Bill Smith
Pastor
Lily of the Valley A.M.E. Church, Apple Valley, Minn.
"My best gift is in telling the biblical story and in motivating people through preaching," said Bill Smith, a first-year student in the Doctor of Ministry program in Biblical Preaching, who received his Master of Divinity degree from Luther. "So when I saw they had a biblical preaching doctorate I thought this would be my chance to see what that path was like," he said.
Smith, who works full time as district supervisor for building inspections for the City of Minneapolis, also serves as pastor at the 34-member Lily of the Valley A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) Church in Apple Valley, Minn. The church holds services in a Lutheran Church that also shares its building with a Hispanic United Pentecostal Church.
Smith plans to complete his degree and work as a full-time pastor when he retires from his municipal job in a few years. He believes his doctorate will increase his credibility and job opportunities. "The other place I think it will make a big difference is in talking to people of different denominations, which I think is going to give a stronger credibility to my idea of collaboration."
Smith believes collaboration and diversity are important for churches. "I”m really anxious to establish a multi-cultural church and I”m anxious to do collaborative work between churches," he said. "So, we”re in the perfect setting there with a Hispanic church and a Lutheran church all meeting in the same place."
Smith especially enjoys the diversity of backgrounds in his cohort—the group of students with whom he is progressing through the D.Min. program. "It”s really been interesting," he said, describing the broad range of people from Alaska to upstate New York.
Smith hopes to focus his thesis on his passions for biblical preaching and multi-culturalism. "What I”m hoping to do is demonstrate in my thesis that denominational, cultural and ethnic barriers can be overcome if biblical preaching is at the forefront of the ministry," he said.
Smith has already inspired four other A.M.E. preachers to attend Luther Seminary”s M.Div. program. He also would recommend the D.Min. program to someone considering it. "They should give it a shot because it really does give you back a dividend on whatever you bring to the table," he said.
According to Smith, it”s ultimately the Christology of Luther Seminary that sets the school apart. "They have a very high regard for and extensive teaching on Christology and that makes a big difference in how you”re able to do ministry," he said. "Not all seminaries have that focus or reputation. Since Christ is the focus of the gospel, what better foundation could you have?"
Dixie Anders
Pastor
Light Memorial Presbyterian Church, Sidney, Neb.
"The sermon on Sunday morning is the one opportunity a pastor has to speak theologically to all the members of the congregation," said Dixie Voss Anders, describing what inspired her to pursue her Doctor of Ministry in Biblical Preaching. "Because it is the only opportunity that you have to speak to everyone, those 20 minutes need to be the best 20 minutes that you can give your congregation every week. My personal goal is to be the best preacher I can," said Anders, who completed her first D.Min. class on campus in June 2008.
Anders began a new position as pastor at Light Memorial Presbyterian Church in Sidney, Neb., on Feb. 1, 2009. She left the small, 42-member congregation of First Presbyterian Church of Craig & Klawock in Craig, Alaska, located on an island four hours from the nearest airport. Anders found the Luther Seminary D.Min. program, with just one annual on-campus three-week session required, especially appealing, both logistically and economically. "The ability to do so much within the context of my congregation was important too, because a big part of how you preach is based on where you”re preaching," she said. In Alaska, Anders served a population that was 75 percent Indigenous peoples.
During her first class, the faculty impressed Anders. "I was thrilled with the quality that I”ve been exposed to thus far. They”re all very knowledgeable and excited about their particular field," said Anders. "I think hearing a professor who”s excited about what they”re doing and what they”re exploring helps you get excited and also frees you to try things that you wouldn’t have tried before."
One faculty member, Assistant Professor of Preaching Karoline Lewis, has already helped Anders identify appropriate sermon illustrations to use in a congregation in which she is a minority. "The reading we did and conversations with her have really helped me think differently about how I use illustrations, how I look at the text through the eyes of someone who is not culturally just like me. And that”s been important for me here," said Anders.
Anders also finds that being part of a diverse cohort—a group of students with whom she pursues her degree—is also valuable in serving a diverse congregation. "It makes me a stronger preacher because I talk to people whose viewpoints are different than my own," she said. "It makes me really work at defining and being able to support my argument theologically." She is also looking forward to the opportunities she”ll have to explore the texts with students outside her cohort when she takes elective classes.
Anders hopes that others can benefit from the D.Min. program. "I really hope that this program becomes a blessing to many pastors” lives because I think it really has the potential to do so," she said.
James Brown
Groups Pastor
Crossroads Community Church, Cottage Grove, Minn.
In his first year of study for the Doctor of Ministry in Biblical Preaching, James Brown has been pleased by the variety of backgrounds among the students. Brown serves as groups pastor at Crossroads Community Church, an Evangelical Covenant Church in Cottage Grove, Minn. He hopes ultimately to use his degree to teach.
"To hear how one of the students is trying to find creative ways to minister to indigenous groups in Alaska all the way to how a Caucasian preacher assimilates into a black congregation brings out things that you would never even think about. It teaches you how to problem solve and how to communicate effectively and creatively in your context," said Brown.
The students built strong relationships with each other during their three-week intensive session on campus, said Brown. They are all part of a cohort—a group of students that progress through their classes together as they pursue their degrees. "We just spent so much time together—every single day. By the end of the first or second week we were talking about everything," he explained. "Now that we”re back, communication and our correspondence via e-mail continue."
Brown learned a lot during those three weeks from listening to the other students” sermons and from receiving their feedback about his. "The immediate feedback is priceless," he said. "It's open, it's raw and it's constructive."
As a non-Lutheran, Brown has been pleased to see how open his classmates and professors have been to teaching him the nuances of the Lutheran Church. "They were more than willing to bring me up to speed—and even excited that someone had questions about why they did what they did," he said.
Brown was impressed that the professors anticipated the students' apprehensions about starting classes and trusting themselves and their capabilities. "They were great in anticipating some of our fears—a lot of our fears—and helping us push past them."
It surprised Brown that classes were more of a peer-to-peer teaching environment than a traditional lecture-based one. "The humility of the professors to sit down among us un-qualified, un-degreed individuals speaks volumes about their openness and their humility," he said.
Brown chose to attend Luther Seminary because he wanted to concentrate his education on preaching and the other programs he looked at didn’t offer that emphasis. He would recommend the program to others interested in improving their preaching. "The program is structured to help make you a better preacher," he said. "If that”s what you want to become, this is the program for you."