Category: News

Noise fills the air around Perkins! Usually we desire peaceful, quiet surroundings so that reading, conversation and contemplation can take place. But sometimes noise is good, when it means that our facilities are becoming even more useful, accessible and productive. That is what is happening right now.

Bridwell Library. Thanks to a substantial gift from the J.S. Bridwell Foundation of Wichita Falls, Texas, a long-planned renovation is taking place. Interior work has begun, and soon exterior construction will commence to create an accessible front entrance allowing people with mobility issues access to the building from the Quad (south) side. In addition, a new elevator is being installed at the front of the building for easy access to all areas of the library by everyone.

You will see a number of other changes. The circulation desk will be moved toward the front door so that patrons can receive help finding their way around the library. New lighting, signage and other accessibility features including restroom updates will be installed. Doctoral carrels will be relocated and storage enhanced.

Perkins Chapel. A steam leak last spring caused damage in Perkins Chapel. Unfortunately, the damage included the organ. Fortunately, some of the damage will be covered by insurance. Dean Craig Hill and the SMU administration have decided not only to fix the damage, but also make upgrades in the Chapel infrastructure. Last fall, the Chapel closed while the painting was repaired. In the fall of 2019, floors will be refinished, pews renewed and a new sound system installed. In a final phase, time yet to be determined, video capabilities will be installed along with HVAC improvements. A wonderful $931,000 gift allowed us to start the project, which will total approximately $3 million, including the organ.

New Parking Center. All who traverse the SMU campus know that parking is at a premium. A new parking facility is being constructed on the west side of Perkins behind Prothro, Selecman and Kirby halls. The facility will be jointly used by SMU and Highland Park United Methodist Church, as is the case with a number of parking facilities on campus. Although the construction makes getting around on campus temporarily less convenient, a finished, ultramodern parking facility will make life easier for decades to come.

We can all be thankful to be a part of the SMU community, which continues to thrive. I am thankful for supporters, past and present, who have and are giving resources so that our facilities are second to none.

With a thankful heart,

John Martin
Director of Development
Perkins School of Theology

As a United Methodist affiliated institution committed to ecumenism, Perkins has always attracted a diverse body of students. Now there’s a place at Perkins for Baptist students to call home while connecting with the broader Baptist world.

Initiated in 2018, the Baptist House of Studies is building a community for Baptist students to learn about their tradition and a network of resources to support them in their path toward ordination or other professional positions in Baptist churches.

“The Baptist House’s offerings will be multipronged, but the first aim is to signal to the world that Perkins is interested in welcoming Baptist students who want a seminary education,” said Jaime Clark-Soles, director of the Baptist House and professor of New Testament at Perkins.

Clark-Soles, an ordained American Baptist minister, was invited by Perkins Dean Craig Hill in July to launch the Baptist House of Studies, with help from fellow faculty member Isabel Docampo and George Mason, senior pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas. Organizers are planning a February 25 kickoff gathering at Mason’s home, with Dallas-area Baptist leaders as well as leaders from other congregational traditions

“Many of us outside the Baptist tradition don’t realize what a wide range of denominations and churches exists under the Baptist umbrella,” said Perkins Dean Craig Hill. “There are many Baptist students who will fit quite comfortably at Perkins, who want the education we offer, and who will bring important insights and perspectives to our community. We are eager to serve and to learn from them.”

Ecumenical education

Organizers say that having a Baptist House on campus will give all Perkins students an opportunity to benefit from the distinctive emphases of the Baptist tradition, including freedom of religion, freedom of individual believers to interpret the Bible, “soul freedom” (engaging God according to one’s conscience without coercion by human authorities) and church freedom (i.e., the autonomy of local congregations).

“Baptists will learn greatly from their United Methodist sisters and brothers, understanding their perspectives and reflecting on the differences and similarities, and vice versa,” said Mason, who is a longtime leader in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. “In an increasingly pluralist world, they will need to find common cause with Christians wearing other uniforms rather than huddling up only with their own team.”

Plans are underway for Mason to teach a course in Baptist history and polity in the 2020-21 school year and to establish connections with a variety of Baptist churches, denominations, agencies and institutions.

“We’re building relationships with churches that will partner with us to set up internships and other opportunities for Baptist students,” said Docampo, director of The Center for the Study of Latino/a Christianity and Religions at Perkins.

Given that Baptist congregations are autonomous, Baptist pastors aren’t appointed by a connectional system. That means they must seek employment individually and, for Baptist pastors, handle some additional responsibilities. By connecting Baptist students to Baptist conferences, retreats and educational opportunities, the Baptist House will assist these students in networking, preparing for and fulfilling their call.

The Baptist House of Studies will also provide spiritual formation, mentoring and preparation for ordination for students as well as special programming open to all Perkins students, SMU, the Metroplex community and beyond.

“We’ve always had a few Baptist students at Perkins,” said Docampo, who is an American Baptist. “Part of this is about being intentional about creating a community and opportunities for them.”

While welcoming all Baptist students, the program will also help fill a niche by serving students affiliated with moderate to progressive Baptist traditions, such as the Alliance of Baptists, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Baptist Peace Fellowship and American Baptist Churches USA. While there are Baptist-affiliated theology schools in the North Texas area – such as Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth – most are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

Docampo thinks the niche offers many possibilities for broadening Perkins’ reach.

“As a Latina feminist who is also very progressive, I’m excited about the prospect of creating a community that will nurture people in the Latinx community,” Docampo said.

British concept

The “house of studies” concept originated in British universities; in the U.S., several seminaries have a Baptist House of Studies, including Emory, Duke, Vanderbilt and Brite Divinity. The Baptist House of Studies doesn’t occupy a physical space – although that’s a possibility down the road. Instead, it is creating a network for fellowship, support and resources for Baptist students. And given the large number of Baptists in Texas, Clark-Soles said, the field is ripe for harvest.

“This will assist in the recruitment of Baptist students to Perkins by assuring them that they can get what they need to serve well as Baptist ministers,” she said. “At the same time, they’ll benefit from the vast resources of Perkins and SMU, in the setting of a large metropolitan area with many arts and cultural offerings.”

Mason adds that the presence of the Baptist House of Studies at Perkins will also benefit students from other congregationally autonomous traditions.

“The Baptist House will also offer hospitality for our free church cousins in denominations like the United Church of Christ (UCC), Disciples of Christ, Anabaptist (Mennonite) and nondenominational churches, all of which operate within a basic congregational polity,” said Mason.

While Baptist students at Perkins will be the first priority, leaders also hope the Baptist House will evolve into a connecting point that could bring Baptist leaders, laypeople and the wider community to the SMU campus for special events. Fall 2019 will see Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee, speak on religious freedom at Perkins. The Baptist House of Studies will host the Baptist-affiliated Shurden Lectures at Perkins in the spring of 2020.

Said Clark-Soles: “I see no reason not to dream big and see where it takes us!”

Deborah Creagh recalled the feeling of “walking where Jesus walked” on stones where his feet might have trod. Zach Hughes will always remember the resiliency and strength of the people he met in El Salvador who are working for justice. Ashley Smith will never forget an unexpected encounter in a museum that confronted her with the reality of life in Palestine.

Creagh, Hughes and Smith are among those in the Perkins community who returned to campus this semester with heartfelt memories and fresh perspectives, following their travels on the 2019 January term Global Theological Education Immersion Trips to El Salvador and Israel/Palestine.

A group of 15 students journeyed to the Middle East for the Israel/Palestine trip, led by faculty members Jaime Clark-Soles (Lead Teacher) and Robert Hunt (“Tour Wrangler”) from January 1-16. Another group of 13 students, led by Hal Recinos, traveled to El Salvador to meet with human rights groups and faith groups, January 6-13.

The trips gave students the chance to meet people and gain a better understanding of conflicts and problems in each region. Many students came home with a renewed determination to serve.

“The trip has really stirred something in me,” said Smith, an M.Div. student who traveled to Israel/Palestine. “The conflict is real, and it’s still happening today. I came home with passion and energy to read and research more, and I hope to get back there.

Israel/Palestine

Participants on the 16-day Israel/Palestine trip visited Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Megiddo, Nablus, Taybeh, Nazareth and Cana, among others, with a side trip to Petra, Jordan. Also on the itinerary were key sites that figure prominently in the life of Jesus, including Manger Square, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Sea of Galilee.

“Experiencing and seeing where things occurred in the Bible in real time made Scripture come alive,” said Deborah Creagh, an M.Div. student who will graduate in May. “It provided the frame for the stories and verses that had only been in my imagination.”

Some participants were surprised by the close proximity of the biblical landmarks.

“Coming from the U.S. – especially Texas – it seems they are all a stone’s throw away from one another,” said Kurt Maerschel, an M.Div. student who will graduate in 2019.

Students say the trip gave them a better understanding of the conflict between Israel and  Palestine – and how it affects ordinary citizens in both communities. For Smith, that moment came at an exhibit in the Walled Off Hotel in the Palestinian territories. While she was viewing the exhibit, a phone began to ring insistently. Finally, she picked up the receiver and heard a voice warning, “You have five minutes to evacuate your home before the missile comes.” Echoing phone alerts from the Israeli army before attacks, the call was designed to give visitors a sense of the peril of life in Palestinian communities. Smith said she stood for several moments, holding the phone, stunned. Seeing her tears of dismay, a Palestinian woman hugged her.

“I think it helps when we take God out of a box that we put God in, and just meet people where they are and for who they are,” Smith said.

“Because of the Global Theological Education Immersion course, I now know people personally on both sides of the conflict,” Creagh said. “My prayers have changed to be for those on both sides of the wall.”

El Salvador

For the past 15 years, human rights groups in El Salvador have received delegations of Perkins students, thanks to connections forged through the work of Hal Recinos, Perkins Professor of Church and Society. This year’s trip took students to San Salvador and other communities around El Salvador.

The group met with Pro-Búsqueda, a San Salvador-based association of Salvadoran families who have suffered from the forced disappearance of their sons and daughters due to the civil war in El Salvador.

Zach Hughes, an M.Div. student on the trip, was heartened by Pro-Búsqueda’s success stories.

“The director told us of an instance where they reconnected a young man, orphaned during the civil war and then adopted by a family in Australia, with his Salvadoran mother,” he said. “She confirmed that his nightmares of war were in fact memories of the day they were separated.”

Group members also met with several Christian Base Communities of El Salvador (Basic Ecclesial Communities of El Salvador), in San Salvador and in the Department of Morazán, to discuss human rights and building a culture of peace. (Departments are municipalities, akin to provinces, in El Salvador.) The group also visited El Mozote, site of a massacre in 1981, in which the Salvadoran Army killed more than 1,200 civilians.

“Students heard firsthand from a village member about the military war crimes that took place and cost the lives of innocent men, women and children,” Recinos said.

The group met with Rev. Medardo Gomez, Lutheran Bishop of El Salvador, human rights activist and four-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and the Tata (Chief) of the Lenca people in the Department of Morazán. While visiting the Lenca people, they participated in a ritual of cleansing with the community, enjoyed a communal meal and heard about the state of indigenous rights, and social, economic, cultural and spiritual development among the Lenca.   Some students played soccer with the village children in a cow patch; some of the female students danced with the village girls.

The group also met with staff and students at one of the Romero Center Schools to discuss the role of education in breaking the spiral of violence, producing a culture of peace and anti-gang prevention. Recinos co-founded the Romero Center, which supports five schools in marginal communities in El Salvador.

Recinos says he hopes the experience gave students perspectives on both politics and faith, and how they relate in facing El Salvador’s challenges.

“By entering into conversation with the people of El Salvador, students get in touch with the push factors responsible for forcing flight from Central America to the United States,” he said. “Moreover, they learn that Jesus, who was born on the road, had nowhere to lay his head and lived each day in the shadow of death, is the one who urges us to serve those who are thirsty, hungry, ill and outcast.”

Summer 2019

Registration is now open for two immersion trips planned for the summer term: the San Diego Borderlands Immersion (May 19-30) with Susanne Johnson, in conjunction with the Center for the Study of Latinx Christianity; and an England/Wesley Immersion led by Ted Campbell (July 10-22).

By the time the Perkins youth ministry conference concluded, Rev. Elizabeth Murray had a newly crafted sermon in hand and a strategy for helping a shy young person at her church feel more connected to the youth group.

“I got much more than just theory,” said Murray, who is Youth Minister at Lexington United Methodist in Lexington, S.C. “I left the conference with a To Do list and some tangible ideas to use right away.”

Murray was one of about 175 youth ministers and workers from 11 states and seven annual conferences who traveled to Dallas for the annual Perkins School of Youth Ministry, held January 7-10 at Highland Park United Methodist Church.

With the theme “Breathe,” the gathering gave youth ministry staffers a place for fellowship as well as practical instruction.

“We have a core group of participants who come year after year,” said Bart Patton, the conference coordinator. “The conference has evolved into a community of learning, where people are excited to not only to grow, but also to be around a group of others who ‘get’ what they do.”

Participants chose from one of three options: Foundations Training covering ministry basics like curriculum, budgeting, organization, programming and safety; four workshops, each focusing on a key area (practice of youth ministry, theology of youth ministry, spiritual leadership in youth ministry and congregational youth ministry); or Youth Ministry Certification courses for those pursuing Certification in Youth Ministry through the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the UMC.

The Foundations course was ideal for Nautica Washington. She was just a week into her job as Communications & Youth Coordinator at Walnut Hill United Methodist Church in Dallas when the conference began.

“I learned behind-the-scenes things such as budgeting, planning mission trips and communicating with the church – other staff members as well as the congregation,” she said. “That’s allowing me to focus on what’s more important, which is helping youth grow in their faith.”

About 95 percent of conference participants come from United Methodist or pan-Methodist churches. Murray, who has attended other youth ministry conferences, appreciated that Wesleyan focus.

“Sometimes I have to kind of pick and choose from what I hear at other conferences, which may be more skewed to megachurches with hundreds of youth and large staffs,” she said. “At the Perkins event, you felt like everyone was on the same page. Everything I gleaned was relevant.”

Patton, who is Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry Education at Perkins, says that, while the Dallas conference is the flagship, the conference program will also be offered in Houston in May and in Eastern Pennsylvania in November to make the curriculum available to more youth ministers. For 2020, conference leaders plan to offer an option for participants to self-submit topics for workshops they’d like to teach themselves.

“We’re listening to the leaders who are emerging from our own community,” he said. “It’s part of our commitment to be a true learning community.”

A key focus of this year’s conference was to encourage youth ministers to have the confidence and skills to involve the entire congregation in youth ministry, rather than viewing youth programs as separate.

“Some of our youth ministers feel alone, isolated and overwhelmed,” he said. “They’re tasked to do a job that was never designed to be done by one person. We’re moving away from models that emphasize entertainment and toward more sustainable models for spiritual formation and discipleship.”

“What I took away most was finding out that most other youth directors go through the same challenges that I do, even the ones who have been doing this for a while,” said Kaitlyn Jackson, Director of Youth Discipleship at St. Barnabas United Methodist in Arlington, Texas.

All of the participants interviewed for this story said they plan to return next year. Following the advice of course leaders, Washington set up a meeting with her church’s pastor immediately upon her return. One of the first items of business in that meeting was asking to make room in the budget for her to return to the conference next year.

“The conference showed me that I don’t have to do youth ministry on my own,” she said. “We’re a community with so many resources, and we can nurture and support one another.”

A newly installed art display in Prothro Hall offers visitors a chance to contemplate the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, inviting consideration of how the ancient biblical story speaks to the here and now.

The display centers on a painting by Luke Allsbrook, the artist whose modern nativity scene has been on display in Prothro Hall for the past year and a half.  Titled “Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet,” the 2018 oil on canvas painting measures 68 inches by 80 inches and depicts the moving scene described in John 13. The piece is on loan from Allsbrook.

Next to the painting is a montage of photos of students, faculty and other members of the Perkins community involved in service projects in their churches and communities.

“The idea is to show the foot washing along with modern expressions of it, with photos of Perkins people actually engaged in acts of service, reflecting how that model is being lived out contemporaneously,” said Dean Craig Hill.

Hill added that he especially appreciates Allsbrook’s detailed depiction of the facial expressions of the disciples, who were dismayed and confused by Jesus’ actions.

“What readers of the Bible often miss about the story is its inherent scandal,” Hill said. “To wash someone’s feet was a public demonstration and confirmation of your low status, typically performed by the least important person in the household. Luke’s painting captures the disciples’ puzzlement and concern in a way that very few artists have. It is remarkably poignant and thought-provoking.”

When Victoria Sun Esparza graduates in May, she’ll earn two seemingly disparate degrees: a Master of Divinity from Perkins School of Theology, and a Master of Arts in Design and Innovation from SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering.

The two fields may seem different, but Sun Esparza already sees how they’ll come together for a career that makes her passionate.

“I’m fascinated by the intersection of design-thinking and solving problems that resist traditional solutions,” she said. Design-thinking, she says, is a methodology that can be applied to any field, to help understand a problem at a deeper level – and she thinks it can help churches and faith-based organizations.

As a sort of laboratory for her dual areas of academic work, Sun Esparza is working as Director of Family Ministries at White Rock United Methodist Church. She is also a part of the team exploring new approaches to church through a second campus called Owenwood Farm and Neighbor Space (formerly known as Owenwood United Methodist Church). White Rock took ownership of Owenwood two years ago after the latter church closed. Instead of selling the 4.5-acre property, the North Texas Annual Conference supported White Rock’s desire to use the church building and land to serve the community. As a result, Owenwood is renting out space to nonprofits and community partners, including an after-school program, an urban farm, a diaper distribution program and other programs for young kids.

“We want to see our neighbors connected to God and to one another,” Sun Esparza said. “But first we need to help meet their basic needs.”

Sun Esparza’s background in design-thinking pushes her to focus on people more than solutions when it comes to solving problems. As a result, she has helped the staff at White Rock and Owenwood engage the community in creative ways to learn how the church might serve them better. Sun Esparza is teaching the staff how to develop deeper relationships with the community in untraditional ways, like doing laundry at local laundromats and hanging out at skate parks, to better understand the community’s normal, everyday lives.

One new approach being taken at Owenwood is Dinner Church. Instead of gathering for worship on Sunday mornings, neighbors gather over free meals for fellowship and conversation. Victoria is helping design the experience of Dinner Church along with her husband, Josh Esparza, the campus pastor at Owenwood. Because Owenwood’s neighborhood is a “food desert” – an urban area lacking grocery stores selling healthy food and produce – Dinner Church as well as the urban farm will continue growing to help meet basic needs while creating community.

Sun Esparza is also working with groups across the country as a design consultant, including the North Texas Annual Conference, to help bring design-thinking to churches as they search for fresh ideas for ministry.

“It’s helping churches to think more innovatively,” she said. “It’s taking a problem, thinking more deeply about it, going out to the community and starting to test and prototype new ideas.”

Candidly, Sun Esparza shared that she has at times vacillated between two choices – a career in design versus working in a church setting. Church work and ministry have proved frustrating at times. (Before coming to Perkins, she worked at CitySquare, an urban mission and community development program in Dallas.) But having one foot in each of those two different worlds, she believes, helps her think more creatively.

“Institutions exist to survive,” she said, “but innovation happens on the edge.”

As another example of her innovative thinking, Victoria practices an unusual form of spiritual formation: composting.

“I’m a big believer that it’s a really important spiritual practice for me,” she said. “It’s taking the waste and trash in my life and intentionally caring for it, so that it breaks down and turns into a place for new life to grow.”

Victoria is attending Perkins along with her husband, Josh – but that wasn’t exactly by design. The couple met when they were teens, while attending a Southern Baptist church; now they’re both United Methodists.

“We were both really looking for an education that would give us some space to learn together, to give us new language to think about God and the world and the role for the church, and to grow in that together,” she said. “As it happens, it made more financial sense for us to attend together rather than one at a time. It feels accidental, but I think this is what we are both supposed to be doing.”

Poling Publishes New Study Guide

Rev. Carolyn Poling (M.Div. ’06) recently published Who Do You Say That I Am? Meeting Jesus Through the Eyes of Mark, a study guide for youth that helps readers “define who Jesus is to them, who he says he is in Scripture and how this impacts how we live our lives.” Poling is a deacon in the North Georgia Conference currently teaching in the Morgan County School System.

Alum Recognized as Trailblazer

Rev. Yvette R. Blair-Lavallais (M.T.S. ‘13) was recently featured in Voyage Dallas’ Trailblazer Series. Read the article here. “It is certainly a blessing for me to be able to share about my life’s work, and how God’s hand has been holding me through every phase of it,” said Blair-Lavallais, who is a Certified Spiritual Life Coach, writer, editor and public speaker living in the Dallas area.

Elizabeth Payne Honored

The Beta Beta Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International recently honored Elizabeth Payne (M.T.S. ’67) with the Red Rose Award, given to an outstanding woman who has had a great impact on education and in her community. A recently retired faculty member at the University of Mississippi, Payne has in her varied career had stints as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., a teacher, a research assistant and a visiting assistant professor at several colleges. She is also a well-known author with numerous published articles and books. Read the story here.