Student achievement honored
at 2012 Closing Convocation

President Jay Rundell presents graduating senior Meredith McDougle with the C. Everett and Mary Milburn Tilson Social Justice Grant

Methodist Theological School in Ohio celebrated student achievement in scholarship, leadership and service at the school’s Closing Convocation and Awards Ceremony May 8.

The following students were recognized for earning scholarships for the 2012-13 academic year.

The John W. and Mary Alford Family Awards are presented to students who distinguish themselves through academics, promise for pastoral ministry, ability to articulate the Christian faith, and potential for preaching. Recipients: Deborah Caulk, Kyle Cunningham, Seth Evans, Byunghee Lee and Randy May.

The Zook Family Awards for Competence in Parish Ministry are presented to continuing students on the basis of promise, ability, gifts and graces for strong Christian ministry. Recipients: Caleb Pitkin and Laura White.

The Werner Merit Awards are presented to returning students who demonstrate excellence in theological studies, demonstrated in part by achieving a grade point average of 3.5 or higher. Recipients: Christopher Austin, Casey Cook, Gregory Kendrick, Rina Shere, Jennifer Stockwell and Grace Welch.

The following students received awards for individual achievement.

The Nystrand Award in Homiletics honors the Reverend Doctor Philip O. Nystrand and encourages excellent preaching. It is given to a rising senior in the Master of Divinity program who demonstrates promise in homiletics. Recipient: Robert Miller.

The Gindlesperger Bible Award recognizes a graduate who has demonstrated competence in biblical studies and who is humble, diligent and anxious to learn and grow in grace. Recipient: Alissa Pummell.

The Ronald L. Williams Book Prize in Theology and Ethics honors the memory of MTSO Professor Ronald L. Williams. It is awarded to a student with extraordinary potential in theological and ethical studies and reflection. Recipient: Megan Coggins.

The Matey Janata Freedwomen Award honors the memory of Matey Janata, a trustee and 1976 graduate of MTSO who distinguished herself through her work within the church and the broader community. It is awarded to a graduating senior who has submitted a paper that deals with women’s issues in a significant way. Recipient: Alissa Pummell.

The Chalice Press Book Award honors an outstanding graduate whose potential for service in Christ’s church is exceptionally high. Recipient: Dina Andrews.

The Hoyt Hickman Award recognizes a graduating student who has given evidence of high-quality scholarship in the study of liturgy and who is an effective leader of Christian worship. Recipient: Kristen Wall-Love.

The Charles A. Dice Fellowship encourages and assists exceptional students in continuing their theological education beyond the Master of Divinity at another institution of recognized excellence. Selection is based on academic excellence, personal character, professional competence, and promise of usefulness in Christian ministry or the teaching profession. Recipients: Christina Fetherolf and Tracy Temple.

The Pastoral Counseling Service and Achievement Award is presented to Master of Arts in Counseling Ministries seniors who embody the quest for excellence in professional counseling development. The recipients also demonstrate significant involvement in community service, while maintaining high standards of academic achievement. Recipients: Jonathan Cosner and Petina Lott.

The Interpretation Journal Awards are presented to five graduates who are identified by faculty as having distinguished themselves in biblical and theological studies and who intend to pursue careers in parish ministry. Recipients: Christina Fetherolf, Katherine Dickson, Allison Lynn-Mowery, Tracy Temple and David Kling.

The Bishop Judith Craig Prize in Christian Education honors Bishop Craig, whose ministry began as a Christian educator. It recognizes academic excellence; a solid record of service in the local church in a field placement; positive contributions to campus life, the district or the conference; and potential for significance in professional ministry. Recipient: Jenna Link.

The Fellowship Seminarian Award recognizes a graduating senior who displays outstanding leadership in music or worship arts, including but not limited to dance, drama, fabric art and liturgical writing. Recipient: Terry Williams.

The C. Everett and Mary Milburn Tilson Social Justice Grant honors the lives and legacies of C. Everett and Mary Milburn Tilson. This award honors the Tilsons’ lifelong devotion social justice, most notably in the civil rights movement. The grant is given to a graduating senior who has demonstrated, both in practice and profession, a commitment to a prophetic vocation of compassionate justice. Recipient: Meredith McDougle.

The Servant Leader Award recognizes a graduating senior who has given exceptional and sacrificial service to MTSO, and has inspired others to do the same. The award consists of a water basin and a towel, evoking Jesus’ washing of his disciples’ feet. Recipient: Brian West.

Candid photos from Closing Convocation are displayed on MTSO’s Picasaweb page.

Methodist Theological School in Ohio prepares leaders of many faith traditions for lives of significance in service to the church and the world. The school offers master’s degrees in divinity, counseling ministries, theological studies and practical theology, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree. For more information, visit www.mtso.edu.

CONTACT:
Danny Russell, director of communications
drussell@mtso.edu, 740-362-3322

Back to news archive

Numrich recognized as full professor by MTSO and TLS

The May 10 event will be highlighted by his faculty lecture.

Methodist Theological School in Ohio and Trinity Lutheran Seminary will recognize the promotion of Dr. Paul Numrich to full professor at 11:30 a.m. May 10 in the Alford Centrum on the campus of MTSO. As part of the event, Numrich will present a faculty lecture titled “Christian Sensitivity in Interreligious Relations.”

Numrich serves under joint appointment on both seminaries’ faculties. He is Professor in the Snowden Chair for the Study of Religion and Interreligious Relations at MTSO and Professor of World Religions and Interreligious Relations at TLS. He holds a Ph.D. in comparative religion from Northwestern University, an M.Div. from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and a B.A. from Aurora College.

Among Numrich’s publications is the book The Faith Next Door: American Christians and Their New Religious Neighbors, published by Oxford University Press in 2009.

Methodist Theological School in Ohio prepares leaders of many faith traditions for lives of significance in service to the church and the world. The school offers master’s degrees in divinity, counseling ministries, theological studies and practical theology, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree. For more information, visit www.mtso.edu.

CONTACT:
Danny Russell, director of communications
drussell@mtso.edu, 740-362-3322

Back to news archive

Inspired by Micah 6:8, MTSO students organize ‘Do-Love-Walk’

The April 28 event is centered on discussing and inspiring social-justice ministry.

Students of Methodist Theological School in Ohio are hosting “Do-Love-Walk,” a one-day campus event welcoming everyone. Participants are invited to come together in order to explore a variety of means, methods, organizations, outlets and opportunities for engaging in social-justice ministries. The April 28 event begins with a noon lunch in the campus coffee shop and ends following a 6:30 dinner and film discussion.

Participants are welcome to come for all or part of the day. Participation and meals are free, and advance registration isn’t required.

“Do-Love-Walk” is being organized by MTSO students Abby Salak, Brian West and Kim Wisecup, who were inspired by a well-known passage in Micah 6:8: “…and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” The agenda is designed to help both laity and clergy examine and name their own passions, interests, social concerns and experiences. The topics and social-justice ministries to be represented will include but are not limited to: fair trade, ecological justice, capital punishment, poverty, refugees, human sexuality, disabilities, prison ministries and prison reform, as well as human trafficking.

April 28 ‘Do-Walk-Love’ Schedule

Noon: Registration and Lunch

1:30 p.m.: Chapel Service

An Ecumenical worship service will be held in MTSO’s Centrum.

2:30 p.m.: Resource Fair

The highlight of the day, the resource fair will be a time for participants to speak and interact with numerous individuals and representatives who are involved in a wide variety of social justice initiatives. Participants will have time to engage and explore many different expressions of social justice, perhaps even finding new avenues for their own ministries.

5 p.m.: Viewing of the film Urban Roots

Through the stories it tells and the examples it offers, Urban Roots offers a compelling example of how passion for social justice and the observed need for better health, food, and eco-education in urban environments can be addressed through the development of urban gardens.

6:30 p.m.: Dinner and film discussion

While enjoying dinner, participants are invited to engage in a brief discussion regarding the film and our various thoughts and reactions to it.

Questions about “Do-Love-Walk” may be sent to dolovewalk@mtso.edu.

Methodist Theological School in Ohio prepares leaders of many faith traditions for lives of significance in service to the church and the world. The school offers master’s degrees in divinity, counseling ministries, theological studies and practical theology, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree. For more information, visit www.mtso.edu.

CONTACT:
Danny Russell, director of communications
drussell@mtso.edu, 740-362-3322

Back to news archive

MTSO celebrates faculty writing

A reception on the campus of Methodist Theological School in Ohio will celebrate the written work of MTSO faculty members. The Celebration of Faculty Writing will be held in the Gallery from 9:45 to 10:15 a.m. April 18.

Books, articles, reviews and essays by MTSO faculty members will be on display during and after the reception, and many of the honored faculty will be present. The honored works include:

• “Christianity and Human Trafficking,” an article for Religion Compass by Yvonne Zimmerman, assistant professor of Christian ethics.
• “Re-reading the Adam and Eve Story,” an essay for United Methodists in Service magazine, written in Korean, by Professor of Hebrew Bible Paul Kim.
• The Christian Year: Guide for Worship and Preaching, an Abingdon Press book by Robin Knowles Wallace, professor of worship and music, and director the Doctor of Ministry program at MTSO.

“Our faculty members are serious about contributing to religious dialogue in the wider world,” said Dickhaut Library Director Paul Burnam, who is organizing the celebration. “It is important that we take time each year to recognize their contributions to the body of knowledge in their disciplines.”

Methodist Theological School in Ohio prepares leaders of many faith traditions for lives of significance in service to the church and the world. The school offers master’s degrees in divinity, counseling ministries, theological studies and practical theology, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree. For more information, visit www.mtso.edu.

CONTACT:
Danny Russell, director of communications
drussell@mtso.edu, 740-362-3322

Back to news archive

MTSO takes its message to those focused on UM General Conference

The Reporter ad shares a recent grad’s ‘Summit Experience’

In a United Methodist General Conference preview advertisement, MTSO shares one graduate’s ministry success story. The ad, in a special General Conference preview supplement of the United Methodist Reporter, tells the story of April Blaine (M.Div. 2009), who is leading a membership resurgence at Summit on 16th UMC, near the Ohio State University campus in Columbus.

A full-size PDF of the ad is available here.

The ad is running in multiple consecutive issues of the Reporter, beginning March 16. General Conference convenes April 24 in Tampa, concluding May 4.

Methodist Theological School in Ohio prepares leaders of many faith traditions for lives of significance in service to the church and the world. The school offers master’s degrees in divinity, counseling ministries, theological studies and practical theology, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree. For more information, visit www.mtso.edu.

CONTACT:
Danny Russell, director of communications
drussell@mtso.edu, 740-362-3322

Back to news archive

Incredible India: A life-changing experience

By Deborah Caulk
M.Div. ’14 

A requirement for a Master of Divinity degree at MTSO is a Cross-Cultural Immersion Experience. As an M.Div. student, I knew I would need to choose one of the cross-cultural trips the school offers periodically.

When I saw “India,” I knew without a doubt which trip I wanted. India – I immediately thought of “Incredible India,” just as their national marketing strategy had planned. India – I’d known of it for years: the land of exotic spices, brilliant silks, tantalizing music, profound spirituality and the Taj Mahal!

Students Nick Federinko, Melissa Zimmerman, Deborah Caulk and Rebecca Hug spell out M-T-S-O on the road to Kodaikanal. Photo by Jennifer Snyder.

Yes, I had heard some people say that southern India had mosquitoes tough enough to strangle a Chihuahua, but I was not going to let a bug or a 16-hour flight or a nasty threat of “Delhi Belly” scare me away from possibly the greatest adventure of my life.

Now that I’m safely back home, I can assure you that DEET works great against mosquitoes, you can learn to get comfortable and maybe even sleep on 16-hour flights, and there are easy ways to prevent “Delhi Belly.” But more important, the greatest adventure of my life turned out to be one of the great turning points in my life as well.

For 15 days in late December and early January, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in the Indian culture along with 16 fellow adventuresome MTSO students and our fearless professor, Dr. Tim Van Meter. The trip offered an exhilarating turning point for me, as I had the opportunity to go beyond the cold, black-and-white words in textbooks to experience life in India first-hand. I now was seeing information in action, and I now had details to help form my own opinions about India.

I was privileged to be right in the middle of India’s colors and sounds, to taste the deliciously spiced foods, to walk through the ancient holy places and the busy, exotic streets. I had the priceless opportunity of meeting fellow human beings in the midst of their own daily lives.

Some professors and staff members at the Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary invited me into their homes, introduced me to their spouses and children, shared a cup of tea with me, showed me some of their treasured possessions, and taught me how to play their indigenous musical instruments. I walked away from each of these occasions with my mind and heart feeling expanded and enriched. I realized anew that sharing God’s love with all God’s children is a vital element in ministry.

However, the immersion into Indian culture also was quite an unsettling turning point for me. I couldn’t help but compare my typical daily life to the lives of some women I saw every day as we traveled through villages, towns and cities. In 90-degree heat, I saw old women bending over in muddy rice fields all day, young women using sledgehammers to crush piles of rocks, middle-aged women struggling behind ox-powered plows in obstinate clay soil, ancient women sitting along the roadsides hoping someone would buy their carrots, little girls walking miles to school on roads they shared with trucks, buses, motorcycles, rickshaws and cows.

One of the very contented women I met had two tea cups and two plates – no glasses, goblets, tumblers, juice cups or mugs; and definitely no eight-piece sets of holiday china used only in December – just two plain tea cups and two plates. “That’s all we need,” she said.

Another cheerful woman was seemingly happily raising her two teenage daughters in a tiny one-bedroom house. I wondered if maybe my having to tend to all my possessions could be holding me back from being able to drop whatever I’m doing to be available to answer God’s call to help someone at a moment’s notice.

Incredible India! I may have been on the other side of the world, thousands of miles away from everyone I know and love – and during Christmastime. Yet I experienced profound turning points. From the moment I arrived in India, I never felt a sense of loss for what I had left behind.

The people I met were so welcoming, so caring and so happy to have us with them that I felt I lacked nothing. As I learned to make myself at home there, I found my heart and mind were changed forever.

Methodist Theological School in Ohio prepares leaders of many faith traditions for lives of significance in service to the church and the world. The school offers master’s degrees in divinity, counseling ministries, theological studies and practical theology, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree. For more information, visit www.mtso.edu.

CONTACT:
Danny Russell, director of communications
drussell@mtso.edu, 740-362-3322

Back to news archive

Wisconsin’s Bishop Lee will address 2012 graduates

Lee

Bishop Linda Lee, who presides over the Wisconsin Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church, will deliver Methodist Theological School in Ohio’s 2012 commencement address May 19.

Lee assumed leadership of the Wisconsin Area in 2004. In 2000, she became the first African-American woman to be elected bishop in the North Central Jurisdiction, presiding over the Michigan Area for four years.

Born in Cleveland, Lee has served United Methodist congregations in Ohio and Michigan. In the late 1980s, she was assistant to the dean for educational administration at MTSO, focusing on the Master of Arts in Alcohol and Drug Abuse Ministries program. Lee will retire from the episcopacy in September and plans to join Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary as bishop-in-residence in 2013.

“We’re delighted that our graduates and guests will benefit from the wisdom of a former member of our campus community as she looks back on a groundbreaking ministry,” said MTSO President Jay Rundell. “We’re also happy to hear about her new role with our sister seminary. As a school that has been blessed by the contributions of Bishop Judy Craig, we’re well aware of the value a bishop-in-residence brings to theological education.”

The MTSO commencement ceremony begins at 11 a.m. May 19 in the Dickinson Courtyard on the MTSO campus. Guests are welcome, and tickets are not required. More commencement information is here.

Methodist Theological School in Ohio prepares leaders of many faith traditions for lives of significance in service to the church and the world. The school offers master’s degrees in divinity, counseling ministries, theological studies and practical theology, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree. For more information, visit www.mtso.edu.

CONTACT:
Danny Russell, director of communications
drussell@mtso.edu, 740-362-3322

Back to news archive

Kampen speaks at Beehive Books

Kampen

Methodist Theological School in Ohio Professor John Kampen will discuss his work as a Dead Sea Scrolls scholar and sign his book Wisdom Literature March 22 at Beehive Books, 25 N. Sandusky St. in Delaware. The event begins at 7 p.m. and will include remarks from Kampen as well as a question-and-answer session.

Wisdom Literature is the second volume of Eerdmans Commentaries on the Dead Sea Scrolls, a 16-volume set that provides English translation and extensive commentary on many of these texts for the first time. Kampen, the Dunn Professor of Biblical Interpretation, served as MTSO’s academic dean from 2005 to 2009. He earned a Ph.D. from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, a Master of Divinity degree from the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary and a BA in sociology from the University of Saskatchewan.

The texts Kampen covers in Wisdom Literature weren’t available for study until 1991. This is the first comprehensive collection of them in a format accessible to the non-specialist.

“The Dead Sea Scrolls are the most significant materials available describing beliefs and practices at the time when two of the major religions of the present world began, Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity,” Kampen said. “They’re also a significant cultural artifact for the development of some of the central ideas of the Western world.”

Kampen is the author or editor of four other books and contributor to reference works including The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls and The Anchor Bible Dictionary.

Methodist Theological School in Ohio prepares leaders of many faith traditions for lives of significance in service to the church and the world. The school offers master’s degrees in divinity, counseling ministries, theological studies and practical theology, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree. For more information, visit www.mtso.edu.

CONTACT:
Danny Russell, director of communications
drussell@mtso.edu, 740-362-3322

Back to news archive

Greek Orthodox bishop and Muslim scholar share Lecture on World Religions

Bishop Demetrious and Azam Nizamuddin

A Greek Orthodox bishop and a Muslim scholar will discuss historical relations between the two faith traditions at the Eighth Annual Lecture on World Religions and Interreligious Dialogue, sponsored by the Theological Consortium of Greater Columbus. The lecture will be held at 7 p.m. April 18 in the Gloria Dei Worship Center on the campus of Trinity Lutheran Seminary, 2199 E. Main St. in Bexley. It is free and open to the public.

Methodist Theological School in Ohio is a member of the Theological Consortium, along with Trinity Lutheran Seminary and Pontifical College Josephinum. The lecture is coordinated by Dr. Paul Numrich, an expert on world religions and interreligious relations and a tenured member of the MTSO and Trinity faculties.

The April 18 lecture, “Conversion and Conflict: Reflections by a Greek Orthodox Bishop and Response by a Muslim Scholar,” features Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos and Azam Nizamuddin. They will consider the two faith traditions’ approaches to the notion of conversion – ranging from mutual peaceful tolerance to violent hostility – and will examine how these two traditions may move from the turbulent present into a peaceful future based on the positive contributions of current dialogue.

Bishop Demetrios, born Demetri Kantzavelos, serves as an auxiliary bishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and as Chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago. He is renowned for his ecumenical and interfaith work, including efforts to improve relations between the Turkish and Greek communities in Chicago, for which he received the Fethullah Gulen Award from the Niagara Foundation, a Turkish Muslim organization. He is a member of the Illinois State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and a regular contributor of editorials on issues concerning the Greek Orthodox faith and Hellenic culture in local and national media outlets.

Azam Nizamuddin is principal of a law firm in the Chicago area, where he practices business litigation, family law and real estate law. He teaches Introduction to Islamic Law (Sharia) in the School of Law, Loyola University Chicago, as well as courses on Islam and History of Islamic Thought in Loyola’s Department of Theology. Nizamuddin lectures extensively on Islamic theology, law and civilization, and he has provided testimony to the Illinois Commission on Civil Rights regarding the status of the American Muslim community after 9/11.

Methodist Theological School in Ohio prepares leaders of many faith traditions for lives of significance in service to the church and the world. The school offers master’s degrees in divinity, counseling ministries, theological studies and practical theology, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree. For more information, visit www.mtso.edu.

CONTACT:
Danny Russell, director of communications
drussell@mtso.edu, 740-362-3322

Back to news archive

Mission and Evangelism Institute explores ‘Missional Church in Many Contexts’

Methodist Theological School in Ohio will host the Mission and Evangelism Institute March 19 and 20, with the theme “Missional Church in Many Contexts.” The institute will offer pathways toward becoming a missional congregation in rural, suburban and urban settings. The event’s three speakers are proven missional leaders who have had breakthroughs in transforming congregations from inward-oriented to mission-focused.

Rev. Dave Hood is the campus pastor at Fort McKinley Church, the urban branch of Ginghamsburg Church in Dayton. Fort McKinley is a church “restart” that was on the brink of closing in 2008. In just three years, it has grown from 40 attendees to 400, with three Sunday morning worship celebrations.

Rev. Kevin Koske is the pastor of Church in the Mall in Heath. An outreach ministry of Centenary UMC in Granville, Church in the Mall celebrated its public launch on Palm Sunday of 2010. Through its location, it brings church to the people, instead of bringing people to the church, and seeks to integrally embrace and utilize social media for evangelism.

Rev. Bill Lyle served as pastor of Greenville Evangelical United Methodist Church, a rural congregation, for 14 years. His accomplishments there include growing church attendance from 126 to 770, initiating three new styles of worship with innovative multimedia, and creating a culture of serving and witnessing with over 70 percent of the church family involved. He has recently become the senior pastor at Peace UMC in Pickerington.

Tuition for the Mission and Evangelism Institute is $70. Two or more people from the same congregation may attend for $60 each. Student tuition is $15. Dinner on March 19 is included. A Continuing Education Unit certificate is available for $10.

Additional material, including a schedule and registration form, is available at www.mtso.edu/mei.

Methodist Theological School in Ohio prepares leaders of many faith traditions for lives of significance in service to the church and the world. The school offers master’s degrees in divinity, counseling ministries, theological studies and practical theology, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree. For more information, visit www.mtso.edu.

CONTACT:
Danny Russell, director of communications
drussell@mtso.edu, 740-362-3322

Back to news archive