Pastoral Residencies

By Paul Hooker

The Reverend Dr. Paul Hooker is associate dean for ministerial formation and advanced studies at Austin Seminary. He served on the team that designed the Austin Seminary Post-Graduate Pastoral Residencies.

I remember the first time I ever moderated a session meeting. I was a newly minted associate pastor, fresh out of a Presbyterian seminary, and I had never drafted a meeting agenda, wasn’t familiar with Robert’s Rules of Order, and didn’t know half of the names of the ruling elders who would take their seats around the table at that meeting. The pastor was away on vacation, and the moderator’s chair was all mine. I can remember thinking, and maybe even saying out loud, “They didn’t teach me this in seminary!”

It’s every new pastor’s nightmare, whether it’s a session meeting or a funeral or the first time you sit down to counsel a young couple getting married. You reach back into your well of experience, hoping there will be something usable there to get you through the moment—but there isn’t. You’re on your own to figure it out.

I was one of the lucky ones. The pastor called me from vacation, he talked me through what I needed to know, the ruling elders were merciful and understanding, and it went well enough for a first time. But what if you don’t have those support systems?

I hasten to add that this seminary was not Austin, and the times were long ago. At Austin Seminary, we now teach both session meeting management and parliamentary procedure as part of the Presbyterian polity course. Significantly, we have a dedicated pastoral leader in the Zbinden Distinguished Chair of Pastoral Ministry and Leadership who teaches our students the ins and outs of ministry from a wealth of parish experience. But one wonders what more we might be doing to enhance the skills of particularly promising students to become excellent pastoral leaders.

That is at least one of the reasons why Austin Seminary has created the Post-Graduate Pastoral Residency: to give some of our most promising students a two-year, post-graduate exposure to pastoral leadership. The residency is the brainchild of our president, Ted Wardlaw, who described it not long ago in this manner:

In those crucial first years of ministry, Austin Seminary residents will learn more deeply the rhythms of ministry—worship, pastoral care, formation, leadership—and will emerge at the end of these two years as prime candidates for congregational leadership elsewhere.

Austin Seminary Residents serve in congregations where ministry is done with excellence under the tutelage of pastors who mentor those students with wisdom and compassion. Congregations like First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth, St. Philip Presbyterian in Houston, First Presbyterian in Waco, and First Presbyterian in Austin, and pastors like Michael Waschevski (DMin’03), John Wurster (DMin’01), Leslie King, and Elizabeth Boone McLean. As the years go on, these lists will grow, filling with the names and locations where ministry is done with excellence in our part of the world. Places where students become adept at the quotidian tasks of ministry that, done with faithfulness and thoughtfulness, lead to the health and wholeness of the church.

Which leads to another reason for creating this residency: to give congregations in this part of the world an opportunity to experience some of the bright, creative, and energetic talent Austin Seminary is producing. The years immediately following seminary graduation are the years in a pastor’s ministry at which he or she is the most creative, the most unlimited by habit or expectation, and therefore freest to try something new. Congregations that are open to that “something new” can benefit from what our best students have to offer.

I spent the longest season of my professional life as a presbytery executive, watching pastors and congregations seek to carve out places for ministry in communities occasionally less than receptive to them. I know how difficult the task is. I also know that, without a network of support and encouragement, new pastors can find themselves adrift in uncertainty and insecure about their calling. The hope of this residency—to say nothing of the pastors, congregations, and presbytery leaders who participate in it—is to anchor as many of our graduates as possible in best practices that reduce that uncertainty and in collegial relationships that solidify their sense of call to congregational ministry. We think, at the very least, that the church will be better for it. It might just be the case that the future of the church may depend on it.

THE RESIDENTS

I have never felt more loved in my life than by this congregation …

Kallie Pitcock (MDiv’20) and Brendan McLean (MDiv’20) have been serving as Dickson Residents at St. Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston, and First Presbyterian Church, Fort Worth. Dickson Residents (see page 14) are the first of several residencies that will comprise the Austin Seminary Post-Graduate Residency program. Dean of Students Sarah Gaventa administers the program. Windows caught up with them at the end of the program’s first year.

Let’s start with Brendan and Kallie—tell us what you were doing before seminary.

Brendan McLean: Before seminary I was a college student. I got a degree in music and comparative religion then went straight into seminary.

Kallie Pitcock: Many things were happening between my undergraduate degree in special education and master’s in school psychology: I married an active-duty marine, moved around the country, tried out multiple careers, mothered three children, and then came to seminary—plus serving in the role of youth pastor right before I came to seminary.

Sarah, what’s your role here?

Sarah Gaventa: Once congregations have agreed to participate, I become the point person. I get to know the congregations, I get to know the Residents, I set up interviews and remind the graduates and their supervisors about checkins, that kind of thing. My favorite part is that once a month, the Residents gather over Zoom®, and we reflect on their experiences in the congregations and think about them in terms of what they learned in seminary. It gives a chance to deepen the learning experience and to continue the community of students.

What are the expectations of both the graduates and the churches?

Sarah: For the graduates there’s an expectation of developing some learning goals, to think about what skills they want to deepen, what things they want to learn about parish ministry, so that they can really explore those. Students are also expected to complete a project—a combination of what the congregation might need done and what they’re interested in doing. It’s a way to have one project that’s entirely under their belt and entirely within their set of responsibilities. The congregations are expected to provide a supervisor with pastoral experience.

What made you decide to apply for the Dickson Residency, and how did your expectation about the residency compare with the reality?

Kallie: Well, I did not want to do a residency at all! I had this sense of, I’m 35, and it’s time for me to go do the job! That’s kind of a “senioritis” stance, and Sarah, who has been a trusted mentor all the way through seminary said, What about just talking to them? So I agreed, grudgingly is my point. And I can see God’s hand on it all the way through, even if my attitude was very poor. It was exactly the spiritual and skills formation i needed the spiritual and skill formation I needed—I can’t imagine having entered parish ministry any other way. It was with support, it was with mentorship, it was with opportunities to try new things. It gave me a place to learn and really explore what my gifts are and where my holes are without burning out. I’ve come in and learned a pace of ministry that is sustainable. So, I was wrong, and Sarah and the Seminary were right. Maybe not for all, but for many, it can be a really great gift to receive the opportunities offered a Resident.

Brendan: The only thing I will add from my own experience is that, coming straight from college into seminary, I felt like the residency was exactly what I needed having no prior real church work experience—the same reason I did three internships when I was in seminary! I would add that Kallie and I started in the midst of a pandemic, and so one of the unexpected gifts of the residency is basically having our call affirmed with a baptism by fire—the way we learned how to adapt, how to be flexible, and how to change our plans on a dime when the world was changing into a new world right before us is probably the biggest thing for me. My pastoral care instincts have really grown in the past year because they’ve had to. And now, as we’re cranking up, it seems there are a lot of people who just want everything to kind of be like a rubber band, and snap back to the way it was. But we’re not rubber band people, we’re Resurrection people.

What are some of the key things you’ve learned in this first year of ministry?

Kallie: One of the things I’ve learned in a multi-staff congregation is to name and claim my gifts for ministry. When I got here I said, I love to change, to rearrange the furniture, if you will. Naming that felt scary, but it was really affirmed here. So they told me, the Mission Committee is going great, but Fellowship needs, literally, a total makeover. Also, I remember the first week John [Wurster, her supervisor] said, okay, this Sunday, you’re going to read Scripture. I thought, I went to seminary for three years—What?! But it was so great. He led me in gently. I did each part of the service, and then I started linking them together, then I did the whole thing. And so it just really allowed me to reframe the pacing of ministry.

Brendan: Figuring out my gifts for ministry is just a continual process, but seminary didn’t necessarily afford me all the opportunities that this does to really dive into it. I’ve learned that I have a knack for adult Christian curriculums and facilitating classes. You have that space to explore where your gifts are and where your growing edges are. And so one of the big things I’ve learned is where I need to invest in a continuing ed budget, either reading or going to conferences to improve on particular parts of ministry. I’ve learned you’re never done learning.

And the minute you think you’re done, God is going to put someone in your life, and probably in your church, who’s going to do a good job of humbling you!

Tell us about your projects.

Brendan: I’ve been doing work with this group here called Circles of Christ, which is a partnership with Mount Moriah, an African American congregation, to build bridges and to establish intercultural, inter-church connections. One of the other things that happened at the beginning of our residencies was the George Floyd murder and the national reaction to that. A lot of Circles of Christ work was basically doing book studies and film discussions on Zoom®. A few of the members of the church really expressed enthusiasm and curiosity about what reparations look like, and so I’ve constructed a project to hopefully help the church introduce the conversation of reparations and make space for discussion about what that is. This isn’t just something where we set aside a certain amount of money to give to the NAACP; it needs to be an intentional, thought-out process. And it doesn’t always need to be financial. And so what I’m hoping to do is make a presentation to the Mission Committee here next month about the research and then guide them through a curriculum that opens us into that discussion. It’s not exactly what I expected to start with, but it’s absolutely what I think the church needs right now.

Kallie: My project came organically from the life of the church. I told John to put me where I can be the most support. I looked at what fellowship was like in the past, what was important, and I did a lot of listening. They gave me a month-by-month account of fellowship activities, and when we looked at the calendar, none of these things were possible. Not a single thing. And there was a sadness about that. And so we started imagining what might be possible, and I gently guided that conversation. The St. Philip congregation is spread over basically Harris County—that is an enormous amount of geography.

We mapped the congregation into clusters and came up with an initiative called Neighborhood Gatherings. We located a facilitator for each geographical group, and I did six facilitator trainings for which I wrote the curriculum. I made a launch packet for the facilitators. It was such a deep learning for all of us to be prepared: the second the virus conditions and the spring weather allowed people to gather, we could spring into action. There were tears in my eyes over the beauty of the opportunity to connect through the deep loneliness that was voiced. We were able to hear lots of pastoral concerns because we called every single person who is a member or associated with the congregation. And we’ve reconnected with a lot of congregants who have been out of touch for years.

Those sound helpful for both you and the church. Talk a bit about that mentoring process.

Brendan: I just think it’s wonderful to have that be intentional. We have dinners, probably every other week or so, and we have one-on-one meetings. Michael [Waschevski, his supervisor] has done a really good job of just even checking in and saying, “Hey how you doing?” And it’s like, you know, I didn’t realize that was a question I needed to be asked, but it is. I’m on a staff with four other ministers and I kind of have my hand in all these different things, and all the other ministers have been wonderful mentors as well.

Kallie: John has seen that this is different from an associate position: I have a specific amount of time and here’s what’s important to get done. When I got here we had live-streamed prayer service seven days a week which gave me many opportunities to prep the prayer service. It’s the same with presiding at the Table as soon as I was ordained. I’ve gotten to preach as much as the other associates. And then in terms of congregants, once he got to know me he said, “This is a congregant I’d love you to call.” She and I have similar spiritual dynamics. We’re able to really pray with one another and share dreams and hopes for the church with one another, and she helped me develop an adult Christian ed class I wrote and taught. So having a congregant be a partner in that discussion has been wonderful. And in a similar vein, this congregation is highly connected across the PC(USA). I got a call asking me to serve on General Counsel for the presbytery. I was like, Who, me? I didn’t see that coming! So, opportunities to serve the church in larger ways that, again, I don’t know how I otherwise would have had this much space and opportunity to explore all of those things.

I have to say, I have never felt more loved in my life than by this congregation. I get letters, presents on my desk, meals—that’s the essence of who this congregation is. The support I experienced even in a pandemic was just really incredible. The congregation took ownership of the residency. The whole congregation saw this as their chance to serve the church and to lift me up and support me in ministry. It’s just been really awesome.

Brendan: The one disadvantage that I would add, is to be prepared that people will connect so much that they won’t want to accept that you’re only going to be there for two years. And then you have to have difficult conversations like, This is a temporary position and I love you and I know you love me but it’s also about discerning God’s call.

Sarah, I know one of the intentions of the residency is to put graduates in touch with healthy, thriving congregations—that’s kind of the genius idea behind the program, right?

Sarah: It’s been so wonderful to hear these stories and to learn in more detail about the projects you all are doing and how loved you’ve felt by the congregations. I think President Wardlaw is very thoughtful as he considers congregations to host these residencies. He is looking for thriving congregations with mature leadership who will be wonderful mentors with a lot to offer from their own experience. In our monthly meetings we include some Austin Seminary graduates who are serving in other residencies. And the quality of deep reflection that they’ve done with each other and their ability to see patterns or to think about how congregational anxiety functions in their church or in themselves or how thriving functions in their congregations and to analyze and to watch them support each other through these learning processes has been really cool.

What are you residents looking forward to?

Brendan: The residency teaches you skills that are not geographically based. I originally thought I was going to stay in Texas, because this is where my connections are, this is where I’ve become grounded as a minister. And I realized that I’ve learned skills here and I’ve built a confidence here such that I don’t necessarily feel like I need to stay tethered to where I’m comfortable.

Kallie: The thing I keep thinking about is the network of connections won’t go away, even at the end. These relationships that are being fostered just develop a web of relationships that we hope and pray for in this connectional denomination. And in these times, that’s a real gift. v

THE MENTORS

Our pastoral staff is superbly suited for teaching and coaching a beginning minister . . .

Ted Wardlaw has a foundational belief that informs nearly everything he does as president of Austin Seminary: Where there are committed and faithful pastors, elders, and deacons, you will see healthy congregations; when there are healthy congregations, the church thrives.

Over the course of his presidency, this conviction has driven the Seminary to focus its efforts on grounding students in the sort of biblical, theological, and spiritual foundations they will need to love and lead their flocks upon graduation. The Austin Seminary Post-Graduate Pastoral Residency program is, you might say, a final piece of that formation.

As he went about designing the program, Wardlaw felt the most critical element was identifying “best practices” congregations led by “best practices” pastors or pastoral teams. It seemed natural that the first two congregations to participate, First Presbyterian Church, Fort Worth, and St. Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston, not only fit that description but already have deep ties to Austin Seminary.

Both churches enthusiastically embraced the invitation. St. Philip senior pastor John Wurster (DMin’01) said, “Hosting a residency offered us an opportunity to be involved in the formation of a new pastor and to contribute to the future ministry of the wider church.” Ruth Waldrop, an elder who chairs St. Philip’s Fellowship Committee and who has worked closely with Resident Kallie Pitcock (MDiv’20) agreed, “The residency seems like a very well-thought-out means for immersing a new seminary graduate into the life of a congregation with requirements and benefits for both sides and without a long-term commitment. Our pastoral staff is superbly suited for teaching and coaching a beginning minister, and Kallie is an eager learner. She jumped in with both feet! That combination certainly maximizes the positives for both parties.”

Michael Waschevski (DMin’03), associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church, Fort Worth, has served as the primary mentor for Resident Brendan McLean (MDiv’20). He agrees it has been a good fit: “As a strong supporter of Austin Seminary, the church has had a long history of offering internships to its students. Because of our commitment to developing leaders for the PC(USA) and our outstanding experiences with Austin Seminary students, we were excited to participate in the residency program.”

Waschevski appreciates two strengths of the program, the two-year time frame and the intentional ministry project, designed by the Resident, that addresses a particular need of the congregation. “Two years allows for significant relationship building, opportunities for experiencing multiple aspects of congregational ministry and leadership, and the ability to plan and lead a thoughtful and significant ministry project.”

One year into the two-year program, both congregations express confidence in the graduates’ seminary preparation and appreciation for the surprising result of having these young and energetic Residents in their midst.

“In a Sunday School class on ‘The Faith of a Child,’ we were invited to wonder and question and wrestle together on topics such as salvation, with Kallie providing excellent layered resources,” says member Betsy Boston. “Her leadership of circle led to authentic discussion on personal grief, beyond the norm.”

Waschevski concurs that Brendan “is a valuable part of our ministry team. He is well prepared for ministry in multiple settings. This time as a Resident has been affirming of his gifts as it offers deeper experiences in the practice of ministry.”

THE SUPPORTERS

The Dickson Endowment for Post-Graduate Pastoral Residencies

Through the faithful and visionary generosity of Paul and Beverly Dickson of Shreveport, Louisiana, Austin Seminary is blessed to provide two-year residencies in best-practices congregations for two well-qualified graduating seniors at Austin Seminary each year. The residencies are an opportunity for graduates to refine skills for pastoral ministry—particularly in preaching, pastoral care, church administration, and effective church leadership—while serving under the tutelage of wise and experienced pastoral leaders.

The two residents selected from the Class of 2021 are Parker Lucas (MDiv’21), serving First Presbyterian Church, Waco, Texas, and Jonathan Freeman (MDiv’21), serving First Presbyterian Church, Austin. The Seminary welcomes gifts from other generous benefactors to ensure that additional well-qualified graduates may engage in this foundational experience for generations to come.

Asked what moved them to make a $3.3 million gift to endow the program, Paul observes, “Beverly and I are fortunate to have received a series of great pastors through the years at First Presbyterian Church in Shreveport. Pastoring is a gift of grace that we are thankful to support through the Dickson Pastoral Residencies. We hope that many congregations over many years will enjoy great pastors who were launched and enriched by their residencies. Likewise we hope that the congregations who host the residents will be enriched as they share in the spiritual and vocational journey of each resident.”

My "Residency"

By Rev. Shelley Craig (MDiv’98)

Inspired by her own experience during her Supervised Practice of Ministry placement while an Austin Seminary student, Shelley Craig along with her husband, Forrest, financially support the Austin Seminary Post-Graduate Residency program. Through the Craig Residency Stipend, Residents receive a check to supplement expenses not covered by the program.

Shelley and Forrest Craig

The Austin Seminary Post-Graduate Pastoral Residency program aligns with and expertly expands upon my own vision and experience of optimal preparation for PC(USA) pastors. Through it, graduates become effectively equipped to serve congregations and the larger church, supplemented by the high academic standards represented in our MDiv degrees. I have invested in this residency program, and I heartily endorse and encourage its vision for the well-being of the church.

The joys and challenges of my experience of ordained ministry and pastoral leadership were honed by my fourteen-month, less-structured “residency” at First Presbyterian Church, Conroe, Texas, under the supervision of the pastor, Rev. Dr. Rick Young (DMin’96). In a dual-purpose internship, I served the congregation while the congregation assessed my presence as part of their process for discerning whether they were ready to call an associate pastor.

Ministering at First Presbyterian through the whole liturgical year (a significant ingredient of preparation), I staffed and served through all areas of congregational ministries. Rick phrased his supervision and commitment to my preparation for congregational ministry as “The Big P.”

The “Big P” was shorthand to guide me into assuming roles of pastoral caregiver, priest, teacher, and preacher appropriate to each area of ministry. Rick and I discussed which “P” hat I wore as I visited members, taught Sunday school, staffed various committees, preached, presided over Communion and funerals, moderated Session, and supported and was supported by administrative staff. I learned to adapt to the flexibility needed for the unknowns of any given day throughout the church seasons. Serving through the whole liturgical year allowed me to witness the ebb and flow of the work of the congregation, as well as the ebb and flow of church members’ lives.

In addition to the multiple personal and professional challenges, the most stunning aspect of my experience was the members’ regard for and trust in me as their pastor. Rick treated me as pastoral colleague with the respect afforded one. Absorbing and responding to this respect, credibility, and authority was initially breathtaking. With time, I blossomed in self confidence.

Throughout my twenty-three years of ordained ministry, I have called on the wisdom, sustenance, and creativity of these experiences and of Rick’s unstinting wisdom in our weekly debriefings—a time of feedback, critique, and encouragement. I learned to respect congregational traditions. I adapted and created new ways of “being church” together. I took risks with supervisor backing and protection. I learned from mistakes without falling off a cliff. Members engaged eagerly and seriously in their roles to nurture, listen to, and call upon me and provided honest feedback and critiques. Along with Rick’s supervision, they shaped me into a pastor who considered ministry one of the most joyous gifts God has granted me. My leave-taking at the end of fourteen months was marked with a “toast” of our memories while I sat atop a toilet paper throne, laughing at their humorous stories and basking in our mutual appreciation. That experience marked my effective entry into congregational ministry with confidence, ideas, compassion, and a maturity of experience, grounding me in my love for the people I’m called to serve through Christ’s grace. While ministry involves surprises, both welcome and unwelcome, I believe my ministerial leadership aptly reflects the time invested in me through my “preparation-in-residence.” Even in tough situations I understood I was equipped to equip others to serve in Christ’s name together—a leadership of disciple-building and consensus.