After hours of talking to my pastor and our congregation’s then music director, research online, and plenty of prayer, I decided to apply to Luther Seminary for my masters of divinity degree.

Luther offered a distributed learning program that would allow me to study from home most of the time with regular trips to campus for short, intensive classes.

Right before my candidacy committee appearance I interviewed with a representative from Luther. Our phone conversation went well. It ended with this note, “As soon as we hear from your candidacy committee on their decision, we can let you know more.”

I met with the committee on a Friday evening in April, and it was the next Monday that I got a call confirming my spot in cohort 9 of the DL program. Each entering class is grouped into a cohort that stays in-touch online and spends time together at intensives.

Now I had at least three years of coursework and one year of internship ahead of me on the path to obtaining my master of divinity.