April 2020

Mordecai’s advice to Esther is applicable to many a pastor, not to mention healthcare worker and first responder, dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic: “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to this position for just such a time as this.” What stands out most in my memory of pastoral appointments as a young adult was the enormous privilege I was given at such an early age. By virtue of my position, I was invited into people’s lives at some of [...]

Hello from all of us in the Perkins OEM (Office of Enrollment Management)! We want to stay closely connected with you amid the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and let you know that we have strengthened our accessibility so that you can continue to receive the information you need seamlessly and without delay. Because the priority for our SMU community is good health and safety for all, including our families, we are providing services virtually across campus. For [...]

Even though the campus was uninhabited, more than 50 members of the Perkins community managed to worship together on March 25. Faculty, students and staff assembled via the online platform Zoom for a virtual service led by Mark Stamm and three students, with Alyce McKenzie preaching. Perkins online worship service Despite a few bumps along the way – in the form of unmuted mikes and occasionally out-of-kilter congregational prayers and singing – attendees welcomed the chance to [...]

In honor of its 60th anniversary, Perkins’ Master of Sacred Music (M.S.M.) program had a family reunion. More than 50 graduates gathered at the SMU Perkins campus in Dallas on March 9-11 for three days of events celebrating the Master of Sacred Music program’s heritage. Attendees included those working as music directors and musicians in churches, at the denominational level and in professional networks, and ranged from recent grads to two from the earliest years of the program, who [...]

Religious pluralism isn’t just a good way to run a civil society; it’s a value upheld by many religious traditions. That was a key message shared by Eboo Patel, featured speaker for the 2020 Walter B. and Kay W. Shurden Lectures, held March 5. The event drew more than 100 people to the campus of SMU. The lectures were hosted by the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the Baptist House of Studies-Perkins School of Theology at SMU [...]

As part of her theological education, Perkins student Carlene Barbeau resorted to “baptizing” a fuzzy blue stuffed animal named Doggie. It’s just one example of how she’s juggling her studies and her family life: with faith, grace and a little ingenuity. Barbeau started in the fall of 2018 in the inaugural class of Perkins’ Houston-Galveston hybrid program and expects to graduate with an M.Div. in May 2021. Perkins, the only United Methodist seminary currently offering a hybrid program, has [...]

For the past two years, much of Wes Allen’s attention has been focused on a less-than-glamorous but important project: accreditation. He led the self-study team for Perkins’ accreditation through the Association of Theology Schools. “It’s a process of bringing together all the groups related to the seminary to investigate and evaluate how we are doing in relation to the standards,” he said. The process culminated in February with a visit to the Perkins campus by the ATS site committee [...]

As a Perkins grad and a Central Methodist University trustee, Bishop Bob Farr saw a need for a stronger link between the two institutions. Farr, who is bishop of the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church, worked his dual connections to forge that link. That vision will become reality as SMU and Perkins sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Central Methodist University (CMU) in Fayette, Missouri. As part of the agreement, Perkins will offer a pathway for [...]

In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, members of the Black Seminarians Association (BSA) at Perkins School of Theology will carry on with the annual Seven Last Words service on Good Friday, April 10, beginning at 7 p.m. The service, which has now been pre-recorded in order to follow Dallas's shelter-in-place mandate, is sponsored by St. Paul United Methodist Church in downtown Dallas. Each speaker has recorded his or her sermon from a shelter-in-place location and the music and additional service [...]