Seminary is a transformative time and causes everyone to wrestle with many pressing and difficult issues. Sadly these issues are often ignored by many churches into which we as students and graduates will be sent. In my run at Fuller this has resulted in somewhat of an isolated and fragmented experience. I made the decision to work while taking classes in order to minimize debt and not have to scrounge for a cup of coffee after paying rent and living costs. The down fall is that my life has been far too full.

As graduation is on the horizon this June, I've begun reflecting upon the processes God has been guiding me through over the past couple of years. I was reading an article on biblical leadership which spoke of God moving emerging leaders into places of isolation and even depression at which point one of two responses takes place. First, we might be inclined to flee and leave God, the church and following Jesus. Sadly this has recently happened with one of my closest friends. The other option is to choose to go deeper with God. To go deeper into the place of uncertainty and questioning with the confidence that God is taking us through a refining process which will emerge into a new move of the Spirit.

For all of the incredible things Fuller offers, community and genuine connectedness is difficult to come by. Now this is not Fuller's fault altogether, because it is hyper-individualism is the major poverty and fatal situation of our culture in America. My encouragement to any prospective fellow Fullerites is to dive headlong into your classes here, but from the get go, find people, fellow travelers who will commit to friendship through the seminary life. I know of friends who with their busy lives in the midst of seminary have had to step back and not do the whole "Sunday service"Â? deal opting to create a church community among those whom they live in proximity with. It's almost like small group is more church than Sunday morning "service". If your small group lives in your living complex, then your church never leaves you and you never leave your church. There is nothing more important than a fellowship of believers that are committed to each other beyond a Sunday morning, especially while studying in Seminary. This is not to say that you should find or form a church comprised of only Seminarians.

This also makes it more possible to engage together the community in which you live. Southern California is a fun place full of opportunities, but as a native, I can say it's a fast paced environment and the endless opportunities of church community, work, classes, study, play, etc. have the potential of leaving us asking God if we're back in Egypt?