Cori Smith writes about the transition from being a globe-trotting missionary to a full-time student at Mars Hill Graduate School and what it means to care for yourself as well as others.

I returned to the States nearly a year ago now after traveling overseas for 11 months. I went to Central America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Southern Africa, and Southeast Asia with about thirty others as part of a missions trip. Now I am nearly finished with my second semester of graduate school, and it is crazy to think of all I’ve experienced since beginning at Mars Hill Graduate School.

I applied, was accepted, and moved up to Seattle in a crazy last minute whirlwind. It was one of those “I’m not really sure where I’m going to live or how this will work but I know I need to go” kind of situations. My initial adjustment of going back to school after both being out of it for two years and after being overseas was difficult, and I questioned my decision pretty seriously for the first month or so. In my previous world I was busy leading youth group meetings for kids in Nicaragua, holding orphans in Swaziland, or befriending women who worked as prostitutes in Thailand. Suddenly I found myself sitting in a classroom, doing homework, and talking about issues that are close to my heart instead of actually doing anything about them.

Continue Reading A New Journey

Matt Allen writes some thoughts on Away We Go, a film prospective students are asked to respond to as part of the MHGS application process.

Newness comes precisely from expressed pain. Suffering made audible and visible produces hope, articulated grief is the gate of newness, and the history of Jesus is the history of entering pain and giving it voice.

-Walter Brueggemann from The Prophetic Imagination

As Verona and Burt lie on a mist-covered trampoline on a starry night in Miami, they reminisce on the country through which they have traveled, a country that has a disappointing hope. Verona and Burt have a deep hope for their daughter growing in Verona’s belly and hope for one another. What is this hope? They want their love to matter.

Continue Reading The Trampoline of Lament

The more I work in the MHGS Bookstore the more I fall in love with the place and the people of Mars Hill Graduate School.

During my first year at MHGS I felt that I was limited in access to the rest of the classes and – while I loved my people in the 1 year – I wanted to interact with those who had gone before and survived. This opportunity came during the summer term of 2010 and I could not have been more excited to stand behind the counter and interact with my fellow students, spouses, community members, faculty, and staff. In the two months of summer term I saw faces and met people that I might never have seen otherwise.

Now into my second year I can still rejoice because I have the opportunity to interact with the new first year class; what a pleasure it has been for me to see more new faces and hear more stories of how they’ve been affected by the class material and the MHGS culture at large! To be able to look into the face of a first year and know that to them, I am the one who has gone before and I, too, have survived makes this job a joy for me. To hear the stories of everyone who walks into this space and to provide an ear to bend makes me feel as though I have a purpose besides simply hawking the MHGS Bookstore wares, and also that people find peace in the midst of the four walls that create this space inside of a space has been reaffirming for me in this position.

To feel as though I play a integral role in the story of MHGS – this is what drives me as a MHGS Bookstore associate. Come on in and feel free to share how you’re day has been.

Courtney Warren is a second year MACS who hails from Magnolia, Texas (go Bulldogs!). She rode into town in a rented KIA minivan over a year ago and has enjoyed every moment of her life in the Pacific Northwest, but especially loves the changing of leaves in the fall. you can follow her random musings on her blog here or feel free to stalk her on Twitter @_courtneyann_.

MHGS MDiv alumnus Kj Swanson speaks to the risks both confrontative and transformative inherent in watching films though the lens of an MHGS education.

Finding myself with a rare night free, I headed to the movie theater.  It was an early Monday evening, and I was seeing a small independent film. Nonetheless, I was surprised to find myself the only person in the stadium-seating theater.  I’m not known as a passive film-viewer in any context, but sitting in that huge, dark space—one tiny human swimming in a sea of screen—I found myself more receptive than usual.

Aaron Schneider’s film “Get Low,” stars Robert Duvall as a guilt-ridden recluse who takes more than a few risks in deciding to throw a funeral party for himself before he actually dies.  It’s a story about regret, about hiding, but also about taking a risk to trust others.   As I watched, the empty theater began to feel over-crowded by the people in my life the film was inviting into the room.  While I listened to the voices of the broken relationships that came to sit beside me, I also heard a phrase repeating in my mind: “This is such an MHGS movie.”

Continue Reading MHGS Movies: Don’t Sit Back, Don’t Relax

On Monday, November 11th, students gathered for an informal Q&A to meet Dr. J. Derek McNeil, MHGS’s incoming Dean of Academics.

McNeil shares a common story with many MHGS students: he had a comfortable life in Chicago, tenure at an esteemed school, and a community where he belonged. But the call for Derek to join MHGS was too great and as more and more opportunities to shape the future of our school arose, he could no longer resist it.

Jonnali Mayberry, a 3rd year MACP student, shares her perspective for the multicultural implications of Derek joining our faculty:

“The first question was directed at Dr. McNeil’s black race and the predominant race of students at our school: white. I’ll add here that it is in fact Derek’s black skin that is a (for me) reason his upcoming regular presence is welcome news.

Continue Reading Meet the New Dean!

This Fall, as part of an ongoing effort toward developing intercultural competency and promoting ethnic and racial reconciliation within the MHGS Community and beyond, MHGS introduced its first Intercultural Competency Scholarship.  The scholarship was developed as a way to invite and recognize the leadership, participation, and voice of MHGS students from traditionally underrepresented race and ethnic populations.

In the following essay, inaugural MHGS Intercultural Competency Scholarship recipient Richard Kim, reflects on and critiques the contemporary immigration debate.  Kim invites our participation as individuals in the midst of a diverse community, to strive for greater equity in “the interplay of Text, Soul and most of all, Culture.”

“I ask myself, ‘Why in 2010 is an institution like MHGS compelled to offer an Intercultural Competency Scholarship?’ As an institution, there is a fundamental responsibility to ensure a just an equitable learning environment for all. As we have grown to better understand justice and equity and the interplay of Text, Soul and most of all Culture there has been a recognition that much work still needs to be done. The complexity and nuance needed to engage these issues are still being worked out; not in isolation, but in community.”

Continue Reading Great Expectations: An Invitation to Engage the New America

I stepped through the doors of our big red building at the corner of Elliott and Wall last week, and the student lounge was already buzzing with lively students, old and new. I thought, yes, this is a good thing. Starting my second year, I walked into the building with excitement and anticipation; a year ago I walked through those same doors, also filled with excitement and anticipation. However, this year’s version of emotion was also interwoven with something else: the feeling of comfort that comes from entering a known place.

Continue Reading Stepping Into My Second Year

With classes out for summer break,things have been a bit slow at MHGS. So the staff took the opportunity to have a little Wii tennis tournament in the large classroom!

We had a bracketing system going, but it didn’t take much for us to see that Dr. Keith Anderson was dominating the game. He cleared out every player that came against him!

Continue Reading Keith Anderson – MHGS President and Wii Tennis Champion

After having lived and volunteered in rural Cameroon, Africa with my husband Baine for 7 months in 2005/2006, I’ve had the enormous privilege of returning each year to follow up on the work I started. A primary reason that I return is to evaluate and provide ongoing training and support for the programs (i.e., after-school programs, women’s literacy classes, widows’ support groups) that I helped BERUDEP start in 2005/2006. The deeper reason I return each year, however, is to see and connect with the very real, human faces that both contribute to and benefit from my work there.

Continue Reading Global Change Begins with a Face

One of the more revealing questions to ask people these days is, “What’s on your iPod?” It’s a question which, while indicative of the times, also gives us a window into one of the most important (and intimate) devices in our lives. And it’s a question that can be an instant conversation starter (or a great pickup line, depending upon your motive!).

My answer to the query? A mixture of (legally) downloaded Dave Matthews concerts, and a litany of podcasts covering sports, art, politics, and culture. And while I’ll save an explanation for my undying devotion to DMB for another time, I’ll simply say that finding the “right” podcast – one that captures my interest and has something insightful to say about our world – is like discovering a sweet surprise. So when I became frustrated by the selection of podcasts in the “religious/spiritual” category in iTunes, I entertained fleeting thoughts about starting my own.

Continue Reading The Other Journal Podcast