Background and Endorsement

My name is Shawn and I'm a seminarian. I've been a seminarian for too long and have served in several different churches in various ministry positions.

I'm a Korean-American and I grew up stateside. I used to be in the Army Reserves as well as being an ROTC cadet, and it was there that I first got my call to ministry.

I used to be a student at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, but have transferred to seminary in Korea. I'm now at Torch Trinity Graduate School of Theology and will be receiving my M.Div. soon enough.

I started the process to become a Chaplain Candidate when I was at Talbot, but since coming to Korea, I was unable to complete the process because you have to be a seminarian in an American school for that.

Long story short, there are a variety of things that I still need to complete before I become a chaplain, but I've started work on them.

One of the most important things is to be endorsed for ministry by a church. Not just any church, but an accepted body has to send you. This can often be a difficult process depending on the denomination or church that sends you - with varying levels of interaction between the endorser (person assigned by the church or denomination or ecclesiastical body to do this work) and the individual applying for the Chaplaincy.

I've received an active duty endorsement - which is amazing!
This means that I can now be an active duty Chaplain after I finish seminary. Pending the Army's approval of course. But of course, this means nothing unless the Army selects me for active duty.

So what did I do to get to this point? I guess I should tell those stories. I'll start at the beginning and work my way forward. Hopefully, by the time I get through with that, there'll be a written record of what God has put me through to get where I am now.

So what's up next? My calling the recruiters?
I should probably start with the "Wash letters" that I needed. I needed letters from US seminaries saying that my degree from my school here in Korea is acceptable in their eyes. It's sort of an ad hoc accreditation for the foreign school. Impossible? Not exactly. Difficult? Perhaps. And the entire story is one of God's grace and providence.