What crazy person would accept the call to be president of a Presbyterian seminary in this present, precarious environment?

Well, as reported in our cover story three issues back (July 22), two have accepted that call: Frank Yamada is the new president of McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, and Jim McDonald is the new president of San Francisco Theological Seminary. And they share a palpable excitement over their new callings. Crazy.

Sure, the great recession has “made financial management of seminary and fundraising of seminaries extremely important,” says McDonald. Hard decisions have had to be made, including letting go of some faculty and staff. But their schools have “benefited from a long a history of trustees and presidents that have intentionally invested in their endowments,” reminds Yamada. “For that reason, most Presbyterian seminaries are on stronger financial ground than other theological institutions across the country.”

Sure, membership continues to slide in the denomination both schools serve. But “the church is going through tremendous changes, not just the Presbyterian Church and not just in the United States, but around the world the church is changing in part because the world itself is changing,” responds McDonald. “And the church has to learn to respond to that changing world and be engaged in fruitful and effective ways.”

Sure, the world is facing conflict and polarization.

“Sunday is still the most segregated day of the week,” admits Yamada. “But at McCormick what we have is an opportunity, this rare thing that happens in our classrooms, where this diverse group of people comes together around a common purpose … And the outcomes of that have to go way beyond what anyone can learn in a theology book or a biblical studies text or a church history course. What they learn is how to engage theological education and theology in this environment of radical difference. … We have something here that really has the possibility of not only transforming theological education but also transforming society itself.”

Sure, this new call for them is a radical change from what they’ve done before. Yamada was teaching Hebrew Bible. “While I certainly enjoy a life of teaching and the life of scholarship, I’ve always felt this kind of calling, this urge to administration, to being able to think more in terms of the vision of the institution and the way forward for theological education. So it was really kind of a discernment move on my part to think about how my experiences [could help inform] theological education in this time and age.”

McDonald, the former executive of Bread for the World, comes to SFTS after training in international relations. He insists, “Religion and politics and international relations are very much intertwined in the reality of our world.” The church is “not just about being church; it’s not about the institution; it’s about the role the church plays in the world.” He pounds the point home. “God is calling the church to be engaged with the world. I feel like my degree is a reminder that the church needs to be engaged broadly with the world.”

They are hope-filled, because their own faith is built on a rock. Yamada, raised a Buddhist, was converted to Christianity at Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, the megachurch that launched the Jesus Movement in the late 1960s. At age 19 he was swept into student and college ministry leadership and even played piano and guitar in one of the church’s Christian rock bands. In subsequent years, he engaged in cross-cultural ministry with second generation Korean- American Presbyterians — himself being a third generation Japanese- American. He’s played active roles as a Presbyterian minister throughout his years in the classroom.

Throughout his social service career, McDonald has worn his ministerial robe as parish associate at Chevy Chase Church in Maryland, and later at St. Mark Church in Rockville, Md. He has worked alongside his spouse, Elizabeth “Dean” McDonald, also a Presbyterian pastor.

Both Jim and Frank love to serve their Lord, and both are crazy enough, in this present, precarious environment, to jump at the opportunity to become the president of a Presbyterian seminary. More power to them.
—JHH

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