“I decided to pursue my call to ministry during my senior year of college,” recalls Josh Howard, 22, a first-year student at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (G-ETS), Evanston, Ill. “Until then, I had every intention of becoming a history professor.

“I felt God tugging at my heart during the ethics courses that explored the injustices that humanity inflicts upon itself, but I readily ignored it,” Howard continues. “God changed my plans through my campus minister, a Garrett-Evangelical alum, when she took us on a social justice trip to Atlanta. We visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Museum. I realized it was not enough to recognize social injustice; I must commit myself to change as a person of faith. That is what brought me to ministry and to Garrett-Evangelical.”

From Cullman, Ala., Howard received his B.S. in history, with a minor in religion and philosophy, from Martin Methodist College, Pulaski, Tenn. Now he is pursuing an M. Div. Degree. “I am in the certification stage of the candidacy process for ordination on the elder track in the Tennessee Conference,” he says. “I intend on working in matters of social justice with an emphasis on urban ministry.”

Howard appreciates G-ETS’s "endless opportunities for social justice ministry in an urban context and for field education. There is attention given to both the intellectual and the deeply spiritual properties of the seminary experience.

When I first visited Garrett-Evangelical, my experiences in class visits, in chapel services, and even the sense of community among the students and faculty showed a balance of academia and matters of the heart unlike anywhere else. My experiences since I enrolled have only fortified that claim.”

United Methodist support of the Ministerial Education Fund shapes and forms clergy leaders for the present and the future. Thank you for your gifts!
--Adapted from the Web site of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary