Fuller Visit: Trip Outline

Wow, what an intense three days I have just had! It has been so non-stop that in many ways I feel as though I am awaking from a deep sleep and wondering what was real and what was reality. So, like all good stories, let us begin from the beginning and end with the end.

Thursday morning I woke up at 4:45 am to my mother waking me up because BOTH of my alarms set did not go off properly. So in fifteen minutes I got ready so we could leave by 5 to make it to Hobby Airport in time to get through check-in, etc. Our flight left at 7:30 am to Phoenix and I had a good time early on looking out the window. I was too excited to sleep so I stayed awake listening to 2Pac's "California Love" and wrote some questions for the admissions adviser.

Landed in Ontario, CA at 11 am Pacific time. Hopped in the rental car and my mom drove us to Pasadena (about a 40 min drive). Once we got there we checked into our room at the guest center and grabbed a quick bite to eat at a local burger joint which happened to be a Pasadena staple. I then left to meet with an admissions adviser at 2. The meeting went well, I just learned about the application process a little more.

When I asked what Fuller tried to instill in their students she remarked, "We want our students to develop critical thinking. We want them to think deeply about issues and develop their own answers to these problems. They don't have to develop the right answer now, or perhaps their answer won't be the most popular or the most conservative but we want them to have an answer that is theirs." I really liked that because I have no desire to go to a seminary to be told what to believe but to experience the diverse answers that are out there and be equipped with the tools to develop my own responses based upon what I've learned.

Left from the admissions meeting to a meeting they set up with me with a current student. He was a cool guy from Atlanta in his first year at Fuller in the MDiv program. He talked about the Pasadena climate and how great it was (avg 70s throughout the year, always sunny, little rain, near the mountains and the beach, and palm trees lining the streets). We also talked about the difficulty of student life in so far as course work was concerned. 15 pg essays, mid-terms, finals, and what not. So finding balance in life is important. But overall he was really happy with Fuller and excited to be apart of a seminary which has produced people like Rob Bell and John Piper.

I wrapped up the day at 4, went back to the room to change and my mom and I went around Pasadena. Pasadena is a cool place, more akin to a small village than a city. I say that because everywhere you go you will run into people you know and no one really drives, instead they all walk. There is a section called 'Old Pasadena' which has a lot of shops and restaurants in a few square blocks. It has everything from locally owned stores to big name retailers like 'Banana Republic' and 'Vans.' Pasadena, like most of SoCal, is very artistic. There are about 7 theaters (most of which specialize in independent films), 4 or 5 art museums, at least 2 large gardens, and more than I can write. It's 9 minutes from camp grounds at the foot of the mountains and thirty minutes from Hollywood. So conversations you overhear will be about both mountain biking and the new segment of a film they're shooting tomorrow. It's a cool place so my mom and I grabbed some food at an Italian restaurant recommended to us and then went back to our room.

I was so exhausted from all the traveling that I passed out at about 9:30 and slept until 8 am the next morning. It was a crazy sensation to wake up in the room and realize I was in California knowing that the last time I woke up I was in Texas. Anyways, grabbed some breakfast real fast then jetted back to the room to brush my teeth so I could make it to the coffee shop on time for a meeting with a professor. But a little back story before we continue:

My mother's cousin asked me last Thanksgiving about seminary. I told her I was planning on looking at Fuller which excited her because she said her husband knows a lot of people there and donates to Fuller. She said she would go talk to him about Fuller and see if maybe he could give me some pointers on who to talk to. Well, as it turns out, he has recently gotten on the board of the School of Intercultural Studies (formerly the School of World Missions)! He said he would love to meet with me and help me in whatever way he could. Well, my mom emailed him a few weeks ago about our visit and he ended up calling me asking if it was alright to put me in contact with his friend of 35 yrs who is a professor at Fuller. Fantastic. Well, as it turns out, Dr. Bryant Myers (his friend) is a former board member of World Vision (which he served at for more than a decade) and is now a lead professor in the School of Intercultural Studies (SIS).

So I met with Dr. Myers and was incredibly delighted to hear what he had to say. There are currently four main classes in the SIS under his supervision which include: Advocacy and Social Justice, Humanitarian response, Poverty development, and one other one which I can't recall. In addition, he is in the process of developing some more courses. I really liked him as he was very personable and intelligent yet did not carry himself like an academic nor enjoyed academics (which reminded me of my teacher). He was very grounded and I particularly liked his comment, "in all truth, it's not rocket science to help the poor. you just have to love them." He informed me of a joint-degree program that Fuller has for people like me.

A normal MDiv has four sections: languages, Scriptures, church leadership, and electives. The electives encompass six units in which students can specialize (like I would with the SIS). However, for many students the six courses aren't enough class work done in that area. Also, the MDiv's high structure doesn't allow more much wiggle room. And if you're like me and have no denomination, a MDiv is really a requirement to be a pastor. So, many students have opted to join the joint program in which you basically disect the MDiv time. You take the languages and Scriptures classes which allow you to get a Masters in Theology, then instead of taking the church leadership and electives portions you dedicate all those hours to the SIS and get a Masters in Intercultural Studies. So basically, in the same three years I would graduate with a Masters in Theology and a Masters in Intercultural Studies.

I liked that program a whole lot better because the main focus of what I want to do in life will involve helping the poor so I would rather spend more of my time learning about that. Besides, as Dr. Myers pointed out, I might be more at home with the pragmaticists of the SIS who aren't as concerned about minor theological differences as I am with the theorists who only concern themselves with theology as intellectual constructions. Since we were at the Fuller Coffee Shop, a lot of his students and colleagues passed by and I was able to ask them some questions as well because Dr. Myers would stop them. So all in all, my time with him was an incredible hour which I gained some great insight into the program I want to be apart of.

I left from there to get a campus tour from a Admissions rep I met when he visited Baylor in the fall. I had a good time and learned a lot more about the campus which was good. I really enjoyed how Fuller had taken some of the historic homes near campus and converted them into offices and student lounges rather than tear them down for concert buildings. It gave the campus a more organic feel.

Jetted from the tour at 1:30 to load up the car then took my mom to In-And-Out Burger (good stuff) before we raced to the airport to check in the rental car then make our flight. I got back to Houston late Friday night and was in bed by 1:30 am. Got up the next morning at 9, talked with my dad about the trip, loaded up my car to capacity, and then left for Waco. Got here at 3, unpacked until 8 while doing laundry, grabbed dinner, played Wii with the roomies, saw Mallory, then went to bed at 1:30 again only to sleep until 10. So now I'm awake and still processing everything that has happened because it flew by so fast. There are so many things I didn't even cover in this already far too long blog that I'll have to post later today. Anyways, that is the outline of the trip. Ewh.