Ministry Distinctives
Degree Program
MACL - Masters in Christian Leadership
The Master of Arts in Christian Leadership degree program is designed to prepare students for personal and organizational leadership roles in a wide variety of church, parachurch, missions, and marketplace contexts. The MACL program at DTS is designed to help men and women learn who God has uniquely gifted them to lead in whatever ministry setting they are called to serve.
Overall Reflection
For my competence in the Christian Leadership degree, I am submitting the following artifacts:
-
Ed-Cycle Project which demonstrates my skills in planning, research, and application of the teaching skills I have learned in a practical ministry setting
-
Intercultural Journal which shows the missions and discipleship connections I have made during my time at seminary and my time at Camp Mardela with our German year-long full-time volunteer
-
Theo-Cultural Reflection to showcase my creative theological skill, and how I am able to interact with popular culture from a solid biblical and theological foundation.
Learning Reflection
​As I developed in the Christian Leadership degree and ministry experiences, the biggest lesson I learned was my need for balance. Although I still make progress in almost all of my goals, I did not achieve all of any of them. I was hoping to do a lot more, but the lack of balance in my work, school and personal life made that very challenging. This was the most challenging year I have had at camp for several reasons:
-
This is the first time in 2 years that I haven't had a year-round full-time volunteer (the last one left right at this ministry residency was beginning)
-
I began this class in serious burnout after working 80 hours/week in summer camps doing at least 5 different jobs simultaneously (administrator, kitchen manager, lifeguard, archery instructor, music teacher). I have still not fully recovered from that burnout.
-
This has been one of the busiest camp years since I have been here (40% increase in rental groups and a 50% increase in camp events)
-
I was asked to fill the pulpit regularly at the Denton & Easton Church of the Brethren, making Sunday church visits much more difficult to do
-
I am very involved in a few singing organizations. Those commitment were once doable with extra help and a lighter work load, but I did not realize that this was too much until it was too late, and these musical commitments often took more time than I could afford. Eventually I cut my involvement in these in half.
-
I have been planning my wedding for May 30th, 2026. Although this feels like the least stressful things on my plate, it is another thing on my plate nonetheless.
I want to point this out not to make excuses, but to point out that some of my goals were a bit ambitios, and I did not realize all of these obstacles were going to be present when I made these plans.
​
I have spent quite a lot of time being discouraged that I have not been able to make as much progress as I wanted, and feeling like I'm falling hopelessly behind. However, as I remind myself of the uniquely difficult year this has been, I am able to give myself grace, and recognize that insite of this, I DID still learn valuable lessons, and achieved some of my goals.I learned valuable communication skills, benefited greatly from seeking mentorship and therapy, grew in my ability to delegate by hiring a part-time administrative assistant, and made some meaningful connections with homeless ministries and urban communities. Even if these were just small steps, I feel like I did at least take steps forward in all of these areas, and I am encouraged by that.
Lifelong Reflection
As a result of the experiences documented by these artifacts, I will continue to develop in the Ministry Leadership degree by making some major changes in my time commitment and workload so that I can better apply myself in the areas that God has called me, and set aside those things of lesser importance so they con't distract from that ministry.
​
One of the hardest realizations I had to come to is that the way I am living my life currently is not sustainable, and is a recipe for long-term burnout and some seriously unhealthy consequences of that. I am already experiencing burn-out and have been in that state since this course began, and I have been unable to pull myself out of it. In order to do that, I will need to make some serious life changes to protect my peace.
​
I am learning that the never-ending grind and hustle that is idolized by society is not worth the toll it takes on my mental, spiritual, and physical health. If nothing else, this class has shown me thatfocused attention is required to achieve goals, and that attention cannot be given when so many plates are spinning at once. I've learned to start saying "no" and not over-burnening myself with work. It's a low process but one that I have begin, and will continue to do until I regain balance and peace,