Featured Student

Lissy Sandoval

MDiv in Ministry to Women

For Lissy Sandoval, the idea of going to seminary was only a dream. As a mom of two girls and wife to her husband Oscar, Sandoval was busy raising a family and working in the corporate world. That is, until two years ago when her church in Lowell, Massachusetts, Mill City Church, offered her a staff position as a College Minister and Outreach Coordinator. It was through this opportunity and the encouragement of her pastor that Sandoval started to consider theological education.

A woman at Lissy's church in Lowell, Massachusetts, Mill City Church, worships on Sunday morning.

In 2019, Sandoval’s dream became a reality when she began her MDiv in Ministry to Women at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Sandoval also travels to campus for hybrid weekends, giving her an opportunity to be on campus while still applying what she’s learning as she serves in New England. She has seen a number of ways in which her education is actively equipping her while serving at Mill City Church. Through Bible exposition classes, she is helping women to see the breadth and depth of God’s word while applying it to their lives. Through counseling classes, she is learning the importance of not just looking at the symptoms of a problem but asking good questions that help women dig down to the root of the issue — to see what is going on at the heart level.

Dr. Julia Higgins teaches in a weekend hybrid class on ministry to women.

Thirteen years ago, Mill City Church was birthed out of a campus ministry at UMass Lowell. The church still sees the reverberations of that beginning today, with 30 percent of attenders being college-aged or having come out of that campus ministry.

Lowell, Massachusetts, is situated in the fifth most post-Christian area in the United States, according to a 2019 Barna Group study. And that is where believers like Sandoval are seeking to make disciples among college students, helping them to see their place in the Great Commission from Lowell to the ends of the earth.

The building in Lowell where Mill City Church meets.