Austin Bound!

Jessica, Esther, Sol and I are moving to Austin, Texas!

I am going to be starting seminary this September at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I have been offered the Jean Brown Fellowship which includes a full-ride scholarship and also pays for our housing. I will be studying my Masters of Divinity (MDiv). It is a three year program. At the end of my studies, I hope to become a pastor in the Presbyterian Church PC(USA).

I don't think anyone reading this is totally surprised by this news, although this represents a huge change for me and Jessica. We have lived in Denver for 7 years and have put down some deep roots here. We are surrounded by communities that love us and take care of us and it is going to be so hard to leave those communities. But this is the right decision for us, for our family, and for our future.

I have considered a calling into formal church ministry on and off for many years. Finally, in March of 2009, Jessica encouraged me to figure out what it would take to become a pastor. This started a year-long process of discernment for me and Jessica.

One month later, we found our we were pregnant. This obviously dramatically changed our lives, for the better, and changed our perspective. When we considered this in the context of thinking about seminary and eventually becoming a pastor, it seemed to affirm our decision.

Last summer I was approached by the senior pastor of my church and asked to become the part-time youth director. I had been volunteering as a youth group leader for six years at the church. The pastor's petition to serve in a more formal leadership role and actually be on church staff for a year seemed to affirm our decision.

As I started the application process and requested my letters of recommendation, I had a lot of people tell me I was making the right decision, which was very affirming.

Then Esther was born! In the weeks following Esther's birth, Jessica and I talked a lot more about seminary and what it would be like. We decided it was "now or never" and felt a total sense of peace about the decision.

I applied to four seminaries and was admitted to all four. I was offered a 3/4 tution scholarship to Iliff, a seminary here in Denver. I was offered a full-ride scholarship to Princeton Seminary. And I was offered a "fellowship" to Columbia seminary and Austin seminary. This was an enormous blessing and I felt so humbled by these incredible offers. But it made the decision a little bit harder.

After more prayer and discernment, Jessica and I picked Austin! We will be packing up and moving sometime in late August.



This has also been a hard decision for Jessica, but she has been so supportive! She is having a great deal of success in her career. She has been teaching H.S. English at the same school for the past seven years. She started her Masters degree in Educational Leadership two years ago. This fall she wrapped up the degree and has been working as the assistant principal at her high school. She is truly a "rising star" in the field of education and I am so very proud of her.
She is making a huge sacrifice to follow me to seminary. However she is very excited about the prospect of being a stay-at-home mom for the next three years. She will probably try to work part-time after our first year there, there might be some opportunities at the University of Texas in the College of Education.

Sol (the black dog) will be giving up his famous backyard in Denver. But he is pretty adaptable and home is where his mommy, daddy and baby sister are. Austin seminary is VERY dog friendly and the city of Austin seems to be pretty dog friendly too. There is even an off-leash dog park on an island in the middle of a lake. So he will be chasing lots of tennis balls and doing a lot of swimming in Austin.

Esther does not know what she is getting into yet. She is going to be a "PK" (Pastor's Kid). But whenever we mention Austin or Texas, she coos and giggles, so I guess that is a good sign.

That is the big news in the Allen-Pickett house this month! For those of you who have been praying for us as we have made this decision, THANK YOU! We hope you can all come and visit us in Austin!