When I first heard about the Semester at Seminary program my freshman year at Transylvania, I knew that it was an experience I could not turn down. My senior year at high school the thing I looked forward to most about college was finally being able to take Religion classes and begin studying something that truly interested and inspired me. Unfortunately, little things called General Education Requirements got in the way of that. The idea of spending an entire semester taking Religion classes and being surrounded by people who were like-minded and focused on ministry kept growing in appeal as my first two years of college went by.

While at Lexington Theological Seminary the Fall semester of my Junior year, all of my expectations for the experience were far exceeded. I had the opportunity to take four classes that broadened my understanding of faith and religion in a multitude of ways. I finally got to immerse myself in religious education, taking Introduction to Theology, Basic Preaching, The Life and Thoughts of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Designing Worship. I learned things I never imagined, improved my ministerial skills and refined my theology. As I result, I feel more confident in my beliefs and understandings of my faith and so am better able to share it with others.

Even more beneficial and shaping then the classes was the community I got to become a part of for four months. Lexington Theological Seminary is a small, close group of professors, staff, and students who are all very dedicated to their faith. I got the privilege of learning as much from the other students as the professors who taught the classes. I was able to participate at various levels in several weekly chapel services and enjoyed meal fellowship with the other students every Tuesday after worshipping with them. My fondest memory of those fellowship times was when a class discussion about the connection between Baptism and Communion was continued at that week’s lunch and soon a conversation with my professor and another classmate turned into a full-fledged debate between a whole group of students and staff. This out-of-class discussion included many more points of views and understandings about a very important sacrament within our faith and expanded my own opinions while giving me a chance to defend and explain my own point of view to people who had truly become my peers.

My semester at seminary was a very meaningful experience that has only whetted my appetite for when I get a chance to become a full-time graduate student of religion and faith. Those four months at LTS strengthened my feeling of call and equipped me with words and ideas to better articulate my own understanding of God and Christianity. I can not wait to see how three years in a similar environment further enables me to minister to God’s people.