Church Executive CONTINUING EDUCATION | Page 2

Table of Contents ABOUT HOOD THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 3 THE PURSUIT OF ADVANCED EDUCATION: A FULL-TIME PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE 4 Since earning my Master of Divinity, my calling and vocation have taken me into Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE); police chaplaincy in the Atlanta Police Department; Biblical Studies instructor of both Old and New Testament at the Westminster Schools (Atlanta); counseling in a mental health center (Sumter, SC); and to full-time pastorates in South Carolina, Virginia and presently, North Carolina. Over the course of my career in ministry, I felt the need and desire to re-tool and re-equip myself for service in the present age. By Rev. Dr. Clay L. Barrow IT WAS JUST FIVE WORDS 5 I remember sitting in a one-week intensive class, watching a video by photographer Dewitt Jones. He talked about his travels for National Geographic and how the scenes he captured and the people he met impacted his perspective on the world. Jones talked about an interview with a life-seasoned woman known for her weaving. When he asked her what she thought about when she was weaving, the five words came. Five words that have stayed with me and changed me. When I weave, I weave. By Rev. Kristina “Kris” Mares JUSTICE, RELEVANCE AND AUTHENTICITY 6 “Social relevance” serves as a holy grail for those whose careers depend on the ability to identify current patterns of thinking and spot contemporary cultural trends. Success follows, conventional wisdom holds, the politician, recording artist, filmmaker, or company that can locate, commodify and project “social relevance.” In North America, where persons continue to move increasingly toward secularism — including the millennial generation with its well-documented disinterest in institutionalized religion — the ongoing, anxiety-ridden search for new expressions of the Christian faith and ways of “being church” is well into its third decade. By Trevor Eppehimer, Ph.D. 2 HOOD THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY MISSION STATEMENT 7 NeighborHOOD. SisterHOOD. BrotherHOOD. We are HOOD. 8 CHURCH EXECUTIVE • C o n t i n u i n g E d u c a t i o n – H o o d T h e o l o g i c a l S e m i n a r y churchexecutive.com