A Peek Behind the Curtain
#dmingml

Ooh, baby, I love your way,
Everyday

Gonna tell you I love your way,
Everyday[2]

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Doctoral colleague, Chris Marshall, posted a fabulous “review,” entitled Why I’m at Home in GML1, that recounts his experience thus far in the Global Missional Leadership program at George Fox University.

As a kind of follow-up to my friend’s post, I thought it might be fun to offer “a peek behind the curtain.” What is it like to be a student in this rigorous-but-delightful program, led by Dr. Jason Clark, our mentor, and a cast of brilliant educators and behind-the-scenes folks?

Is it possible for a normal human to tackle the challenge of a doctoral program at one of the nation’s premier graduate schools?

Here’s how I’ve coped thus far—as a very “normal” guy.

It’s About Time …

The incredible investment of time is always an issue for grad students. The "standard" for the DMINGML program is 15-20 hours per week. Most—but not all—of the guys currently in the program are in a full-time ministry-related position of some sort. Honestly, I think this definitely helps, since for most folks in this position there is already some study time built in to your week, so there are often ways of accomplishing two things at once.

I am an ordained minister and continue to be very involved in the church we attend (and I was on staff there for a decade—basically through the 90s), but these days I work in the Facilities department at a local community college. My field of academic interest in the DMin program is sustainability, so there is still a little overlap—though not like there would be if I were still on a ministry staff. Even so, it’s definitely been do-able. Certainly your discretionary time changes. For me, working a 40-hr-plus regular job, the weekends have become a blur of study, reading, writing—with very little else. I have to say “no” to more optional activities and try to keep my weekly schedule very simple, stripped down to the essentials. The family has adapted—it helps that our kids are all grown and out of the house, but they're all still around—and now we have young grandkids to party with, too! We plan family gatherings earlier in the evenings and after a bit, I might head back to study while the partying continues without me.

… And Money

I won’t say that cost wasn’t a factor for me—it always is. But the GML is a reasonably unique program, so that narrows the field of possibilities considerably. I already knew Loren Kerns, the Director of the DMin programs--we attend the same church. I had also met and become familiar with Jason, and I knew I really liked the way he thought deeply and widely about missional Christianity. The broad backgrounds of the students was another real plus—as was the opportunity to travel to different ministry contexts (more on that in a moment). But bottom line, I found Fox to be very competitive—less expensive than most of the US options (Fuller, et al).

The Structure and Support

The Global Missional Leadership program is set up to include annual “advances.” In an interesting way, the more I think about the advances, the more useful they become. The first and most obvious benefit is the sense of community they engender. Fox did a good job of connecting all of us as we entered the program, but we weren’t really a cohort till we spent those almost-couple of weeks together in the UK and Germany this last fall. Now with the weekly “booster shots” of the online chats and the brilliant ways we're required to interact with one another's work via social media, there is a genuine sense of community. As guys travel during the course of the year, many of us have made concerted effort to reconnect with one another any time the opportunity has presented itself. We’re genuinely friends, brothers. (That isn’t meant to be a sexist remark, by the way—the first cohort has been populated only by men. We need a cadre of brilliant women to join us and serve their communities—come join us!)

Beyond community, the staff does a great job of assigning readings and filling those advance study times with “contextually-appropriate” materials. In so many ways, Europe is a much better ground for studying missional ministry than the US—you are much father along in a “Post-Christendom” phase. It was perfect to talk about that in London and Nuremberg. And we are already looking toward the African advance this coming fall, with many readings by Africans and about the African context popping up on our reading list. It's one thing to “talk”—it is another to “see, hear, taste, touch, smell.”

I have felt greatly supported, both personally and academically. One of the things the staff set up right away was a special prayer request email address. Any of us at any time can send out one email that goes to the entire cohort and advisor team—this simple tool has been well used and much appreciated this term. The weekly online chats (these are text-based) always include a few moments to let us ask questions and get clarification about the assignments. And Jason and the advisor team have done a masterful job of monitoring the pulse of individual students. Just about the time you're feeling like you're going to derail, somebody emails or calls. I have felt well-supported without that sense of being “babysat.” Big Brother isn’t watching—buy my brothers are right there beside me, able and willing to lend a hand.

Of Strengths and Weaknesses

I’ve already highlighted many of the strengths of the program—but another thing that comes to mind is the way the cohort is allowed to teach one another. Each of us brings a lifetime of learning and experience, with different interests and theological backgrounds, different cultures and ministry contexts. As we start to think about Africa, for example, one of our fellow students is a pastor and church leader in Burundi, and another leads an international ministry that rescues children and women from human trafficking settings in Africa and elsewhere—these colleagues bring a lot to the table when we start thinking missionally in relation to this great continent we’re going to visit soon. My “thing” is sustainability—so I’ll be very interested to look at reforestation, water degradation and wildlife conservation. Each of us brings something to the table, and we are always encouraged to share our perspectives.

As far as weaknesses of the program, honestly, any of the weaknesses that come to mind are frankly just first-year “bumps in the road” that I know Jason, Loren and the team will work to smooth out for the cohorts to come. We’ve already found them be very responsive to any trouble points. For example, there was no real effort to coordinate our travel to the UK last fall. All we knew was that our first stop was at Ridley Hall near Oxford. Without much experience traveling in Great Britain, most of us assumed it was a simple thing to get to Oxford.We could have used some advance guidance and coordination. And so we’re already getting much more information and help for the African trip. The staff is also working out some of the issues that have come up with the way we’re required to post to social media. For some, depending on their context, that has presented difficulties. One or two of the guys have had people in their churches take issue with some of their postings; one of them actually now posts everything under a pseudonym, and others have “hidden” certain postings  or projects. The aggregator site, dmingml.com is awesome—but it’s been a long road to get all of the accounts set up and everything feeding in to the site correctly. In short, I think all of the weaknesses I've uncovered will largely be forgotten by the time the next cohort joins us Africa this fall. And the people in GML2 will simply have to come up with their own problems! Join us!

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