The HELM Leadership Fellows Program is for undergraduate students who are part of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The Program aims to develop leaders through an intentional focus on four major areas. The first year of the program focuses on Community and students reflect on what it means to be Christian community.
The theme for the second year is Transformation and it gives students a chance to reflect on how Christian communities engage in transforming church, society, and world. In the third year, students focus on Global Awareness and the interconnectedness of Christian communities around the world. The fourth and final year focuses on mentoring and spiritual vocational discernment.
In the third year, HELM partners with the Division of Overseas Missions/Global Ministries to take the students on an international trip to see how we engage in ministries of accompaniment in a particular part of the world. This year students traveled to Puerto Rico, please click pictures below to read the student and mentor reflections!
Emma Drake
Colton Lott
William Matherly
Sam Wilkinson
Listed below are the college, universities and theological schools related to the Christin Church (Disciples of Christ), along with their commencement plans. While many schools have made plans for in-person ceremonies, in some cases there are restrictions on the number of guests allowed. In the list below, if the name of a school is hyperlinked, you can click the link to be taken directly to that school’s commencement information webpage. For those not highlighted, feel free to contact the school directly for more detailed information.
What college/university will you be graduating from?
Miseon Choi is a Ph.D. candidate in Practical Theology with a concentration in Religious Education at Claremont School of Theology. She previously studied Christian Education at Hanshin University in South Korea and completed her Master of Divinity at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. She is interested in the practical life of faith and her dissertation uses a postcolonial perspective to recognize and compare social ideologies and structures to Jesus’ Table Theology.
Rev. Larry J. Morris III is an apostle, digital marketer, and scholar based in Henderson, Nevada. He was ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 2019 and is planting Communion Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Henderson. Communion Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is the implementation of his Master of Theological Studies thesis, “Ministry Gifts in
Vanessa Rodriguez was born in La Paz, Bolivia, and migrated to the United States with her family at the age of three and was raised in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. After a few years of practicing immigration law in the area of deportation defense within the Latino community, Vanessa was baptized and born again at Springfield Christian Church which propelled her studies at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. At Wesley, Vanessa interned as a hospital chaplain and there discovered her passion. After completing her internship, she enrolled in one unit of CPE, which allows her to continue serving as an on-call chaplain while maintaining her legal practice. Vanessa graduated with a Master of Divinity in May 2021 and will be attending Drew University in New Jersey in Fall 2021 to pursue a Ph.D. in Christian Ethics. As a mujerista theologian, Vanessa has a passion to empower and affirm the Latina and her community in and out of church so that God’s work of liberation and transformation can be witnessed. Vanessa is a candidate for ordination within the Disciples of Christ and continues to serve as a Sunday School teacher, church board member, and occasional preacher, as teaching at all levels is her call.
Laura Jean Torgerson is an ordained minister who has served the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) as a congregational pastor, overseas mission coworker, camp counselor, theological educator, and mentor of seminary students. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies of Biblical Interpretation and Culture at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. Her dissertation, “Crossing Contexts: Pentecostal Biblical Interpretation in Church and Seminary,” examines the experience of Nicaraguan Pentecostal students who have learned one set of ways to interpret the Bible in their congregations and confront new norms and expectations when they enter seminary. The dynamics of this particular context shed light on two much broader phenomena: the ways that congregations form their members as readers of the Bible and the conflicts that emerge when students enter seminary, especially courses in Biblical Studies. Her interest in learning more about Latin American Pentecostal biblical interpretation and her commitment to theological education was inspired by her service as a mission coworker in Nicaragua with Global Ministries, which included teaching in congregations and in an ecumenical seminary. She is a member of Mills Grove Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oakland, California, where she lives with her family.
Rev. Dr. Don Pittman, the William Tabbernee Professor of the History of Religions Emeritus at Phillips Theological Seminary and husband to current Phillips Theological Seminary President, Rev. Dr. Nancy Pittman, died on Saturday, July 26, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dr. Pittman’s degrees included a BA from Texas Christian University, MDiv and MA from Vanderbilt University, a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and post-doctoral studies at National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan. He served as a professor and administrator at a number of institutions, including the Disciples Divinity House at the University of Chicago, Brite Divinity School, Tainan Theological College and Seminary in Taiwan, and Phillips Theological Seminary. Dr. Pittman was an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and was a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Association of Asian Studies, the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies, and the Association of Disciples for Theological Discussion. His research interests included interfaith studies, Buddhist Studies, Chinese Studies, and global Christianity.
Rev. Dr. Clark Williamson, the Indiana Professor of Christian Thought Emeritus at Christian Theological Seminary, died on Saturday, July 26, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dr. Williamson’s degrees included a BA from Transylvania College (now University) and BD, MA, and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. He served as a professor and administrator at Christian Theological Seminary, including the position of Executive Vice President and Academic Dean, and was a visiting professor at Claremont Theology School and the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Williamson was an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and a member of the American Academy of Religion, the American Theological Society, and the Association of Disciples for Theological Discussion. His research included formative work on post-Holocaust theology, including writing and speaking against anti-Jewishness in Christian theology.