I was torn between pursuing my career in teaching and entering full-time ministry. While I would have preferred the ministry option, getting theological training would have meant moving away from my home and church in Liverpool to go to Bible College somewhere else in the UK, yet my intention was to invest more in my church, not move away!

Like many Bible College students, I had dreams of using my degree immediately in a full-time pastoral ministry context, and dreams of pursuing more education at a graduate level. I began to feel discouraged about the opportunities available to me as a young pastoral candidate in America. I was hoping to receive both full-time pastoral experience and further theological education simultaneously–which was hard to find.