Kairos Issue #183

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kairoj kairos A Weekly Newspaper" Orientation Week Events Check out the activities we have to orient you to Austin, seminary, and community life. Page 2

Issue No. 183, Fall 2009 Summer SPM News from students who spent their summer working at churches full-time. Page 4

Summer CPE

Invite to Write

Announcements

News from students who spent the summer inside hospitals learning pastoral care.

Kairos wants to be the voice of the community. In order to do that - we need voices! See what Kairos has in store for the year.

Check out some ongoing activities to get involved in.

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on a Wilderness and Spirituality Adventure or to Egypt and Israel/Palestine. Who knew Cindy Rigby’s Theology class would be a breath of fresh air confirming and sometimes challenging my thoughts. Who knew learning Greek and Hebrew would allow me to dive into the text letting the text speak to me.

Welcome Hi! My name is Mary Elizabeth Prentice and I am a senior and the editor of Kairos, the newspaper of the community. I look forward to providing space for students to share their opinions, read reflections from students, and be a part of the community. Welcome to APTS.

Seminary for me has been a chance to open many doors and explore the potential for ministry in many facets of life. I hope that you too can find seminary a great set of opportunities.

Transitions Each new school year brings with it transitions. For some this might be a natural transition, a fulfillment of a long heard calling. For others, like myself, I fought my call for a long time and finally transitioned into accepting working for the church was where my true joy and happiness lay. Still transitions can be difficult. Moving from a four bedroom house to a much smaller three bedroom house or dorm room is a shock to the system and it will take awhile to get use to the change. Thankfully you are surrounded by the community

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Summer Travels News from students who traveled and completed directed study programs. Page 5

The 2008 Adventures in Wilderness and Spirituality group having completed the backpacking portion of the adventure.

of Austin Seminary. We are here for you and want you to succeed.

Opportunity The best part of seminary for me has been the opportunities. Who knew seminary would take me

Friendships The seminary community is a unique place and making friends will help you get through classes and establish life-long companions in the ministry. This is a community where help lies next door or just a phone call away. Speaking from the experience of having shoulder surgery and being unable to feed much less dress myself - this community surrounded me with help, love and friendship. I wish the very same to you.

Welcome to your new Home!

© 2009 Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

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ISSUE 183

W W W . A U S T I N S E M I N A R Y. T Y P E P A D . P O R T A L / K A I R O S . H T M L

Getting to Know Austin, Texas Come join the seminary community in these orientation week activities. All are welcome!

Wednesday,

September 2, 2009 Who: You! Your family, kids, staff, faculty, in general the community! What: Free Ice Cream! When: 6:30 p.m. Why: It is a great way to meet and greet new students and catch up with old friends!

Thursday, September 3, 2009 Experience Austin in the manner you choose. Sign up at the McCord center for one of these activities. Please note that these activities are “dutch treat.” Activities begin at 7:30 p.m. Meet at McCord and we will go together.

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Who: You! Your family, kids, staff, faculty, in general the community. What: A Welcome Pizza Potluck Smorgasboard When: 5:30 p.m. Why: For food and fellowship

JP Java’s: 2308 San Jacinto This locally owned coffee shop is within walking distance of the seminary. They have an excellent selection of coffees & deserts.

Where: On the lawn between the chapel and Bat Viewing at Congress library or inside McCord if it Avenue Bridge: 305 S. Congress is raining. The CAB is home to 2 million How: Bring your appetite and the seminary provides the rest!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Where: Stotts Dining Hall How: Bake a pizza, buy a pizza, build a pizza, then bring it to share with the community. (You would be surprised at the number of pizza places within a mile radius of campus!) Salad, Dessert and Drinks will be provided. All are welcome!

Mexican freetail bats and is free. Park at the Austin American Statesman and watch the bats take flight.

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ISSUE 183

W W W . A U S T I N S E M I N A R Y. T Y P E P A D . P O R T A L / K A I R O S . H T M L

For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ . . . APTS promotes and engages in critical theological thought and research; and strives to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.

— Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary Mission Statement

Fall Convocation

Worship

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

11:00 a.m.

7:00 p.m.

Shelton Chapel

Shelton Chapel

Faculty Address by

Preaching

Rev. Dr. Allan Cole

Rev. Dr. Ted Wardlaw

Entering students - please stay in the

Worship, Sacrament of the Lord s Supper,

Chapel following convocation in order to

receive instructions for the signing of The Declaration of Intent during the evening worship service.

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Signing of The Declaration of Intent

Reception following the service at Vickery Atrium of McCord Center

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Understanding the Alphabet Soup of Seminary Mo Ranch SPM: Scorpions & Spirituality John Leedy is a middler-senior MDiv student and Inquirer for Minster of Word and Sacrament under care of Palo Duro Presbytery. He and his wife Krystal lived and worked at Mo Ranch Conference Center in Hunt, Texas, for the summer. After my first few weeks as the SPM Intern at Mo Ranch Presbyterian Assembly this summer, I found that introducing myself was becoming more and more complex. I started off the summer with a simple “Hi, I’m John the Chaplaincy Intern.” However, the end of my experience, I found myself saying “Hello, my name is John Leedy. This summer I am serving Mo Ranch as the ‘Seminary SPM Summer Camp Staff Coordinating Chaplaincy Resident Assistant House Dad for the Development of Intentional Community Bible Curriculum Advisement of Worship Leadership and Chief of Kayak Shuttlement.’” Whew. ! Of the many great joys and challenges of the Supervised Practice of Ministry program at APTS are the opportunities to traverse new fields of ministry, engage the mountains and valleys of life in a worshipping community, and swim in the previously untested waters of pastoral identity. In my case, my internship actually included fields, mountains, rivers, and yes, scorpions in my bathroom. Nestled along the banks of the Guadalupe River in the Hill Country of Texas, Mo Ranch offers seminary students the opportunity to apply the foundations of their classroom education in a variety of unique ways. ! ! Among my various job responsibilities this summer, I served as the Summer Camp Chaplain, providing Bible study curriculum training and pastoral care to college-aged camp counselors. I also worked with forming intentional community among the summer staff residents at the Caleb Fletcher House on the ranch.

participate as a rock-climbing guide and go camping in the wilderness with first time campers. ! ! All of these responsibilities contributed to an experience that provided new challenges, personal spiritual development, exploration of my pastoral identity, and unique opportunities for Sabbath. This internship has deeply influenced my theological education and is one of greatest facets of my seminary experience.

Shane Webb completing a SPM Shane Webb is a Senior, MDiv student and an Inquirer for Minister of Word and Sacrament under care of New Covenant Presbytery. Shane spent his summer working at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Houston, doing Supervised Practice of Ministry When I signed up for my internship, I honestly did not know what I was getting myself into, which I am sure is the case for most people. I never thought I would be faced with having a woman pass out in the middle of my sermon and have to figure out how to respond on the spot. I also had the opportunity to do some over-the-phone pastoral care to a random young lady who had called the church wondering why God had not answered her prayers for healing and why she was continuing to suffer. Then, I led a short service of healing in a hospital that included anointing a woman with oil. I was given the opportunity to preach, teach Sunday school, attend countless meetings, plan worship, make hospital visits, help with mission projects and much more. One of my learning objectives was to try to implement some aspects of a multicultural church, which was achieved by both going to the Big Tent gathering in Atlanta and meeting with the head of the “Multicultural Café”. To say the least, my summer SPM at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church of Houston gave me a wide variety of experiences including a few curve balls. Overall, I had a great experience working as a minister in training. It was an excellent opportunity to put many of the things I have learned from seminary into practice. I was extremely thankful for this chance to work side by side with some excellent mentors.

! I also had the opportunity to teach “Presbyterian 101” introduction classes to all the conference and small group leadership as part of their training. I was also able to !

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Understanding the Alphabet Soup of Seminary Cont. Gold, Grizzly Bears & Grand Expectations

Matt Falco is a Senior MDiv student and a Candidate for Minister of the Word and Sacrament in Huntington Presbytery of Pennsylvania . He spent a month in the Yukon Territory on a self-directed study. The Yukon Territory is north of British Columbia and borders the Alaskan Mountain Range. It is a place that grips the imagination and for me became a place of transformation. I was fortunate to spend one month with National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) on an Outdoor Educator course. In the course of a month we backpacked the Coast Range and canoed the McNeil and Nisutlin Rivers. We spent time learning from our three instructors about expedition travel and teaching each other about how to be effective group leaders. The NOLS student mixture was of eight Canadian, six American, and one German each with a broad range of skill sets including a flight paramedic, a writer, a teacher, and a camp director. Cold nights with little darkness, dramatic tundra vistas, and whitewater rapids provided an incredible backdrop to the storytelling and story making that developed on this exploratory route that had previously been undone in any local's memory. Traveling the unknown added uncertainty that made for an epic experience. Would we find water that we could canoe on? Would the rapids be too large or even too small for us to run? Would we make it to our pick up on the exit date?

Clinical Pastoral Education

Laurel Dixon is a Middler MDiv Student and under care of a Nondenominal church here in Austin, Texas. She spent her summer in the depths of many hospitals doing Clinical Pastoral Education. I recently came across a word I have never seen before. The word, susurrus (pronounced soo-sur-uhs), means a soft murmuring, rustling sound, or whisper. The imprint of one’s summertime hospital internship story, also known as CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education), is unique and indelible on one’s ministerial path in the life-altering way that only God could susurringly do. It’s the same rustling of God that confirms that life will never quite be the same again because of the experience attained. Toward the end of CPE, a fellow intern and I joked that the day we graduated from CPE was the day we meet Jesus, the Eschaton itself. This same friend even went so far to call the CPE experience, Priest Boot Camp. Although arduous, for me the blessed triumphs far out weighed those moments of despair. I discovered new capabilities within myself through CPE. I learned what it meant to inhibit a growing sense of pastoral identity and authority. I learned how the pastoral role could fit as a team player with interdisciplinary hospital and medical support staffs. I learned how to minister one-on-one with people with different demographics and of different religions; and to those in crisis; and in those breathtaking moments of honor, whether that was being with a woman that delivered her baby unexpectedly on the way to the hospital, or grandchildren telling their grandmother, recently taken off life support, detailed stories of how she enriched each of their lives in love.

No, I won't have to ask these questions in the church setting, but the pressures are no less and knowing how to respond and work together in those situations is vital to the journey that we covenant upon entering church work. NOLS instructors work hard to provide a holistic skill set that is as effective in the backcountry as at home and work. I look forward to sharing CPE also meant dealing with vulnerability head-on. It was more about my experience in the future and also to the return of through becoming aware of my blind sides that I was able to the luxury of sleeping in my own bed and being only a few take this newly bred honesty and allow an emerging steps from a warm bathroom. relationship to form in acceptance of myself, and how I can better relate to others. Finally, CPE gave way to God’s susuration to trust for a future and a hope.

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ISSUE 183

INVITE

W W W . A U S T I N S E M I N A R Y. T Y P E P A D . P O R T A L / K A I R O S . H T M L

TO

Lunch with the President

WRITE!

It is my goal to invite every student, including special students, to write for Kairos throughout the year. I am currently working on a method to invite students to write.

President Ted Wardlaw would like to have lunch with students once a month throughout this academic year.! There is no agenda for these lunch visits, no preparation is needed, and no quizzes will be given." The intent is getting to know us and spending a little fun and informal time with us. """Listed below are the dates for Lunch with the President. Sign up at the McCord Desk and you will receive an email from Nancy Reese, Ted’s assistant, to remind you of your commitment." Join Ted in the Knox Dining Room at noon with a BYOL (Bring Your Own Lunch) and have a chance to get to know President Ted and to voice your joys and your concerns as students of Austin Seminary. Sign up now!

The invitation will be extended on Friday and you will have 12 days to respond. Articles are due Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. Write an essay on whatever the Spirit leads you to write about. I would love to have repeat contributors, but understand that writing a weekly column is a daunting commitment, so I want people to know that writing once is great! I will begin to invite Juniors to write after Fall Break, so that you all can get into the swing of the community and not feel overwhelmed.

Dates of Lunch with the President ! ! ! ! !

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September 22! ! October 13! ! November 11! ! December 16! ! ! ! !

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January 20 February 24 March 24 April 20 May 11

SHARE YOUR SUMMER ADVENTURES! Do you have pictures? Random Stories? Fun adventures? from your summer away from school or at Greek Camp? Please send pictures, short stories or artwork in digital form to [email protected]

Volunteer Opportunity A volunteer is needed to work 2-3 hours a month updating a new web site for the Jeremiah Project. The launch date for the web site is midSeptember. Austin Seminary graduate Linda Reinhart (MDiv'96), started Jeremiah Project to build a community of faith for those living in isolation due to chronic illness caused by environmental toxins. Call Linda at 830-935-4618 and leave a message if you are interested in helping.

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Getting to know the Cabinet Austin Seminary has an administrative Cabinet that seeks to better the seminary community in every way possible. Over the course of the fall semester, Kairos will feature interviews of the cabinet members to introduce them to the community on a more personal basis. If you have questions you want to know from Cabinet members email Kairos: [email protected]. Look for the following people to be interviewed! Rev. Dr. Ted Wardlaw, President Rev. Dr. Michael Jinkins, Academic Dean Rev. Jackie Saxon, Vice President of Student Affairs and Vocation Rev. Dr. Jack Barden, Vice President of Admissions Donna Scott, Vice President for Institutional Advancement Kurt Gabbard, Vice President for Business Affairs

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ISSUE 183

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Announcements Advice from classmates

Coolest place to be on Wednesday at

Surrender to your classes become a learner, a beginner. Trust your professors. Trust your call. Be completely open to change, growth and love for learning. Don’t take everything sooooooo seriously.

11 a.m.

Manna Please note exposure to cookies, mu!ns, brownies, fruit and co"ee are inevitable.

Winsome Walkers Who: Winsome Students, Sta" & Faculty What: Walking When: Tuesday & Thursday 12:15 p.m. Why: Hang out and exercise. Where: Meet at McCord for a 30-40 min walk!

This is a big, vibrant

community. Every detail will not be about you.

Think about the

“other” first.

Breathe. Enjoy Austin, the campus, your friends and family. Breathe. Take care of your bodies.

Babysitting for Signing of the Declaration of Intent All Juniors are requested to be at Worship, The Lord’s Supper and the Signing of the Declaration of Intent,

The

mind works hard. Make sure you

Tuesday, September 8. If you need child care contact:

Kilts and suits not recommended or required.

rest, play, eat (moderately!) and Melanie Lange, Intentional Community Representative: LOVE your whole person. [email protected]

Learn or re-cultivate the fine art of napping.

Take these words to heart: “Good enough is Good enough!”

Work

does not have to be perfect; research does not need to be exhaustive.

Recycling Batteries are recycled in Dr. David Jones’ O!ce (O!ce of the Doctors of Ministry Program - Near Cokesbury.)

Clothes Closet The seminary has a closet in Currie dorm. If you want to go “shopping” go to the McCord desk and ask for a key. Please leave it as neatly as you find it.

Can, Paper & Plastic bins are outside McMillian classrooms and in Stotts dining hall. Bins for housing are located in central locations.

Eat at potlucks

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