twenty-seventh & speedway

New members on Seminary Board

Members of the Austin Seminary’s Board of Trustees gathered for their fall meeting on November 1314. They approved the selection of two new members filling the place of two long-serving members of the board, Janice Bryant (MDiv’01, DMin’11) and Jim Allison who each completed nine years of service.

The Reverend Dr. Pamela Rivera is the presiding elder for the Austin Capital District-AME Church. Educated at Concordia University, Truett Theological Seminary, and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, she served as a field supervisor for Baylor University’s Religion Department, a task supervisor for Baylor University’s School of Social Work, and she served on the Board of Advocates of Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University. She was Austin Seminary’s 2023 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Preacher.

Ken Snodgrass (MATS’16) retired in 2014 as the general manager of Shell Energy Europe Ltd where he was responsible for managing the company’s gas/ power trading business in northern Europe, working in Houston, London, and The Hague. He earned degrees from the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Houston. Following retirement he studied at Austin Seminary earning a MATS degree in 2016, where his capstone research project culminated in the book Trading With God: Seven Steps to Integrate Your Faith into Your Work (2019). A lifelong Presbyterian, he has served the church as an elder and deacon.

Herlin and Ledesma remembered

Austin Seminary mourns the recent loss of two former members of the Board of Trustees. Bruce G. Herlin of Palacios, Texas, died on August 31. Building on a legacy of service by members of the Herlin and Trull families that goes back to the 1950s, he served three nine-year terms on the Board of Trustees (1981-1990; 1991-2000; 2002-2010) and was elected a Trustee Emeritus in 2022. Lidia Serrata Ledesma (board member 1988-1997), died in Victoria, Texas, on October 11, 2023.

Austin Seminary is new home to Progressive Youth Ministry (PYM)

With funding awarded through a grant from the In Trust Center for Theological Schools, Austin Seminary is taking on direction, vision, and leadership for Progressive Youth Ministry (PYM) and is the new home for PYM conferences.

The PYM conference and community of churchbased youth workers from across North America was founded in 2014. PYM had a successful five-year run of conferences, experiencing significant growth, highlighted by speakers including Rob Bell, Otis Moss III, and Lauren Winner. Throughout the pandemic, PYM gathered virtually, creating a robust and supportive community of more than 3,000 members online with 200 to 400 participants at its annual conference.

This support for youth ministers aligns with Seminary President José R. Irizarry’s vision, articulated in his Inaugural Address, to plant seeds today for fruits that other generations may enjoy. “In pursuing our vision to raise and support the ‘new generation of Christians,’ this administrative transition allows us to put ourselves at the forefront of youth ministry on the national stage,” says President Irizarry.

“We are absolutely thrilled to pass the baton to Austin Seminary,” said PYM co-founder Tony Jones.

“After conversations with President Irizarry and Professor [Andrew] Zirschky, we are confident that Austin will not only curate excellent conferences but also will expand PYM’s offerings in ways that will benefit thousands of youth pastors.” Jones will serve as a consultant for three years.

The Seminary plans to present an online conference in Spring 2024 and return to an in-person conference later that year. In addition, plans are afoot to add podcasts, curricula, books, and more. Believing PYM is a natural fit for Austin Seminary, given its growing youth ministry degree program, President Irizarry added, “We look forward to engaging these important partnerships in years to come as we widen our place to create spaces where new forms of ministry and leadership can be explored and empowered.”

“This ground-breaking acquisition of PYM is a great example of how academia can directly engage with and impact the wider ministry community,” said Professor Andrew Zirschky, director of the Seminary’s Master of Arts in Youth Ministry program. “This puts the Seminary at the center of transformative change within youth ministry nationwide.”

Austin Seminary welcomes thirty incoming students

Thirty new master’s-level students have matriculated for the 2023-24 academic year. Nineteen students will earn a Master of Divinity degree; seven, a Master of Arts in Youth Ministry degree; two, a Master of Arts (Theological Studies) degree; and two, a Master of Arts in Religion. Three of these plan to enroll in the MDiv/MSSW dual degree program with the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin. Thanks to New Covenant International and Johnston Family International Fellowships and Austin Seminary’s De Puertos Abiertos awards, this year we have five new international students from the Philippines, Pakistan, Mexico, Nigeria, and Malawi.