In an effort to get to know some of our new students and build community, we will interview and spotlight at few each month. Here are three students, one of our distance students and two of our on campus students! If you would like to be featured, email semservices@northpark.edu and we would love to feature you!
Fabio Muniz
1. Where are you from?
Originally São Paulo, Brazil, but currently living in Lyon, France.
2.Which program are you in?
Masters of Divinity
3.Why did you come to seminary?
When we were in Fujisawa, Japan, my wife told me about NPTS and its spiritual direction training. I recently completed the spiritual direction certificate. It was an excellent program. A week after graduation, I applied for the MDiv program (with my wife’s encouragement once again) and was accepted. Actually, it was she who brought me into a deeper relationship with the Evangelical Covenant Church and the Serve Globally staff back in 2011. It has been an amazing journey. I am very thankful for her influence on my spiritual journey and academic experience.
4.What are you most excited about for this semester?
I am studying New Testament and Early Church History. I absolutely love both, and they complement one another, but Early Church History is especially fascinating since I live in a city that had persecution in 177 AD, churches from the 4th and 5th centuries, and was the home of Irenaeus. I consider it an absolute grace to be able to read these texts after having visited some of the places mentioned in the books in the last 15 years.
Alison Kuglin
1. Where are you from?
I am from the West Metro area of the Twin Cities, Minnesota.
2. Which program are you in?
Currently, I am in the MACF program.
3. Why did you come to seminary? Oh, that’s a big question! I’ve known for about 10 years that God was leading me towards ministry, and I have been running from that call unsuccessfully ever since then. Last summer I was on a trip with our high school students from our youth group where the Holy Spirit met me in a very loud way, and essentially called me out on keeping my life in neutral. I started taking classes online from Minnesota last fall, and this year it worked out that I’ve moved my life to Chicago.
4.What are you most excited about for this semester?
Figuring out why on earth God had me move to Chicago in a pandemic haha! Really, I’m most excited for discerning the purpose of this time of growth as a student, and where specifically God wants me to invest my life in God’s Kingdom.
Brittany Poku
1. Where are you from?
I was born and raised in the city of Chicago, and I still live here. My great-grandmother moved to Chicago from Georgia during the 1920’s as part of the Great Migration. As a result of her courage and the determination of my grandmother and mother, I am especially proud to be a third-generation Chicagoan.
2. What program are you in?
I am in the Master of Divinity program and hope to graduate in 2025. Also, I am working towards the Certificate in Spiritual Direction concurrently with my degree. (CSD Cohort 16! Woot woot!)
3. Why did you come to seminary?
I came to seminary for three reasons:
1) because I wanted to go to seminary deep down inside (so deep that I denied the desire’s existence)
2) because God told me to go to seminary, and
3) I got tired of running away from reason #2.
Suppressing my desires is tricky but doable. Running away from God is impossible. He kept sending people and experiences that affirmed what He had already said. Psalm 139:7 is facts. I cannot flee from God.
Now that I am here, I hope to develop the knowledge and confidence necessary to walk into whatever comes next. I do not know what comes next, and that is a grace. I resisted God’s good invitation to seminary. If I knew His plans for the path beyond seminary, I would resume my futile running. Running feels far more natural to me than obedience.
4. What are you most excited about for this semester?
I am very excited about the class presentation for my Old Testament 1 class. Let me be clear; I am not looking forward to gathering my thoughts into a coherent presentation nor to talking in front of the class. I am excited about closely studying a chosen passage and going wild with commentaries and other scholarly sources. Conducting research on topics of my choosing has always been fun for me. And now my researching joy is multiplied because I am studying the Word of God AND I have access to countless quality sources through the Brandel Library. Although I am certain this hardly compares to the glory of heaven, access to a good theological library feels heavenly from my limited vantage point.