Well, I said I was going to try and get these written weekly. I think this one’s a little late, but oh well. This is the evening of Superbowl Sunday (fantastic game it was, too) and I am working, once again, on the application essay for seminary. I did some research over the last week, and I have to submit any financial aid information by April 15, so I should probably make sure I can actually get in before that point, eh? Anyway, it’s starting to come together in a rough sense. I am not proud of it, but then, how much can I expect from a first draft? I did usually turn in first drafts in while I was in school, but then I was usually satisfied with them; not so much here. Being good at train-of-thought writing hurts me with this sort of essay. The essay is essentially outlined by the questions I have to answer for the admissions folks, and I was able to come up with a decent outline, but the transmission of outline to essay is one I have never figure out. I ended up scrapping the whole outline and starting over. So, here is my unfinished product. Please feel free to leave opinions in the comments (if they’re short) or to message me on facebook or email me at “tpendell11@my.whitworth.edu” with longer comments.
It is a difficult task I have been put to, writing a decent essay from a series of bullet point questions. Family, faith, future, finances, all of these are great subjects to write about, but stringing them together is quite a demanding proposition.
Let’s start with family. In Norman Maclean’s novel A River Runs Through it, we read the story of a family in Montana, where the father is respected, the mother is loved, and the brothers are… often at odds, shall we say. Also in the book, we find the father an officer of the Presbyterian church who was often “anxious to be on the hills, where he could restore his soul and be filled again to overflowing.” My father shares this trait with the elder Maclean, and I have inherited it from him. The younger son in the Maclean family is marked by stubbornness and personal drive that exceeds that of his Scottish Presbyterian minister father. My younger brother and my father often, to put it politely, but heads when in contact with one another for a long period of time. Both of them can be characterized by a powerfully driven, type-A personality. A desire to control the circumstances of both their own life and the lives of other around them, and while the years have softened my father’s starkness, my brother, at the age of 20, is still considerably willful. The center of the Maclean family, the rock which both of the sons look to, which the father loves dearly, and which remains almost unchanging throughout the story is the Mrs. Maclean. Kind, loving, eminently patient, she is an idealized mother spelled out on paper and clad in a short and slender frame. Change to location from Montana to Oregon, and turn the clock forward 100 years, and this could be my own family. There is one more character in the Maclean family, Norman himself. The elder brother. The more introverted one. The one who, though there are differences in opinion, loves his brother and his father, who is laid back to the point that he is able to accept most anyone as long as they are genuine. He has his faults as well, he is a people-pleaser, often to his own detriment, but he is still a kind and likeable guy. Hello, my name is Thomas Pendell, and I would like to enter your program for the Master of the Arts in Counseling.
Unfortunately for both you the reader and, I the writer, my skill as a wordsmith falls far short of that with which Mr. Maclean plied his pen. Also, I lack several decades from the life Maclean drew his stories from. What I can do is answer your questions, even if your prompt for the application essay contains one of my least favorite questions: “when and how [did] you [become] a Christian.” The reason for my dislike for this question arises from my dislike to disappoint. My conversion story is rather simple. I was born into the church and God never let me walked away. The story of how I decided to pursue a career in ministry is far more entertaining. My story would have to begin in high school. I was a shy and reserved kid. I would take the corner chair whenever possible, and my level of interaction with people was minimal. It was in my sophomore year that I became the quietest person in the theatre department. I’m not certain how much of my development was due to experience in the theatre and how much was due to simple aging, but one way or another, I was far from shy as a senior. I had become comfortable with the circle of people around the theatre. It was time to expand my social landscape beyond high school.
I was understandably more outgoing in my first year at college, but at the same time I was working on an engineering degree, which is not conducive to the development of social skills. Lots of time spent inside among others who were nice enough but quiet. God’s designs, however, placed me in a university with a wide variety of general education requirements, including courses in philosophy, history, and theology. What I found in taking these classes was a budding interest in the humanities. I subsequently ignored this interest until my junior year. Junior year, 2 things happened which changed the course of my academic career: the first, was a theology class titled “Introduction to the Christian Faith.” It was fascinating. Reading such classics as Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Bonhoeffer’s Life Together, and Tozer’s the pursuit of God gave me my first real taste of the Christian literature I had long meant to read, but had never seemed to find the time for.
The second event was another class, this one an engineering course. I came into it having never failed a class before, and rarely having been even close. My first exam, I received a score of 59%, the highest test grade I would receive all semester. The frustration I faced in my struggle in the engineering class, combined with the joy I found in a well-taught and well-read theology class, and my experiences the following summer as an intern at my home church led me to believe God was calling me away from a life in physics to pursue a career in ministry. Since that summer, I have been growing in my faith well, in a manner much more consistent with the way I should be growing. It is not something I realized before, but until that year, I was stagnating in my faith. I was a Christian, but I was not growing as I should.
The classes were what planted the seed in my mind, but the summer of 2010 watered that seed with a fire hose. The summer of 2010, I worked as an intern at my home church in Eugene. I read e fair amount of theology, had a lot of fascinating discussions with the pastors, and prepared and delivered two sermons. Also, my favorite part, I was the leader of the annual church campout. 40 people, 7 campsites, the Metolius river, bacon over a campfire, homemade chili, and 4 days (3 nights) of good conversation with friends in one of the most beautiful parts of God’s creation.
As far as discipling, most of my relationships with friends have become discipling relationships. Whether my friends are Christian or not, I have often become the person they come to when they are facing a difficult challenge in their lives, whether seeking advice or simply comfort. This has become less of a role as I have left college, but I still get occasional texts or emails. I think this may be where I do my best evangelism too. Friendship evangelism is difficult, but it is the best may to reach people in today’s America. People have to be respected before they can be converted, and they cannot be viewed simply as ‘projects.’
As I am applying to the Master of Arts in Counseling program, there are more questions to answer. What is the connection between theology and psychology? I believe the Bible speaks to the whole person, and as such, speaks to the mind as much as the heart and soul. it is stated in the Westminster Catechism, man’s purpose is to glorify God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. As this is a prerogative of Christianity, it is something the Bible speaks to. In Christ, we find a truth that should comfort and counsel us no matter what our life is like, and it is finding how that connection can be made that has to form the foundation of Christian counseling. As my pastor would say, “your opinion doesn’t help anyone, it’s the truth of the Bible that matters.” Unfortunately, my knowledge of Biblical support for people is not encyclopedic. I need guidance myself to find the connections between Biblical text and peoples’ situations.
You want to know how I plan to help the ministry of my home church. I believe I will fill a void between the two pastors currently on staff. the Senior pastor is an excellent communicator, but is often more straightforward than might be best in certain situations. The Associate pastor is much more soft spoken, but has trouble couching his words in such a way as to avoid insulting people, and while the Word of God can be offensive to some, it needs to be the truth of Word that shines through rather than what seems to be the opinion of the man speaking them. Clarity, that’s the word I’m looking for. I’m not trying to be insulting or degrading to either of these men. Both have helped figure somethings out in my life. But I think I am a better communicator than [associate pastor] and better at being sensitive to the emotional needs of people than [senior pastor]. Ideally, I would not be at my home church long after seminary. my dream is to work in Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, or Southeast Alaska, and it is my hope God would see me called there.
So, here I am. What is your verdict?
It is a difficult task I have been put to, writing a decent essay from a series of bullet point questions. Family, faith, future, finances, all of these are great subjects to write about, but stringing them together is quite a demanding proposition.
Let’s start with family. In Norman Maclean’s novel A River Runs Through it, we read the story of a family in Montana, where the father is respected, the mother is loved, and the brothers are… often at odds, shall we say. Also in the book, we find the father an officer of the Presbyterian church who was often “anxious to be on the hills, where he could restore his soul and be filled again to overflowing.” My father shares this trait with the elder Maclean, and I have inherited it from him. The younger son in the Maclean family is marked by stubbornness and personal drive that exceeds that of his Scottish Presbyterian minister father. My younger brother and my father often, to put it politely, but heads when in contact with one another for a long period of time. Both of them can be characterized by a powerfully driven, type-A personality. A desire to control the circumstances of both their own life and the lives of other around them, and while the years have softened my father’s starkness, my brother, at the age of 20, is still considerably willful. The center of the Maclean family, the rock which both of the sons look to, which the father loves dearly, and which remains almost unchanging throughout the story is the Mrs. Maclean. Kind, loving, eminently patient, she is an idealized mother spelled out on paper and clad in a short and slender frame. Change to location from Montana to Oregon, and turn the clock forward 100 years, and this could be my own family. There is one more character in the Maclean family, Norman himself. The elder brother. The more introverted one. The one who, though there are differences in opinion, loves his brother and his father, who is laid back to the point that he is able to accept most anyone as long as they are genuine. He has his faults as well, he is a people-pleaser, often to his own detriment, but he is still a kind and likeable guy. Hello, my name is Thomas Pendell, and I would like to enter your program for the Master of the Arts in Counseling.
Unfortunately for both you the reader and, I the writer, my skill as a wordsmith falls far short of that with which Mr. Maclean plied his pen. Also, I lack several decades from the life Maclean drew his stories from. What I can do is answer your questions, even if your prompt for the application essay contains one of my least favorite questions: “when and how [did] you [become] a Christian.” The reason for my dislike for this question arises from my dislike to disappoint. My conversion story is rather simple. I was born into the church and God never let me walked away. The story of how I decided to pursue a career in ministry is far more entertaining. My story would have to begin in high school. I was a shy and reserved kid. I would take the corner chair whenever possible, and my level of interaction with people was minimal. It was in my sophomore year that I became the quietest person in the theatre department. I’m not certain how much of my development was due to experience in the theatre and how much was due to simple aging, but one way or another, I was far from shy as a senior. I had become comfortable with the circle of people around the theatre. It was time to expand my social landscape beyond high school.
I was understandably more outgoing in my first year at college, but at the same time I was working on an engineering degree, which is not conducive to the development of social skills. Lots of time spent inside among others who were nice enough but quiet. God’s designs, however, placed me in a university with a wide variety of general education requirements, including courses in philosophy, history, and theology. What I found in taking these classes was a budding interest in the humanities. I subsequently ignored this interest until my junior year. Junior year, 2 things happened which changed the course of my academic career: the first, was a theology class titled “Introduction to the Christian Faith.” It was fascinating. Reading such classics as Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Bonhoeffer’s Life Together, and Tozer’s the pursuit of God gave me my first real taste of the Christian literature I had long meant to read, but had never seemed to find the time for.
The second event was another class, this one an engineering course. I came into it having never failed a class before, and rarely having been even close. My first exam, I received a score of 59%, the highest test grade I would receive all semester. The frustration I faced in my struggle in the engineering class, combined with the joy I found in a well-taught and well-read theology class, and my experiences the following summer as an intern at my home church led me to believe God was calling me away from a life in physics to pursue a career in ministry. Since that summer, I have been growing in my faith well, in a manner much more consistent with the way I should be growing. It is not something I realized before, but until that year, I was stagnating in my faith. I was a Christian, but I was not growing as I should.
The classes were what planted the seed in my mind, but the summer of 2010 watered that seed with a fire hose. The summer of 2010, I worked as an intern at my home church in Eugene. I read e fair amount of theology, had a lot of fascinating discussions with the pastors, and prepared and delivered two sermons. Also, my favorite part, I was the leader of the annual church campout. 40 people, 7 campsites, the Metolius river, bacon over a campfire, homemade chili, and 4 days (3 nights) of good conversation with friends in one of the most beautiful parts of God’s creation.
As far as discipling, most of my relationships with friends have become discipling relationships. Whether my friends are Christian or not, I have often become the person they come to when they are facing a difficult challenge in their lives, whether seeking advice or simply comfort. This has become less of a role as I have left college, but I still get occasional texts or emails. I think this may be where I do my best evangelism too. Friendship evangelism is difficult, but it is the best may to reach people in today’s America. People have to be respected before they can be converted, and they cannot be viewed simply as ‘projects.’
As I am applying to the Master of Arts in Counseling program, there are more questions to answer. What is the connection between theology and psychology? I believe the Bible speaks to the whole person, and as such, speaks to the mind as much as the heart and soul. it is stated in the Westminster Catechism, man’s purpose is to glorify God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. As this is a prerogative of Christianity, it is something the Bible speaks to. In Christ, we find a truth that should comfort and counsel us no matter what our life is like, and it is finding how that connection can be made that has to form the foundation of Christian counseling. As my pastor would say, “your opinion doesn’t help anyone, it’s the truth of the Bible that matters.” Unfortunately, my knowledge of Biblical support for people is not encyclopedic. I need guidance myself to find the connections between Biblical text and peoples’ situations.
You want to know how I plan to help the ministry of my home church. I believe I will fill a void between the two pastors currently on staff. the Senior pastor is an excellent communicator, but is often more straightforward than might be best in certain situations. The Associate pastor is much more soft spoken, but has trouble couching his words in such a way as to avoid insulting people, and while the Word of God can be offensive to some, it needs to be the truth of Word that shines through rather than what seems to be the opinion of the man speaking them. Clarity, that’s the word I’m looking for. I’m not trying to be insulting or degrading to either of these men. Both have helped figure somethings out in my life. But I think I am a better communicator than [associate pastor] and better at being sensitive to the emotional needs of people than [senior pastor]. Ideally, I would not be at my home church long after seminary. my dream is to work in Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, or Southeast Alaska, and it is my hope God would see me called there.
So, here I am. What is your verdict?
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