Women in Ministry VisionQuest

12-09-2016

By David Vincent Goodwin

About a month ago now, the McCormick organization Women in Ministry put on a Prayer Mosaic to help students and McCormick community members to rekindle their prayer lives. I had the great pleasure of not only attending, but offering a table on a style of contemplative prayer. It was a well-needed oasis amidst the recent announcement of the President-Elect, and all of the continuous work of grad school

Now that we are through finals, the Women in Ministry group is putting on another event, this time with the focus of preparing for the year to come. The event is called VisionQuest, and it will start at 9:00 AM tomorrow in the McCormick Common Room.  The Eventbrite page lists the VisionQuest as free, and suggests that you bring your favorite dish to participate in a sort of potluck.

I reached out to Antonia “Black Cotton” Coleman, one of the students responsible for organizing VisionQuest. She spoke of how after such a hectic year, the idea was to create a space to rejuvenate a little, while offering practical tools for organizing one’s to-do list for 2017, specifically in relation to school work and other Seminary deadlines.

“We will be setting goals for the coming year and beyond,” said Coleman. “We’ll put vision boards together as well. Gina and I, in the spirit of the new tag line for women in ministry, ‘Sisterhood | Spirituality | Self-care,’ want fellow seminarians to maximize this journey. Careful planning of our year will do just that. Hopefully, we will be finishers of goals and not just idea keepers.”

Coleman sees VisionQuest as not only preparatory, but pursuing the cultivation of sustainable practices amongst her fellow seminarians. “VisionQuest’s purpose is to help get attendees into the habit of making goals, accountability partners, and staying on target.” Coleman explained, “there is programming available and will occur yearly. VisionQuest will be a yearly gathering.”

Still, it sounds like something you don’t want to miss.