...questions from abuerer:
1. What did you like best/worst about working for DPS?
BEST: George Hickman was the best of a million great things about working for DPS. He was compassionate toward everyone--giving me foodd, emcouragement when I had to rat on my peers, etc.
WORST: People expected me to give them an exception to the law. I had to rat on my roomate once. I do not know to this day if I did the right thing.
2. Do you find that your friendships at NTS are significantly different than they were at PLNU?
Since Jeff P. is my landlord (I live in the house he bought), I have experienced a difference in matter of relationships. Also, since I have gotten to know more closely people from PLNU who I did not know as well before, I have gotten closer to fellow ministers-to-be unlike I did at PLNU. Thirdly, I have been able to theologize among fellow PLNU-ians upon the classes @ NTS in reflection on common undergrad proffs.
3. Is there anything that you have done since leaving PLNU from which you abstained while you were under their rules?
I went out for a drink in the Tower District in Fresno last May a week or two after graduation. I havn't had another one since (yet I do have a taste for Smirnof Ice).
4. Who have been the most influential people in your life, and why?
A) Carolyn L. French
Besides the fact that she gave me birth, my mom was an instrumental mentor for me in high school and college. To this day I can allways call mom to gripe about stuff about which I do not have anyone else to gripe to. Also, she was very instrumental in my personal formation, i.e., self esteem, my faith, value of family, etc. She gave me the idea to journal my thoughts on paper to help process emotion, ideas, concepts, goals, etc. This practice I still do to thins day.
B) Charles N. Brodhead, III
Charles was my high school youth pastor, to whom I looked as a male figure. Many of the ways that I have learned to relate to people come from my observance of him. He was the person to whom I could talk about family issues at the time immediately after the divorce of my parents. Also, I credit much of my aspirations of devotional practice after him, as it is an important life of the active minister. I strive to model the unconditional love for others as he did for me. Charles also convinced me that if I did not aim for Point Loma as a potential college for me, I may not have ever met Doug Harrison, or even attended seminary in KCMO.
C) J. Doug Harrison
I knew Doug for the shortest period of time of all those most influential to me. He related to me in many ways--musical ability, desire to be a saint, considered singleness as a lifestyle, love for the poor, embracing my second language-Spanish, and near insanity at times :), among others. Yet, most importantly, my knowing Doug (I took 'New Testament', 'Old Testament', and 'Life of Holiness' with him--8 units of classwork), and having him as the RD for the 2002 Urban Term in City Hieghts, I became fond of him as a person. Perhaps Doug's strongest point of influence for me was that he taught me not to run from my personal inadequacies, but to embrace them as vulnerabilities through which I can learn to love others. In this, he taught me to pay attention to my strenghts as the points where I should seek further development.
5. What would you tell me about your seminary experience to prepare me for what I might run into if I were to study there?
Much can be written here. There are definately caring professors here, who invite people over to their houses for Thanksgiving dinner, e-mail you back just to be friendly, yet who are professional enough to expect you to take learning seriously.
NTS is not as conservative as some have portrayed it to be. Like, PLNU, NTS has its conservative professors, and its 'liberal' or 'progressive' professors. NTS even has one female as a full-time staffperson, yet I do believe NTS can and should do a better job at providing better gender relations.
Academically, you should expect to read 1000-1500 pages per 3 unit class. Many professors do not give much mercy on deadlines, yet some will let you negotiate a late turn-in date if you ask ahead of time and give a reasonable excuse.
The concepts that we learned at PLNU are-but-are-not unique to PLNUians. In class I have been able to use new knowledge to better back the theological perspective that influenced me most at PLNU, yet I am driven much farther than to regergitate what I already know. I have realized that much of the stuff that mainline Nazarenes might consider borderline contreverial are actually very close to mainline belief amongst students and facualty. I truely belive that NTS is doing a decent job in provinding me a rounded education.
Also, chapel is still three times per week, yet is optional. NTS chapel is the only place I know of where the preacher and staff still sit on the platform during the entire service! How awkward this seems to me now, even though it was custumary of my home church until the mid-late 1990's. Yet, chapel is nice to attend once or twice per week, but not three times.
Finally, Kansas City itself is a great town--except for the fact that the weather gets a little crazy from time to time. Expect one ice storm per year where icecycles two to four inches long develop on your vehicle, a couple good snows (4-6 inches each), and some severe thunderstorms capable of tornadic activity in the spring and summer. Yet, spring and fall are GORGEOUS! I've been here for nearly a year and have tremendously more to discovor. In comparing the town to a California city, it is slightly larger than the Sacramento area, yet small-towny like Fresno-Clovis.
All right, now it's your turn:
1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions (or in the comments here, if you want).
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
BEST: George Hickman was the best of a million great things about working for DPS. He was compassionate toward everyone--giving me foodd, emcouragement when I had to rat on my peers, etc.
WORST: People expected me to give them an exception to the law. I had to rat on my roomate once. I do not know to this day if I did the right thing.
2. Do you find that your friendships at NTS are significantly different than they were at PLNU?
Since Jeff P. is my landlord (I live in the house he bought), I have experienced a difference in matter of relationships. Also, since I have gotten to know more closely people from PLNU who I did not know as well before, I have gotten closer to fellow ministers-to-be unlike I did at PLNU. Thirdly, I have been able to theologize among fellow PLNU-ians upon the classes @ NTS in reflection on common undergrad proffs.
3. Is there anything that you have done since leaving PLNU from which you abstained while you were under their rules?
I went out for a drink in the Tower District in Fresno last May a week or two after graduation. I havn't had another one since (yet I do have a taste for Smirnof Ice).
4. Who have been the most influential people in your life, and why?
A) Carolyn L. French
Besides the fact that she gave me birth, my mom was an instrumental mentor for me in high school and college. To this day I can allways call mom to gripe about stuff about which I do not have anyone else to gripe to. Also, she was very instrumental in my personal formation, i.e., self esteem, my faith, value of family, etc. She gave me the idea to journal my thoughts on paper to help process emotion, ideas, concepts, goals, etc. This practice I still do to thins day.
B) Charles N. Brodhead, III
Charles was my high school youth pastor, to whom I looked as a male figure. Many of the ways that I have learned to relate to people come from my observance of him. He was the person to whom I could talk about family issues at the time immediately after the divorce of my parents. Also, I credit much of my aspirations of devotional practice after him, as it is an important life of the active minister. I strive to model the unconditional love for others as he did for me. Charles also convinced me that if I did not aim for Point Loma as a potential college for me, I may not have ever met Doug Harrison, or even attended seminary in KCMO.
C) J. Doug Harrison
I knew Doug for the shortest period of time of all those most influential to me. He related to me in many ways--musical ability, desire to be a saint, considered singleness as a lifestyle, love for the poor, embracing my second language-Spanish, and near insanity at times :), among others. Yet, most importantly, my knowing Doug (I took 'New Testament', 'Old Testament', and 'Life of Holiness' with him--8 units of classwork), and having him as the RD for the 2002 Urban Term in City Hieghts, I became fond of him as a person. Perhaps Doug's strongest point of influence for me was that he taught me not to run from my personal inadequacies, but to embrace them as vulnerabilities through which I can learn to love others. In this, he taught me to pay attention to my strenghts as the points where I should seek further development.
5. What would you tell me about your seminary experience to prepare me for what I might run into if I were to study there?
Much can be written here. There are definately caring professors here, who invite people over to their houses for Thanksgiving dinner, e-mail you back just to be friendly, yet who are professional enough to expect you to take learning seriously.
NTS is not as conservative as some have portrayed it to be. Like, PLNU, NTS has its conservative professors, and its 'liberal' or 'progressive' professors. NTS even has one female as a full-time staffperson, yet I do believe NTS can and should do a better job at providing better gender relations.
Academically, you should expect to read 1000-1500 pages per 3 unit class. Many professors do not give much mercy on deadlines, yet some will let you negotiate a late turn-in date if you ask ahead of time and give a reasonable excuse.
The concepts that we learned at PLNU are-but-are-not unique to PLNUians. In class I have been able to use new knowledge to better back the theological perspective that influenced me most at PLNU, yet I am driven much farther than to regergitate what I already know. I have realized that much of the stuff that mainline Nazarenes might consider borderline contreverial are actually very close to mainline belief amongst students and facualty. I truely belive that NTS is doing a decent job in provinding me a rounded education.
Also, chapel is still three times per week, yet is optional. NTS chapel is the only place I know of where the preacher and staff still sit on the platform during the entire service! How awkward this seems to me now, even though it was custumary of my home church until the mid-late 1990's. Yet, chapel is nice to attend once or twice per week, but not three times.
Finally, Kansas City itself is a great town--except for the fact that the weather gets a little crazy from time to time. Expect one ice storm per year where icecycles two to four inches long develop on your vehicle, a couple good snows (4-6 inches each), and some severe thunderstorms capable of tornadic activity in the spring and summer. Yet, spring and fall are GORGEOUS! I've been here for nearly a year and have tremendously more to discovor. In comparing the town to a California city, it is slightly larger than the Sacramento area, yet small-towny like Fresno-Clovis.
All right, now it's your turn:
1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions (or in the comments here, if you want).
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.