Balancing Life and Spirit’s Call

Two years ago, God’s Spirit birthed an idea in me while I sat in a Board of Trustees planning meeting. The focus was on how students can stay engaged in their communities while also pursuing their theological education. As I contemplated this reality, which is a pressing one for many students who now seek a degree while also serving congregations, I took a moment to pray. Eyes closed and head bowed, a question confronted me: “How will you support a seminarian to live and lead in this way?” A few months later, Scott Ostlund—Garrett’s Vice President of Enrollment—echoed this theme in a report to the Board: “Garrett is well-situated, especially in light of our proposed strategic plan, to support learners who are multi-vocational, balancing a variety of life complexities while pursuing theological education.“

The Spirit’s intrusion into each of these moments led me to speak with President Javier Viera and Vice President of Development Joe Emmick about how to best address this need. There guidance led to the creation of the Zimmerman Multi-Vocational Leadership Fellows. The purpose of this fellowship is to attract, retain, and support students, especially seminarians of color, and prepare them for multi-vocational work. In particular, the program seeks to nurture spiritual formation, mutual support, and leadership skills. I was moved by how the seminary worked with me to chart a course to make this dream a reality. I made a cash gift to initiate the creation of the Fellows, a five-year pledge to the principle, and a planned gift. Moreover, I am committed to making additional annual gifts to cover the administrative and program costs, as long as I am living. I cannot do everything, but I can respond to the Spirit’s leading and the seminary’s commitment to enhance the spiritual and professional growth of bi-vocational students as they seek to fulfill God’s call on their lives.

At the same time, I was intrigued to hear about the creation of Story Circles that will form students in vocational identity and call, guide their personal and spiritual growth, and help them better understand cultural context for religious and public leadership. This was clearly a further movement of the Spirit that paralleled the vision for the Fellows.

This year, Dean of Students Thehil Russelliah Singh and Associate Professor Hendrik Pieterse used the story circle format with the Zimmerman Fellows, and found it to powerfully knit the Fellows together while also spurring their own development. At the group’s invitation, I was privileged to sit in on one of their sessions. It was an honor to be included and to experience the blessed setting that the students and facilitators had co-created. After a long period of gestation, it was a gift to see in the students’ faces the promise of this program made palpably real—I could hear its impact in their voices.

The students I met are Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) African American pastors working in other jobs to support themselves and their families. I listened carefully as one of the students shared his “Rule of Life.” He described his belief and spiritual formation practices and explained at length his experience in ministry and study, as well as his family situation and the difficulty of maintaining work-life balance. Despite these challenges, what overwhelmingly filled his voice was the gratitude of finding space to follow his call.

It is hard for me to describe adequately my joy at seeing this two-year-old dream find concrete expression in that conversation. The spiritual formation, mutual support, and leadership skills nurtured among these students was evident. Equally, my heart was touched by these leaders who are responding to God’s call and seeking to find their way while also honoring the demands of congregation, workplace, and family. It was a blessing to offer a prayer for them as the session closed, and I look forward to offering them further affirmation and encouragement. May we birth God’s will together.