Divcast

On this episode of Divcast, aimed at those moving to the Durham community, we take a look at six different areas that you should consider about Durham when relocating here: Housing, Transportation, Culture and the Arts, Restaurants and Dining, the Triangle as a whole, and Nature. Our two staff assistants run the show this time, with Brandon Holmes hosting and Kinsley Whitworth as the guest. We hope you grow to love Durham and the Triangle as we have. You can learn more about Project Bri(DDD)ge on our website.

Our suggestions on this episode do not constitute an endorsement from Duke Divinity School. However, we did get the complexes, companies, and organizations listed on the episode from current student recommendations and also from personal positive experiences. It takes research to find a place to live and to learn about a community -- we hope this bonus episode can be part of your research.

We have come to the end of our short series following student stories in their Field Education experiences. Our final episode showcases stories of three students who served international placements during their time at Duke Divinity School.

Student intern host Evelyn Archer-Taminger connects with colleagues to explore three examples of the broad range of experiences that students have in service internationally. Stephanie Hilton, M.Div. '21, tells about her time in Uganda where she worked with a rural Roman Catholic parish and school. In a location on the other side of the world, we'll also hear from Kyle Tremblay, M.Div. '21, and Benjamin Crook, M.Div. '21, who lived and served at La Casa del Migrante a men’s guesthouse in Tijuana, Mexico in 2019. Learn more about the variety of international placements available through Field Education at Duke Divinity School here.

Thank you for joining us for this episode and this student-hosted series, Engaging in the Field.

Student intern host, Evelyn Archer-Taminger, M.Div. '21, continues our series of stories from Field Education with an episode about how four student interns have adapted to serving in unexpected situations and in new, innovative ways due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Evelyn connects with Bria Rochelle, M.Div. '21, about the challenges of serving a church in Indiana from her home in Alabama and how to stay fueled during this marathon. Kiana Hertogh, M.Div. '22, shares her story of joining with a church plant that was 10 weeks young in March of 2020. Gilbert Lawrence Barney, M.Div. '22, talks about pandemic disappointments and how to persevere in difficult times as well as when to keep your mic on mute. Finally, Shawn Klein, M.Div. '21, reflects on his variety of experiences in Field Education and how relationships bring layers of meaning to ministry.

If you want to learn more about the initiative mentioned at the end of this episode, check out the incredible work done by Theology, Medicine, and Culture through Duke Divinity School.

We continue our student-led series, Engaging in the Field: Student Stories from Field Education, with an episode about an innovative Duke Divinity School program. Communities of Learning consist of cohorts of student interns and ministry leaders committed to connecting congregations with their communities. Through this program, residential M.Div. students participating in field education placements in the same geographical area meet together with ministry and nonprofit leaders to collaborate on strengthening their communities. Communities of Learning affirm what we already know: that churches do not exist in a vacuum; they exist inside a larger context alongside other stakeholders with a vested interest in their community’s flourishing.

Divcast student intern host, Evelyn Archer-Taminger, M.Div. '21 talks with her colleagues Bailey Brislin, M.Div. '21 and Maggie Liston, M.Div./M.S.W., '22 about their experiences serving in these generative and collaborative internships. Bailey describes over multiple placements in Communities of Learning how she developed support systems for ministry and and ecumenical understanding as she partnered across denominations in the communities where she served. Maggie talks about serving in Communities of Learning and how they shaped her internship experiences by introducing her to the communities in a deep way. Maggie also shares practices of self care and bonding with cohort members that made these experiences life giving.

Learn more about the Communities of Learning placements here.

Welcome to our new student-led episode series, Engaging in the Field: Student Stories from Field Education, that will be posted on Sundays during spring of 2021. One of our Divcast student interns, Evelyn Archer-Taminger, M.Div. ’21 is taking over the host role for this series. She connects with other current residential Master of Divinity students to tell stories of their experiences with Duke Divinity School’s Field Education program. Field Education is a required component of the M.Div. degree and serves as a valuable companion to classroom academic work. Students serving in contextual learning in a variety of placements including in churches, nonprofits, agencies, and in hospitals as clinical pastoral care interns nurtures growth both in their vocational discernment and in their spiritual lives.

In this first episode of the series, “Growing in Your Call,” Evelyn speaks with senior residential M.Div. students Kari Martin and Kyle MacDonald. Each has had a range of experiences with field education and weaves together how the placements they served in grew them in unexpected ways. Kari grew up part of a non-denominational church in Virginia and pursued placements at Duke where she could be formed in church settings affiliated with both the United Methodist Church and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. While Kyle, came to Duke from Kentucky with tons of music ministry experience and grew his idea of what kinds of ministry God might be calling him into. Enjoy Evelyn’s conversation with her colleagues Kari and Kyle.

Due to the ongoing complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic, pre-enrollment discernment opportunities for incoming students may be limited or eliminated. The Office of Field Education will make an official determination by April of 2021.

Join us for a conversation with Duke Divinity alumnus Rev. R.G. Wilson-Lyons. In his 15 years of ministry, Rev. Wilson-Lyons has gone from pastor of a house church in an under-served community, to a downtown congregation, and now is exploring what the future of ministry looks like through online storytelling. Rev. Wilson-Lyons illustrates his role of pastor in Birmingham’s West End as one of convener for the work of community that is done by community members with their skills, wisdom, and sensitivity to their own community needs. He also works through what kinds of connections might be possible, during this season of COVID-19, through our shared experience of physical estrangement with digital access.

Read about the transformative work done around food insecurity and community development in Birmingham’s West End by chef Ama Shambulia here. Learn more about Rev. Wilson-Lyons new ministry and read his reflections by checking out the Patreon community page, Story Formed. You can find the book he recently read, Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl here.

Host Rev. Todd Maberry catches up with alumna Dr. Jessica Wai-Fong Wong, who earned her M.Div. and Ph.D. from Duke. Dr. Wong serves as Assistant Professor of systematic theology at Azusa Pacific University in Southern California. She also is an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Dr. Wong probes deep questions of race, image, and identity in her scholarship. She chats with us about how a young woman from Texas follows a path to an M.Div. in North Carolina, how to pursue a doctoral degree, and if there is more to Californian cuisine than the avocado. Dr. Wong’s book, Disordered: The Holy Icon and Racial Myths is forthcoming in fall 2021 from Baylor University Press.

Please join us for a special episode where Dean L. Gregory Jones and host Todd Maberry discuss the state of Duke Divinity School in 2021. They outline how Duke Divinity School has met and continues to meet the challenges and complexities of our present time with creativity and courage. Dean Jones shares how we have shown institutional flexibility and resilience in the midst of much change. Learn about new and emerging opportunities and also our foundational priorities, which remain the same.

A conductor, composer, and scholar of sacred music, Dr. Zebulon Highben serves as both associate professor of the practice of church music at Duke Divinity School and director of Chapel Music at Duke University Chapel. He conducts the Duke Chapel Choir and oversees the Chapel’s extensive music program, which connects students, community members, staff singers, instrumentalists, and professional colleagues in myriad worship services and sacred concerts.

He joins us to talk about the richness of a vocational life as a musician, teacher, and ordained Deacon. Dr. Highben gives us insights like why you shouldn't scold your acolytes for missing hymnals, how music can preach, when the rehearsal can be more satisfying than the concert, and how to find flow in church music.

Dr. Janet Martin Soskice serves as the William K. Warren Distinguished Research Professor of Catholic Theology at Duke Divinity School. Her scholarship epitomizes interdisciplinary curiosity, exploring a range of topics from theology, to philosophy of religion, religious language, gender and religion, science and religion, and Jewish, Muslim, and Christian relations. She shares a companionable conversation with Rev. Maberry as they discuss how a theologian is like a vintage of wine, the power of conversion experiences, the importance of metaphor when talking about God, and what you can find when you travel by camel.