God's Design of my Seminary Journey

09-28-2021

By Kimberly Lewis

As a child, my mom was the channel in my life for God and church. I was involved in Sunday School, choir, and the usher board. As an adult, I continued to be active in service. God’s call on my life came several years ago when I was taking a 36-week course in “Discipleship,” but I did not move on that call. I continued to actively serve in the church - sharing in student leadership the next year of “Discipleship II,” but I still did not move on that call. Some years later, I was attending a funeral and as the scripture was read (Revelation 21 – A New Heaven and A New Earth), I felt gripped by these words: “Kim, if you don’t move on this call, this call is going to your grave with you.” I looked up and around, was that God? I moved immediately after the funeral service to make an appointment with the Pastor later that week. Four days later, I was attending "Inquiry into Ministry" at McCormick.

During my first year at McCormick, I learned that there were not only endowments, but also gifts from donors that help keep the cost of tuition down. I also learned that McCormick seminarians wrote thank-you letters (inside of cards) to one or two donors every year in appreciation. That year, I wrote a letter to Rev. Dr. William P. Diggs. I didn’t know who he was, so I Googled him. Rev. Diggs was a graduate of Morehouse, received his DMin from McCormick, and was an activist. I also learned that he used to be an instructor at Benedict College. After mailing my thank-you card with a personal inscription, I called family members who I knew attended Benedict College. They not only knew Rev. Diggs, but they were ecstatic to tell me that he read my inscription the following Sunday to his congregants. They [cousins] said he had always given back in service and financially to many institutions, but my thank-you letter was the first he had ever received, and he was honored to the “point of beaming.” I was so grateful to hear of his joy.

To provide more context, my grandfather was one of the original plaintiffs (Briggs v. Board of Education), which eventually combined with 4 other cases under the umbrella case of Brown v. Board of Education. And I felt this unexplainable connection with Rev. Diggs not only because he was from the same area that my grandfather was from, not only because his family and my family in Summerton broke bread together regularly, not only because I received his name to mail a thank-you card to, but because up until the moment I wrote the thank you inscription, I never knew his connection to my family.

I am getting a glimpse of God’s design.

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash