Four American Baptist Seminary of the West students talk about their experience at the GTU consortium.

Melinda and Belinda Thomas
Melinda: As Pentecostals, we arrived at the GTU wondering if we were going to lose our spirituality and become more heady and puffed up. But teachers have embraced us—they wanted to learn more. We took a sexual ethics class that caused us to appreciate our bodies as a way of worshipping God. It opened us up, called us to rethink the politics of the church.

Belinda: Sacramental liturgy was never a thing for us before arriving at the GTU. From our interactions with students from different traditions, we’ve learned how to appreciate reading prayers. I did not use “justice” in my vocabulary before coming here. The GTU exposed me to the gospel of the poor.

Dexter Thomas
ABSW and the GTU have empowered me to be more focused on social justice. They have synchronized that dual dimension of faith, one that is both otherworldly but also, to quote ABSW professor J. Alfred Smith Sr., working with “the nasty now and now.” I came here knowing scripture well, I had the knowledge, but now I have the practice as well.

Jodie Tooley
Christ’s diversity is here. I like the school’s intentional nature, its conscious approach to multiculturalism, mirroring Christ’s world and what’s happening globally. I learn from the conversations I have with people during breaks and outside of the classroom. I would advise first-year students here to relax into the experience and have fun—we tend to take our lives so seriously!

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