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| Spring 2002 | a publication for alumni, family, and friends |
Full-time students explore calling in area churches Brandon Vetter Dakota Wesleyan's abbreviated mission statement is "preparing students for a lifetime of learning, leadership, faith and service." Some students are already achieving those goals. Matthew Richards and William "Skip" White are full-time students during the week and on the weekends they serve as pastors in rural churches. Both are religion/philosophy majors.
Richards feels that God has called him into pastoral ministry. He has seen God provide for him in all areas of his life and has been learning how to balance the spiritual needs of the church with his own. "You have to choose your priorities," Richards said. "I know it's what God wants me to do so I make it a priority. It gets busy at times with schoolwork and church duties, but those are the times I buckle down and get things done." Richards plans on attending Garrett Evangelical Seminary when he completes his bachelor's degree. "Coming back to the Dakotas is an option, but ultimately, I will go wherever God leads me," he said.
"I've been involved in churches as a youth, been a youth pastor, but I've never been the pastor," he said. "I wanted to see if I could handle it. He conducts Sunday morning services, has office hours, visits nursing homes and hospitals, holds Bible study and performs funerals and weddings. White officiated at his first funeral recently, and for him, it was "petrifying." "Usually, you can mess something up in a regular Sunday morning service and it doesn't bother anybody," he said. "However, you can't mess up a funeral. It has to be perfect. Everything did end up all right, though." White said he loves the experience and feels it will put him far ahead of those in seminary who haven't had the experience. He has been accepted to attend Duke Divinity School in the fall and will "more than likely" end up back in the Dakotas when his schooling is complete. Dakota Wesleyan University |
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Richards is a junior and is the pastor at United Methodist churches in Artesian
and Roswell. Kris VanNurden Mutzenberger '99, the churches' former pastor, recommended him
for the job. In his second year as pastor, Richards says he preaches at Sunday morning
services and attends an occasional board meeting.
White, a senior, is the pastor at the United Methodist churches in
White Lake and Underwood, a position he's had since July.