Asbury Theological Seminary recently announced my hire as Director of Academic Growth & Formation. I am delighted to share this news with you. I am one of many new hires Asbury has made as they continue to strengthen what was already an outstanding faculty. You can read more about some of the new faculty that will be joining Asbury here.

I have felt drawn to Asbury’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site since I first heard about it several years ago. I will continue to teach in my new role. I will also get to work on Asbury’s commitment to introducing students to Wesleyan band meetings. Because of Asbury’s deep Wesleyan roots, the seminary has had a commitment to small group formation as a part of the student experience. These groups give students the opportunity to “watch over one another in love,” as Wesley put it. They also give students experience in leading small groups so they will be equipped to lead dynamic small group ministries where they serve. I am thrilled to get to partner with colleagues in Formation at Asbury to equip students to build community and connection in their ministry contexts and make disciples through these tried and tested small groups. 

I have already been energized by the conversations I’ve had with people at Asbury Seminary and Seedbed around band meetings. The resurgence of Wesleyan small group formation in the contemporary church is one of the most encouraging things I’ve seen in the church over the past decade. Asbury has been the key leader in reclaiming this practice, particularly through their vision for Seedbed and New Room.

I will also have the opportunity to work to build Asbury’s Tulsa Extension Site. I think this is what I am most excited about. When I lived in Georgia, people would occasionally press me to transfer my conference membership. Wherever we have lived, I have always had a sense of calling to stay connected to Oklahoma. Tulsa, in particular, has felt like home throughout my life. I am excited to be able to invite students I care about and want to work with to spend some time in a place I love.

As someone who has primarily worked in the academy, but whose heart beats for the local church, experience has shown me how important healthy local churches are to theological education.

Tulsa is the home to not just one but two of the strongest Methodist Churches in the United States (Asbury Church and First Methodist). Each church has a strong and unique heritage. Both churches have also added new senior pastors in the past year. And they are dear friends who are both people I have long said I would love to have pastor my family. Andrew Forrest is just finishing his first year at Asbury Church. And Andrew Thompson has been in place for six months at First Methodist. And these are just two of many churches in the region I believe are on the verge of revival.

I also believe Tulsa provides a model where people who are already serving in local church contexts can be further equipped and strengthened for the work God has called them to without having to leave their ministry context. One of the best ways to learn and grow is by doing. Students at Asbury Seminary – Tulsa will only come to Tulsa for 2.5-day hybrid courses a few times a year. The on campus meetings will be both academically rigorous and spiritually invigorating. The rest of the student’s academic work will be done where they live. This is a model for theological education that puts the needs of the church first without sacrificing academic quality. 

I thrive when I am in a context I genuinely believe in and passionately support. I believe in Asbury Theological Seminary and the opportunities at the Tulsa Extension Site. I am eager to work with the students there that God is raising up to lead in the church.

I am also grateful to God for opening a door for me to join the team at Asbury Theological Seminary because tectonic plates are shifting in the culture, the academy, and the church.

During times of significant change and upheaval, the historian in me looks to places that are already tried and tested. Asbury Theological Seminary has demonstrated its commitment to basic Christian orthodoxy, the authority of Scripture, and its value in raising up evangelical Wesleyan pastors for the church for a century. Asbury did this in an environment where it would have benefitted from compromising its values and theological commitments. More than any institution I know of over the past one hundred years, Asbury Theological Seminary has resisted the tendency that besets nearly every institution to drift from its founding commitments. 

I experienced how seriously the faculty take stewarding Asbury’s identity and commitments during my candidacy for this position. It was clear to me that this was not a mere formality. Rather, the faculty take ownership of the institution’s identity and commitments with integrity.

And I have loved Asbury’s mission statement since I first read it:

Asbury Seminary is a community called to prepare theologically educated, sanctified, Spirit-filled men and women to evangelize and to spread scriptural holiness throughout the world through the love of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit and to the glory of God the Father.

Let’s go!

Oh, one more thing: Remember how I said that I would love for Andrew Forrest or Andrew Thompson to be my family’s pastor? Andrew Forrest is now my family’s pastor! In God’s goodness to us, I am not only the Director of Academic Growth & Formation at Asbury Seminary, I am also the Scholar in Residence at Asbury Church. Asbury Church, through Tom Harrison’s leadership (who was long-time senior pastor of Asbury Church before Andrew), has always had a strong partnership with Asbury Theological Seminary. The Seminary’s Tulsa Extension Site is located on Asbury Church’s property in the Development Center. I cannot imagine a church more invested than Asbury Church in the future of theological education. I believe it will be essential for many churches to stand up and be counted in the coming years. The church must insist academic institutions entrusted with training women and men for Christian ministry maintain an unwavering commitment to biblical orthodoxy and an unabashed commitment to the ongoing formation of those students in the likeness of Jesus Christ as they are learning, growing, and leading in the church.

If you or someone you know is considering seminary, please reach out! I would love to talk with you about Asbury’s many degree options and how they can help you grow in your calling.

Kevin M. Watson is Director of Academic Growth & Formation at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is anchored at the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site.