2021 Cross-Cultural Celebration

how is shiloh well she's fine i haven't seen her in like two years yeah so we'll bring i'll bring her here soon thank you well we want to say welcome to everyone thank you so much for joining us for our 2021 multicultural celebration for our students we are so excited that um even in the midst of these times that we have named and defined as strange and unique that we are still able to celebrate and honor our students their accomplishments and all that god has done in their lives and just thankful and grateful also for technology that allows us still to be able to connect in such a time as this and so tonight is a time of celebration an opportunity to worship god for what god has done for this is truly the lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes um as what god has done in the life of each and every student that is on this call tonight and so at this time i'm going to turn it over to dr leslie oh hello and welcome everyone uh we're gathered here we're going to celebrate all these graduates we're going to praise god for all that god has done in the life of all these uh students and we're so happy so would you join me in prayer uh i just want to remind everyone what psalms 150 says that everything that has breath praises the lord so with every fiber of your being whether you are uh just running in from a days long work whether you're winded or you know just trying to submit the last papers but if you're breathing scripture calls us to praise the lord so let us pray today um as we gather for a time of fellowship for a time of celebration honoring these graduates eternal god we gather here today to celebrate this momentous occasion with joy with gladness we thank you and we praise you uh because you are the sustainer the waymaker the promise keeper you are the source of strength and wisdom and it is because of who you are that each of these graduates is here so for each of them we praise you for each of them we give you thanks for each of their families we praise you and thank you for all the ways in which you have sustained them along this journey we praise your name and move through the celebration tonight let tonight serve as a reminder and as a witness of your faithfulness it is in the name of our savior that we pray and we say amen amen and amen amen gary uh the word of god reads in the book of joshua chapter 1 verse 9 and i'll read it in spanish as well it says this is my command be strong and courageous do not be afraid or discouraged for the lord your god is with you wherever you go josue capitolo uno versi que temando que testa come on all right so we just have right now words of congratulations uh we have all the center directors here um and we're gonna ask daesung would you uh also share words as well thank you yes okay for the students this is just a liberation for the grading students so i want to say students congratulations you made it i mean you know the md program is very hard uh you know every generation i mean it's very hard to conflict uh in in years so you made it i mean we you we are so proud of you and you must be proud of yourself and i think i mean our lord also or will be uh proud of you your your presence here and your stories here like that i mean i mean yeah you made it i mean i mean you completed uh i remember that um it was 2001 when i came make coin for the first time from south korea believe on uh there wasn't a coming at the time and uh and um i remember that um i was so welcomed i mean mccomic welcomed me and my family uh my question was why because i just could say and speak in a few words of english and mccomic actually funded for my education for a couple of years and it was my first experience that to have three bedroom apartment in the comic dorm so that was a huge changes uh of for me so every students and every staff wanted to be lovely friends on me and also the prop even professors uh uh reaches me enriched me i mean you know in asia uh the teacher students relationship is very hierarchical so it was kind of revolutionary experience for me but i felt that so welcomed through two years experience i recognized that that was mccormick mccomic has educational philosophy to welcome diversity and also uh they keeps their education practice cross-cultural practice uh education classroom like that so uh i remember that as much i ne as much as i need my comic mccomic needed me so much because through my presence makumi keep their philosophy kept the philosophy and through my stories and studies of makkumik celebrate their diversity and cross-cultural education the same words i want to share with you the graduation students mccomig is so proud of you your presence and your stories is so so precious to me comics philosophy education and life so we are so proud of you you must be proud of yourself and also my comic education through my education i have i mean even still today i have learned that the creator of diversity is god and also the leader of the cross cultural ministry is our lord so your new face and new chapter is waiting for you it must be tougher job market is so tougher than stamina life but he is still the leader he is a creator of diversity and cross-cultural ministry so god will [Music] be proud of you and your ministry your presence and your stories congratulations again you are the precious daughters and sons of god and now you are the participant of god's ministry congratulations this is great this is great um so on behalf of the latinx center for the study of latino latina theology and ministry uh it is my sincerest pleasure to be here tonight with you join this occasion to celebrate all that you have accomplished so for that congratulations um myself and priscilla we have the distinct pleasure of seeing the the cohorts and all the students throughout their entire mccormick journey all of it pre-covered when we were able to gather priscilla's office would be jam-packed with students especially in the afternoon where you know looking for treats and looking for a little bit of substance as they walked into their afternoon classes but we are particularly moved today tonight because we have the very first cohort of masters of arts and ministry spanish language uh that began in 2018. yes uh yes we had one or two graduate last year but this cohort um is the one that became the first fruits of the program and it was a result of a long-standing commitment and work from many others way before us uh and i'll mention a few people like reuben um aaron mendes david cortez fuentes luis rivera daniel rodriguez diaz and many others so on behalf of the latinx center as we are so called and on behalf of priscilla and myself congratulations congratulations congratulations lologrado yell testimonial so i'll leave for with you second timothy chapter four verses one two five and nine ten i solemnly urge you to proclaim the message be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable convince rebuke encourage with the most patience in teaching as of as for you always be sober endure suffering do not do the work of an evangelist carry out your ministry fully but it's not done do your best to come see me and priscilla soon god bless you may the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you may the lord lift your his countenance upon you and give you peace amen and amen and amen i would like to uh offer the uh the students especially those who are with us in puerto rico to unmute their mics adriana gary jonathan melanie god bless you so is so thank you thank you all for this opportunity we are so thankful from god to be here thank you to the professors thank you for um all the people that have made this impossible and so from there to all of us amen we're just gracious and thankful gary adriana amen i'm so thankful to be here with you all um so many of you have um been a part of this journey and that's what i'm most grateful for at mccormick is is the family away from home that i've been able to establish which makes it even harder to be separated in these virtual times without this means it was such a such a great gift and um i'm glad that this isn't the end right this is just another beginning um i'll be down the street at garrett and i hope to still be able to communicate with you all learn and discuss and fight the good fight together um you all have been such such an amazing blessing all the centers all of the professors like melanie said just so grateful to god um for this gift and yeah congratulations to everyone and thank you so much amen god bless everyone it is an honor and a privilege to be here and sharing the space with you all i am very thankful first to god and to each and every one of the faces that i see here who have put their grain of salt in this journey and i am ecstatic for um reaping the benefits of three years of hard work but uh thank you all and it's it's been it's been a it's been great and with that we say thank you we are um rejoicing we we just if we were together we would be jumping up and down we would be screaming to the top of our lungs would be sharing a meal and we are just so thankful so full rejoice in the lord always and again i say rejoice rejoice and with that i will turn it over to uh dr stacy edwards dunn again um it is on behalf of the center for african american ministry and black church studies as well as priscilla and i that today we also say congratulations to our graduates you made it um and today is our day that we take the time to celebrate all your hard work every tear all of the stretching all of the late nights all of the frustration the anxiety every paper that you wrote everything that you went through the moments that you tore your bible apart and you had to put it together the moments that you were struggling to understand what your professor was saying today we celebrate that god has done a great work in you and this is indeed a joyful occasion for us to celebrate um with you um the road to graduation as we know has not been easy um it's been long for many and steep and especially in the midst of a pandemic i don't think there will really be too many classes it's probably really one of our first classes for a full year that has studied in the midst of a pandemic and that within itself says a lot about your endurance your determination your call and your love for god and god's people and i am just so um excited hippopotamus happy again for what god has done and for what god will do for i know that god is not finished with you because this is simply the beginning and as much as this is a time of celebration as you prepare to walk out the doors of mccormick that god who has begun a great work in you is going to now bring it to completion as you begin to go out and spread your wings and serve throughout this country throughout this world in churches on corners in grocery stores at bus stops at hospitals um in businesses in corporate america wherever you go i know that god is going to do a mighty work in you and we at mccormick are extremely excited and stand with tiptoe expectation to see what god will do i've had the opportunity to work with some of you all and to have you in class and indeed it was a blessing and even to see you blossom and grow and so today i um as judith whibley would say i send you a day full of sunshine a heaven filled with rainbows and a pocket full with dreams and it's my prayer that your future ahead will be as wonderful as each one of you are god bless you may god smile upon you and may you know the peace of christ each and every day is with you and that you are valuable and that god's got you each and every step of the way there might be someone today from um who's a part of the african american ministry in black church studies center who has something to say who is graduating we want to open up our virtual space if you would like to share today as well i'll go ahead and share excuse me if i sound a little loopy running on a few hours of sleep and i'm going to sleep as soon as i press leave from here um but i just want to say how much i appreciate mccormick mccormack has been an answer uh to my prayers both personally professionally and spiritually um and when i think about my life over the past few years mccormick has been there through the ups and downs um and so i'm so appreciative of all that i've gotten from both the faculty and the students both in and out of the classroom i'm just so appreciative for mccormick being in my life and i look forward to a long lasting relationship with mccormick so thank you to each and every one of you to all of you that are on those that are not on i love you all i appreciate you all i'm gonna miss you uh but i'm right down the street and so hopefully when things open back up i will see you all soon amen not shay anyone else um yes good evening everyone how are you all today good um my journey actually began with mccormick before i actually started the black studies program um i'm part of the black methodist church renewal with the northern illinois conference united methodist churches and um mccormick was the ground zero for our clergy summits that we have every year and um i would work with my godmother sylvia oglesby and i would come to mccormick and i would see things going on there and um god and i have been in a battle because he has been after me for a long time and so when i finally decided i was looking at the brochure and that's when i was talking to priscilla and chandra and they were like you know hey just start with the black studies program first and take it a day at a time you know course by course and i was like okay so i finished the black studies program and i'm so happy and currently i am now in the masters of divinity program and looking forward to finishing my journey with god and just feeling good about the mccormick situation and all the people that i have met the networking is the most awesome thing i have um since i've been at mccormick the people my classmates my brothers and sisters now and i'm very excited for this and i'm happy to be graduating at this point thank you anyone else good evening uh i just want to say thank you to mccormick mccormick has been a part of my family for a very long time my father uh was the first of my family to graduate with the mdiv and i don't remember why but he brought me to one of his classes many years ago and i remember sitting there i wouldn't have ever imagined um the connection that i've had to mccormick over the last number of years the love the grace and mercy that has been shown to me the growth that has happened to me because of mccormick uh the preparation that i feel because of mccormick and i do i just i just i'm grateful not only for what mccormick has done but i'm looking forward to what god is going to do through mccormick in the future and my relationships that i have built with staff and students there as well so i'm grateful for graduating but i am definitely looking forward to continuing my relationship with mccormick in the future thomas are you coming off mute to talk i guess i am i said time so i will lift up my eyes to the heels which come with my help my help coming from god and lord above and i am so grateful to be here in this phase in this time on this day with these people celebrating the graduating class of mccormick theological seminary uh graduating class of 2021 we did it lord jesus we did it uh man i don't know about you but you know um when i first started on this journey i didn't know what to expect i started out of course in the black church studies you where you uh representation done and then moved on and to the mdf program and lord jesus it has been more than what i could have ever thought or imagined so um i'll mention this of course you'll see it next week in the video but i have gained relationships that i will take with me until the ends of time i have learned so much and i've been stretched by so many people and uh the trip to ghana changed my life it really and truly has so um i i can't thank god enough for what he's done for me and for him allow me to have this opportunity to be on this road um and i look forward to wherever god is leading me so wherever god leads i will go i will go with him so congratulations love you guys love everyone thank you so much for everything thank you thank you man got the photo op opportunity coming up next yeah before we have our photo op because our president is on the call we want to make sure that we carve out a space for our president if he wants to say something so president crawford would you like to share something with the group i am honored to share something with this group i am i think every year and you know even on zoom this is the event that nobody wants to miss um we've all kind of gotten to that point not just this week but in all these weeks and months that we have been on zoom and you know how you start looking at the boxes and sometimes they're just a little blurry you know the box you don't really you're not you're not really seeing people in the boxes at a point you're seeing the boxes and tonight after what has been a really long week to come on here and see your faces and to see you to see you is is really an amazing thing and and we see we do see you and and we appreciate all the kind words and all of the extraordinary efforts that you all have made all of the grace you have given us and all of the patience and all of your resilience and we are so so grateful that you are part of our family thank you reverend stacy thank you for giving me the opportunity god bless you all and uh i signed a bunch of diplomas today so i i we're ready to go thank you thank you and dean davidson would you like to have something to say before we take our pictures hello everyone i i did say i was just going to be peeping in um because yes this as the president is saying this has been a long week very very busy and active for us to make sure that everything falls in falls into place um but congratulations to you um those of you who are graduating and those of you who will receive uh diplomas and those of you will receive honors and those of you will receive hugs those of you will receive the the well wishes of your community uh and and with that the expectations that you are now the expert in the room that you will be the person who could and answer all of the hard questions about about life well you could do so and do so confidently knowing that you could only give the details of what you know and you have also learned the other skill of saying i don't know maybe we should go look at look for that or maybe we should ask this other person in other words you will not be changed completely but the way people think about you and see you will change and live with that grow into that claim that honor honor that because it has been years years of hard work a lot of dedication to learning new things the expenditure of resources um financial and otherwise to get you to this point so do not do not do not lead your life as if this did not happen to you as if you did not learn anything as if all of the information just did not have its transformative effect and if it did please tell us so that we could know that we failed um you don't have to take that on on as your burden but but to the extent that it did walk proudly uh talk with authority and confidence and graciousness about what you know and the way in which things will work one plug of course is we hope that those of you who can make it who are in town next saturday afternoon will come by pick up your wonderful box of goodies i know anita and the others are happy and eager to welcome you as part of the alumni and that's not just to say welcome they have things they want to give you so come and get them um next next saturday afternoon respond to that email so we know that you're coming and we can prepare prepare for you bye thank you so right now we are going to have a photo op so if anyone made any signs we want you to hold those signs up um we're gonna take some pictures i guess like those who have pictures signs i guess i'll try to get the picture i'll take one here i got it you got them too priscilla okay all right you got it priscilla yeah wonderful wonderful and if you guys can just uh you could take yourself off mute for a few moments and just celebrate um you know let's just clap normally we tell people put stuff in the chat but let's just celebrate hey everybody yes that's leslie and then our prayer well a final announcement i don't know maybe it's just backwards over there but tomorrow yes happy birthday priscilla happy birthday priscilla birthday priscilla happy birthday thank you police love you my sis love love you too priscilla's getting all the love that's wonderful she um not only do you deserve happiness and joy you deserve everything good from above so that's why we love you priscilla thank you so much for always keeping us on track uh also thanks to the wonderful uh zoom and every piece of technology that god has afforded us here at mccormick we have people joining us from japan so it is like seven or eight o'clock uh next day uh tomorrow so they're living prophetically thank you dolores for joining us yes and she has also opened up her home anybody in japan come see her okay we now have our closing prayer right they sung uh i think is still on or did he leave okay so yes it's you stays jae song is here he's here could you he's here he's just gotta unmute himself there we go okay okay let's pray for blasting the lord bless you and keep you may the lord makes his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you may the lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace may the grace of the lord jesus christ and the love of god and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with you all and my comic families forever amen amen amen amen congratulations congratulations everyone thank you thank you congratulations [Laughter] love it i love it

Channel: McCormick Theological Seminary

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Id: yoa5izEp4Dw

Length: 34min 3sec (2043 seconds)

Published: Sun May 02 2021