Company of New Pastors

Last weekend I had the chance to travel with 8 other Fuller students and 2 professors to Louisville, Kentucky for a gathering of the Company of New Pastors of the PC(USA). They chose 10 3rd year-MDiv students from several seminaries and flew us into the "mother ship" (Louisville is where the PCUSA headquarters are located) for a time of networking, prayer, hanging out, and educating us on this CNP program we've been selected to particpate in. So in theory, it sounds like a great idea. In actuality, all the other schools are located east of the Mississippi River (with the exception of Austin Seminary) and were able to either drive or have a short, direct flight in and out of Louisville. Fuller had a bit of a different experience. We had to be picked up for our 7 AM flight at 4:30 AM by a shuttle and taken to LAX where we flew to Cleveland. We had about a 2 1/2 hour layover scheduled in Cleveland, but that quickly turned into a 6 1/2 hour lay over when a storm moved through the east. So we hung out in Cleveland for the afternoon/evening and finally got to our hotel in Louisville about 10:30 Friday night (having completely missed the welcome dinner and opening introductions/remarks/events. Saturday morning, after morning prayer with all the students, we spent the next 6 hours with our respective seminary groups, which is fine, but we were all under the impression that we were going to network with other students and didn't really feel it was necessary to fly us all into Kentucky to hang out with the people we see all the time anyways. Saturday evening we finally met people from other schools and did have a great time hanging out in the hotel bar and exchanging stories with folks from Princeton, Dubuque, and Austin seminaries. Sunday morning we had a worship service and then left straight for the airport to begin our journey back. This time we went through Houston, where we had a 2 hour scheduled layover, which turned into a 4 1/2 hour lay over when another storm moved in. Needless to say by this time we were all pretty beat, and fairly sick of one another! We finally made it home and have spent the past few days recovering from the jet lag and time changes and early mornings :) I love the idea of CNP and I am thrilled to be part of the group, I just have no desire to return to Kentucky anytime soon!

One of the things we did while we were there though was come up with a "creative" way of introducing the other schools to life at our seminary. We didn't get very far as a group, so Christina and I took over the project and came up with the Top Ten Reasons to be Presbyterian at Fuller...and here they are for your enjoyment :)

10. Despite what the calendar says, it is always summer.

9. Only at Fuller would you find multiple Presbyterian faculty teaching reformed theology while wearing hiking boots.

8. We are known as the land of the fruits and nuts, but that's ok because we have found that munching on them really does keep the brain going at 2 am while studying for a Hebrew test!

7. We have a chance to polish our culinary skills because we have no dorms or dining halls.

6. We don't have an organ anywhere on campus...but we do have a large collection of guitars which can be easily transported to the beach.

5. Only one type of footwear is needed year-round...sandals.

4. You can learn an entire chapter of Greek or Hebrew vocabulary while crawling from one exit to the next on the LA freeways.

3. You can be studying Calvin at Starbucks, look up, and see Jennifer Aniston.

2. You all know Arnold as the Terminator...we know him as the Governator.

1. Where else can you study indigenous supralapsarian hermeneutics in 70 languages while hanging ten at Malibu??

The absolutely beautiful sunrise from my hotel room--I got a room on the 21st floor so I had an amazing view of the Ohio River and the east!The Ohio River
Lunch on Saturday at Joe's Crab Shack--Bob about to enjoy his feast!Ryan's lunchBob and PeterOur guys headed back to the hotelThe entrace to the headquarters of the Presbyterian Center--with a statue of a horse (which are all over Louisville!) and decorated with symbols of peaceThe Fuller crew--(back from left to right): Jessica, Dr. Shuster, Ryan, Ron, Dave, Cedar, Christina, me, Bob, PeterThe class of 2008 Company of New PastorsJessica & Cedar stuck in the Houston airport just wanting to go home!