Today is the first day of school for the spring semester. Sarah made our lunches for us, since both of us are going to be up on campus from 11am to 6pm on Mondays. As our class started, and the professor started taking Roll, I got all ready for my name to be called. And then it happened. He passed me. Went straight from the Ch-s to the Co-s. What happened to Cleaveland? And then I realized what had happened. I’m not a “C” anymore. I’m a “W.” I’m a Walker Cleaveland – not a Cleaveland. Now, obviously I knew that, but today was my first day of having my name called at the bottom of the list. Way down there. Oh well. I’m glad to be a Walker Cleaveland.
As for classes, I am hopeful that they will be much better than last semester. This semester I’m taking:
- Presbyterian History & Polity: Well, I’m not too excited about this course. Perhaps it will allow me to become a little more familiar with the Book of Order so that I know what I can get away with, but…not excited.
- Pastoral Care of Couples & Families: I’m really excited about this course, which is taught by my favorite Columbia Seminary professor, Bill Harkins. The readings look great and pastoral care is still something I’m very interested in.
- Youth & Young Adult Ministry: Taught by Rodger Nishioka, this should be a good overview of these ministries and another good chance to think about them theologically.
- Paradigms in the Practice of Evangelism: This course is taught by Steve Hayner, who used to be the President of InterVarsity. Emergent folks tend to get a bad rap when it comes to evangelism, and I think that’s unfair. I’m looking forward to being able to think about evangelism and what it might look like for the Emergent conversation.