and on the right path.
While Darin, Elise, Michael, and several other students are believing and obeying the gospel, many more have deceived themselves into thinking that they can keep one foot in the church and one foot in the streets with all of its destructive influences. Please continue to pray for these students and for us.
Serving Christ and loving the ‘hood',
Joel Shaffer
Joel, his wife, Sherilyn, and their four children minister to 300 teens in Grand Rapids, Michigan through Urban Transformation Ministries. Through mentoring, sports tournaments and discipleship, the Shaffer family and the UTM team reach gang members, students at risk and those who are struggling in school. Read more on Joel's blog: http://utmsentiments.blogspot.com/.
Chris & Rebecca Hirt
M.A. Counseling, GRTS '06 (Rebecca)
Hebrews 12:1-3 was deeply meaningful to us, and especially motivating as we completed our first ever Ironman triathlon on September 9th. Indeed we adopted these first verses of Hebrews 12 as important pre-race mediatation and post-race reflection. Our epic race of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run was more than a physical challenge. It was a spiritual, mental and emotional battle that lasted the entire day, one that afforded us much time to pour over these verses.The "great cloud of witnesses" described in this verse are not spectators in this metaphorical distance race we call Christian life, but those who have gone before us, who inspire us, and who have come alongside us and touched us, bearing testimony and witness to God's faithfulness in our lives. We endured physical and mental exhaustion to the extreme on the road to becoming an Ironman, but it was nothing compared to Christ's suffering on the cross and his victory over death. Whatever challenges we face we ought to be encouraged by the knowledge that Christ has been there, that no one runs alone in this race, and that you, our "great cloud of witnesses," have run this race before, are running it with us, and inspiring us with each step we take.
For we have another "Ironman" challenge ahead of us, one of a very different but equally challenging nature. Fortunately for us, this undertaking is far from a solo effort and cannot be accomplished without many supportive partners, nor without God's direction and power in our lives. This past summer, we applied to and were accepted into the mission organization Wycliffe Bible Translators with the specific roles of counseling missionaries (Rebecca) and aiding Bible translation through computers and technology (Chris). Where will we be going? We are currently looking at some countries in South East Asia and the South Pacific, but we are open to wherever God leads us. We cannot describe to you how exciting this new direction is for us! We are joyful that God has allowed our burden for overseas missions, which he placed in our hearts years ago, to manifest itself so explicitly through the plans He has confirmed through Wycliffe.
Click here to read other Ironman stories and watch an invigorating video of Rebecca and Chris Hirt's Ironman experience. If you would like to hear more about Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Hirt's journey, please contact Rebecca at rebecca@hirtfamily.net.
Wendy Widder
Ph.D. student, University of Wisconsin-Madison
M.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison '07
M.Div., GRTS '04
By the grace of God, I will "be worth something" to the Christian community when I finish - just as anybody is. And by the grace of God, I have discovered that I can 'be worth something" to both the Christian community and that non-Christian community now. In a phase of life that often cuts me off from "the real world" (even in Madison) and always demands more energy, intelligence, and stamina than I have, I am tempted to hang on for dear life and worry about ministry when I make it to the end of my program. But life is more about the journey than the destination. Serving God is the journey.
And my journey through the rigorous program here includes my department colleagues (the majority are evangelical Christians) - always in need of as much encouragement and help as I - and a new group of students to our program each year - always in need of more encouragement and help than I. My journey includes an array of people for whom I can be the fragrance of Christ. And the journey for me here has included four semesters of teaching undergraduate students about the Bible - a rare and wonderful opportunity.
When I started seminary at GRTS in 2000, I planned to graduate in two years and then begin a new ministry career. Seven years later, that new career is still in process, but the ministry is not. It is all around me, all the time.
Wendy is currently in her fourth year of studies in the Hebrew & Semitic Studies department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She will take her Ph.D. exams in August, 2008, and then begin working on her dissertation. She is the author of two books:
Living Whole Without a Better Half
A Match Made in Heaven: How Singles and the Church Can Live Happily Ever After.
Steve Weber
M.T.S., GRTS '94
Steve and Chris Weber recently sold their house and cars, stored household items, and moved to China to serve with a foreign non-government organization. Steve previously served on staff at Mars Hill Bible Church and Chris served as Vice President for Enrollment Management and Institutional Marketing at Cornerstone University.
One of the natural side-effects of leaving is "giving up." The other night I had the Asian flu. I didn't know our bodies could lose that much fluid at any one time. There were moments during that bout when I thought about giving up... going home... being sick in a safe place with doctors, medicines and emergency rooms!
But that's not the side-effect we are talking about here. This kind of giving up isn't about quitting. This giving up is about loss...
-Giving up familiar food
-Giving up family meals, outings, and birthdays
-Giving up face-to-face relationships, house church
-Giving up a"normal" salary, income, security
-Giving up cars, nice roads, Saturday drives in the country
-Giving up the place we gather called Mars Hill
-Giving up familiar tones and words
We have lived with these losses for less than 45 days and yet we are learning some powerful lessons about loss, grief and tears. At this point on the journey grief is greater than culture shock. We are told that failing to recognize and admit our grief might come out in anger and frustration with the very culture and people we have come to serve.
We want to embrace our losses, our grief, our pain... and there in that embrace know the depth of God's grace, his comfort and strength. The narcotics of trite words, material attainments, and self-amusements don't work here.
Pray that we face our griefs. Because we know, at least in part, that it is through this process of embracing our pain that we learn something about others who are living, walking in pain. And when we learn to embrace our pain, we will be able to embrace the pain of others in a more genuine, authentic way.
Pastor Chris Brauns
D.Min., Gordon-Conwell '06
M.Div., GRTS '93
MBA, Northern Iowa '91
Last night I visited a man in our church who found out that he has a large mass in one of his lungs. He has lost 30 pounds and it looks as though he has cancer. I sat down at their kitchen table and chatted with him and his wife about their family and the Gospel. When we got done talking, I read them John 14:1-6. The Bible I had with me was ESV, but I changed it to mostly King James because it is so beautiful in that translation, "In my Father's house there are many mansions... I am the way, the truth, and the life..."
After I made that call I stopped by to see a young family. The father's twin sister has an aggressive form of cancer though she is only 37 years old. I leaned over the chain link fence around their pool and prayed for him and his sister and their parents.
Once when I was a student at GRTS we were talking in class about a terrible tragedy. I asked Dr. Crawford, "How do you pastor people at a time like that?" Dr. Crawford answered, "If you have not prepared them in advance, there is relatively little you can do at the time."
His answer has echoed in my thoughts for years.
Each Sunday when a pastor preaches, he is called to prepare his people for times of weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing. Can anything be more important? And, not only on Sunday. When we pray at their kitchen tables, and read John 14, and lean over chain link fences around pools, and when we plan weddings and funerals and write blogs our call is to shepherd God's people that are under our care (1 Peter 5:1-4). And, if we persevere, we will inherit a crown of glory that will never fade away.
Chris serves at The Red Brick Church in Stillman Valley, Il and can be heard on the radio in Rockford, Il. You can listen to his sermons online, read his blog, and look for his forthcoming book on forgiveness published by Crossway Books.
Pastor Tim Cosby
M.Div., GRTS '91
I received a call the other day from a local funeral director who asked me if I would agree to co-officiate a funeral with Tom from the local Catholic parish. As it turns out, the gentleman who passed away was Catholic and his surviving wife was Baptist. My first thought was, “My, how things have changed since the Crusades!” My second thought was, “Wow, how did they stay married for 60 years?” As Tom and I spoke about this unique opportunity facing us we joked about me not having a collar to wear and him letting me borrow one of his shirts (he’s 6’2” and I’m 5’9”). I gave the message and Tom presided at the graveside.
After the funeral service many people remarked that this was the first time they’d ever seen a Catholic and a non-Catholic share a funeral service, and all of them expressed their deep appreciation that we would even think of doing such a thing together! Though I’m sure some would question the wisdom of my decision, I’m glad I took the risk. I know Tom and I believe he’s a faithful Christ follower. Many of my racquetball buddies attend that Catholic parish and when they heard the story a new openness and honesty came into our conversations. In fact one of those guys at the club opened up to me just last week about his own spiritual journey and in answering his questions I was able to share the gospel with him.
One of the things I picked up during my seminary experience was the importance of learning how to disagree agreeably with people who held views other than my own. I appreciated the broad spectrum of theologians we were introduced to, many of whom were outside of my own theological and church tradition. If Dr. Hoch were still around I’d share this story with him and I think he would probably put his hand on my shoulder and quote some New Testament passage where Paul stepped out of his comfort zone and people were introduced to the gospel. Then he would quietly pray for me before locking up the bookstore for the evening.
Tim and his wife, Diane, love being grandparents! Tim is the Associate Teaching Pastor at Bella Vista Church, Rockford, Mi, and the Director of Racquetball Programming at Riverview Athletic Center. You can view his sermon notes and listen to his sermons online.
Patrick Kamau, LLPC
Ph.D. student, Western Michigan University
M.A. Counseling, GRTS '04
Patrick Kamau, a GRTS alumnus, and counselor at the International Students & Scholars Services at Western Michigan University, was recently inducted into the Counseling Academic and Professional Honor Society International in recognition of his academic excellence in the Counselor Education and Supervision doctoral program at Western Michigan University. He has been recognized by his professors and classmates for his strong work ethic and tireless commitment to serving others.
Patrick and his wife, Elizabeth Mugi, are from Nairobi, Kenya. Elizabeth is a nursing student at Grand Rapids Community College. She anticipates using her training as a nurse to open a clinic in Kenya for women who are victims of abuse. Patrick plans to seek a tenured position as a professor of counseling after completing his doctorate. He also anticipates returning to Kenya to teach and train in contexts including Christian universities, public universities and local churches.
“The rare mix of a theological degree and a secular degree will fill a great void. My education will grant access to all populations, Christian and secular, and allow me to teach and train from a thoroughly integrated perspective.”
