Beeson Podcast, Episode #667 Anna Russell Date >>Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now your host, Doug Sweeney. >>Doug Sweeney: Welcome to the Beeson Podcast. I am your host, Doug Sweeney. I am glad to be coming back to you after our brief summer break. I’m glad to feature on the show today a dear colleague, The Reverend Anna Russell, who is the events coordinator here at Beeson. She is also the newly appointed Director of our Center for Women in Ministry. Anna, it’s great to have you on the show. >>Russell: Thank you. It’s great to be here. >>Doug Sweeney: Thanks for being with us. Lots of things I want to let our people know about you and your work and the ministries of the Center for Women in Ministry. First of all, I think this is your first time on the podcast. Why don’t you tell us just a little bit about yourself? What was your childhood like? How did you come to faith in Christ and how did you get all the way to Beeson Divinity School? >>Russell: Sure. So, I was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. Still very near and dear to my heart. Go Hogs! I was raised in the Methodist Church. So, my parents were very faithful to get me to church. It was definitely a more mainline Methodist Church but I was there week in / week out and it was very formative for me just to be in a faith community as a child. But I also at the same time was growing up in a Lutheran School. Lutheran Church Missouri Synod was the school. Christ Lutheran. So, being in a Christian school was very formed in the Word of God. My teachers were very faithful to teach us the scriptures. So, that was very formative. But for a long time I would have said that my coming to Christ moment would have been when I was a fourth grader at a Christian camp in Hot Springs, Arkansas called Brook Hill Ranch, which actually my dad went there as a kid. My sister and I grew up going there. And both my sister and I ended up later working there in college as counselors for multiple summers. But the first year that I went there I was ten years old. And was just very moved by the counselors’ deep love of Jesus, and their sincere relationship with God, and how it seemed to just flow into everything they did and said and every part of their lives. That was something that I hadn’t really seen before, even though I had grown up in Christian community. And so that was when ... for a long time I was like that was when I really became a Christian. Now I don’t know that I quite think of salvation in the same terms, like it was that moment, because I still remember prior to being ten years old having a lot of moments of sincere faith and praying and talking to the Lord. But I do see that as a very critical turning point in keeping me in the church and putting me on a path for lifelong discipleship. And also that camp was a very big part of my call to ministry because I wanted to do what the counselors had done for me. I wanted to be able to be that for other people. And I later did do that, literally as a counselor at the camp, but then also that was part of me feeling called to ministry more broadly, not just that camp. >>Doug Sweeney: That sounds great. So, you started out Methodist, you went to school with the Lutherans. I think I know you went to a Baptist College. >>Russell: I did. >>Doug Sweeney: How did you get from the Methodist to the Lutherans to the Baptists? >>Russell: Well, it was funny hanging out with the Methodists and Lutherans, growing up I was always around liturgical Christians. And I remember my grandmother was Baptist and I remember one time she would pick me up from school and I said, “Granny, what are you giving up for Lent?” And she was like, “Oh, I don’t do Lent.” And I had never met a Christian who didn’t do Lent before. So, I was very confused. I thought, “What do you mean you don’t do Lent?” But then later in high school is when I started dating my now husband Andrew. He was in the Baptist Church at the time and went to a Baptist school in Little Rock, Arkansas. And so I started attending his youth group with him, our youth groups met on different nights so we went to each other’s churches. And what I loved about what I was seeing in his church and in his youth group was how well they knew the bible. Andrew knew the bible really well. I was attracted to that about him – how much he loved the scriptures and knew God’s word really well. And for me, not to knock my church at all, but I probably knew the bible the best of any of the other teenagers in my youth group because I went to a Christian school. Not because of that I learned it all at church. So, I was really drawn to that. Around that same time, even though I had felt called to ministry before, I was kind of resisting going to school for ministry. And my senior year of high school dating Andrew, looking at colleges, spring of that senior year I realized I don’t want to go to any of the schools I applied to. I think I actually do want to study for ministry and get a biblical studies degree, but I can’t do that at any of the schools I applied to and my parents were concerned about the seemingly set in pivot. So, I ended up going to a different college for my first semester and then my spring semester of freshman year I transferred to Ouachita Baptist University because it was a Christian school that I was familiar with. I knew other people who were going there. My dad actually went there for part of his college years and knew a couple of professors there. And so I was impressed with their Christian Studies program and I went. While I was at Ouachita I also went to a Baptist Church and was very formed by the incredibly faithful professors that I had there who are incredibly knowledgeable and did so much for teaching me how to study the scriptures and apply that to ministry. So, that’s how I ended up with the Baptists there for a minute. (laughs) >>Doug Sweeney: Yes, because eventually you became Anglican. >>Russell: Correct. >>Doug Sweeney: This is quite ... you’re a theologically conservative person, I know, because we work together here at Beeson. But you’re surprisingly ecumenical in your upbringing and your education. How did you become Anglican? >>Russell: That was mostly Andrew. So, Andrew had grown up in his early childhood in the Disciples of Christ denomination, which is very small. And then through his school, his Baptist school and his Southern Baptist Church ... most of his adolescent years he was Southern Baptist. Then he went to Belmont University and was attending and actually working at a Baptist church while he was there. But his professors in the Belmont religion department were kind of from all different backgrounds. He had one who was Episcopalian and that class that he took with that particular professor was the first time he’d ever been exposed to liturgy or the Apostles Creed or sacramentology. And to him while he was in the middle of the sort of college crisis of faith, that really captured him and grounded him in a way that kept him in the faith when he was struggling. And so he found it really beautiful. We’re still dating long distance in college and he says he’s so excited about these things and I thought, “Oh, I’ve known the Apostles Creed since I was like seven years old.” You know? My mom made me learn it! And those were the things that he was finding really beautiful and exciting and new were things that I was missing being in the Baptist world, even though I loved my time at Ouachita and in my Baptist church being in those spaces. I was like, you know, I think I actually do enjoy liturgy now that I don’t have it anymore. You know? Those sort of connections to the historical church and the sacramentology. So, he started visiting an Anglican church in Nashville that met in the evenings. And he loved it. As we were kind of exploring where we would go to seminary and our kind of joint call to ministry, we thought that between the two of us and all the different denominations that we’d been a part of, and the various Christian communities that had shaped our faith, the Anglican Church seemed like a good meeting place and a middle space that would combine what we loved about liturgy and church history. But also evangelicalism and faithfulness to the scriptures and a love for God’s word. Then when we moved to Birmingham is when we joined an Anglican Church officially. >>Doug Sweeney: All right. I got you. Why did you move to Birmingham? I’m assuming Beeson Divinity School had something to do with it. But when did you and Andrew feel like you were supposed to head toward Beeson? >>Russell: So, our junior and senior year of college ... junior year we started talking about going to seminary after college. And so late junior year, early senior year we started looking at schools. Our professors, his at Belmont and mine at Ouachita, were recommending very different seminaries. (laughs) Mine were pointing me towards Southern Baptist seminaries, his were pointing him towards places like Vanderbilt. And so we started looking at options that might be a good in-between place for the two of us. So we specifically were looking for something interdenominational because of that, because of our different educational backgrounds and church backgrounds. And Beeson came up. I think actually our first encounter with Beeson was at a seminary day at Ouachita. Beeson, Hayden Walker, was working the Beeson table. So, I met her and then it just sort of stayed on the radar. And so fall of our senior year when we were visiting seminaries, Beeson was one of the ones that we visited. When we came we got lunch with the Padilla’s and saw Birmingham and we just really fell in love with it. So, it quickly moved to the top of our list of schools that we applied to and then by the Lord’s grace it worked out for us to come. In 2016, we graduated college in May, got married in June, moved here in July and started seminary in August. So, 2016 was a big year for us. >>Doug Sweeney: I guess so. What was Beeson like for you? How did you find it? Did your surprisingly ecumenical childhood prepare you well for Beeson? >>Russell: Yes, it did. We loved it. Doing grad school together as newlyweds is obviously difficult and very busy and tiring, but I think we had so much fun. We had the best community. We loved our classmates. And spent a lot of time with them in school and outside of school studying and just in fellowship. We had very influential professors who were very gracious to mentor us and invest in us. So, it was really having that be the first three and half to four years of our marriage was incredibly fun and formative. We are super, super thankful for it. We loved it. >>Doug Sweeney: Well, everybody here obviously loved you because no sooner did you graduate than we hired you to work on the staff as our events coordinator. >>Russell: Yes, you couldn’t get rid of me. >>Doug Sweeney: Nor do we want to! You are a fantastic hire. But tell us just a little bit about your work, your ministry as the events coordinator at Beeson. That’s kind of a funny title for somebody who works at a seminary. What is it like for you? What’s your job and how do you see it as a form of ministry? >>Russell: So, my job is a lot of logistics and details. We do a lot of events at Beeson from conferences and community lunch, to special lunch lectures, guest lecture series, fellowship events, meetings, all kinds of things. So, I get to have my hands a little bit in all of those things. Getting them scheduled, finding the right space, catering, making sure things are set up, that we have volunteers that we need, all of that. But what I really like about it is being able to work with every department at Beeson and getting to know what everybody’s doing. What SJ is doing, what the Global Center is doing, what the Preaching Institute is doing, and getting to participate in all of those events. So, I see that as a real gift to be able to have a little bit of a hand in all the different parts of the school. In terms of how it’s kind of a ministry for me, I very much believe in just the ministry and work of Beeson. And so I’m very glad to be able to support and contribute and promote that work through all of the events that we do. And a lot of those events are the lectures that we have or the guest speakers that we bring and are very formative and impactful for people. So, getting to make sure that those things happen well so that our students and the wider Beeson and Samford community can be blessed by them is a real joy for me. >>Doug Sweeney: And I know as your Dean that we sure do keep you busy as events coordinator. I don’t keep track of exactly how many events we have year to year, but it’s a surprisingly big number of events given the size of Beeson Divinity School. Do you keep track? >>Russell: I have had to count before and it’s something like 150 or around there per semester. If you add all of the big ones and the small ones and everything together, the ones that happen every week, it’s something around 150 per semester I would average. >>Doug Sweeney: And yet you stay sane through it all. You still have a smile on your face. You still seem to enjoy your job. I guess it has something to do with how good you are. >>Russell: I do. Well, thank you. >>Doug Sweeney: I have plenty of problems in my life but I knew that when we needed a new director for the Center for Women in Ministry there was somebody fantastic in the building that I might plead with and see if I could talk her into serving in the role. Tell us just a little bit ... I know you’re new to the role. You just started doing it this summer. But tell us a little bit about your work as the Director for the Center for Women in Ministry. I’ll help you through this, but tell us first of all what is the Center? What does the Center do? What’s its mission? And then I’ll follow up with some questions about what are you doing here this summer? >>Russell: Yes. So, the Center as many probably know is founded by my friend and former colleague, Kristen Padilla. And the goal of the Center is to encourage and equip women who feel called to ministry to be able to flourish and thrive in ministry. So, we do that through supporting our female students at Beeson, but also the undergrad women at Samford who are in our Christian ministry department or biblical studies programs who feel a call to ministry down the road. And then also through various events and resources, making connections between different women, networking opportunities to be a resource to women who are already in ministry in the community, or to those who are exploring a call and maybe thinking about seminary, thinking about Beeson. To help connect women to one another, to job opportunities, different ministries, and making sure our female students are able to thrive while they’re in seminary, and then in their ministry careers after seminary. >>Doug Sweeney: Yeah. When you talk about female students, women who are called to ministry, what do you mean by that? Does that mean all the women at Beeson feel like women should be ordained as pastors? How do we handle that through the Center for Women in Ministry? >>Russell: It does not mean that. The Center, like Beeson, does not take a stance on women’s ordination formally or complimentarianism, or egalitarianism, per se. But really just women who feel called to ministry in a more vocational or formal sense in the Church of Jesus. Whether that be in a more complimentarian or egalitarian context. Whether that be in a local church or a parachurch ministry. Whatever that may look like. We make sure that we help those women discern their calling, find a path into ministry, and have the resources and training and mentoring and relationships that they need to succeed and thrive. >>Doug Sweeney: I’m imagining right now that some people listening to our podcast might be young women, they’ve always thought seminary would be a lot of fun for them, or something they really ought to do – whether or not every class is fun – something very important for them. But maybe they don’t ... either they don’t think women should be ordained as pastors or they’re just not sure it’s for them. You’ve talked about pathways to ministry for various women. What would some of those pathways be for women who, for whatever reason, aren’t going to be pastors of churches? >>Russell: Mm hmm. It could look a lot of different ways. There are tons of different roles that you still see in the local church setting that we need women to do. Whether that’s women’s ministry or pastoral care. Children’s ministry, youth ministry, college student ministry, missions and outreach. These are all roles that could happen in the local church, but also could look very similarly in parachurch settings. Whether that’s with campus ministries or various types of mercy ministries, and those types of things. We need women in those places because those places are serving women and girls. So, it’s important for there to be women there who can be the hands and feet of Jesus to others in the church. So, it can look a lot of different ways. And that’s kind of one of my goals as director of the Center now is to have events where I bring in women who are maybe Beeson alumni or otherwise who are doing ministry in a number of different ways so that our students can see options. If they feel a call to do more vocational ministry for the Lord in their lives but they don’t know what that looks like, I want to put women in front of them who are doing a lot of different creative and unique things so that they see that there are options for how God can call and use them. >>Doug Sweeney: That’s great. I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but I think it’s true for me to say on behalf of everybody here at Beeson, that no matter what people’s views are with respect to women in ministry, we’re all committed here to the idea that everybody who is involved in discipleship ministry of any kind really ought to have some theological education. >>Russell: Yes. >>Doug Sweeney: It’s a good idea for people who are going to provide any kind of leadership to God’s people to be active in discipleship, to be growing in the knowledge of the Lord, to be growing in the knowledge of his word. >>Russell: Yes. >>Doug Sweeney: All right. So, you’ve got a big conference coming up. And we should preface maybe this part of the interview by saying the good news is you’ve already sold out all the tickets you have available. >>Russell: Yes, praise the Lord! >>Doug Sweeney: But for those who want to follow up later and benefit from some of the fruits of the conference or for people who want to be in prayer for you for the conference, let’s talk about it just a little bit. What’ the conference theme? When is it? What are you going to be doing? >>Russell: So, the conference is next weekend. So, it will be Friday and Saturday, August 11-12. And the theme is “Growing Wise.” Our key note speaker is Karen Ellis. She has actually spoken at Beeson before for Go Global a few years ago. But she is at RTS with her husband, Dr. Carl Ellis. They have done a lot of great writing and speaking ministries together. So, she has a new book coming out next month about wisdom. And so the theme is “Growing Wise.” And she’ll talk a lot about, based on the Proverbs, what it looks like to live your life and do your ministry and your work unto the Lord in a spirit of God’s wisdom, biblical wisdom. So, she is our key note speaker. We’ll have a few sessions with her. And then we’ll also have four breakout sessions with a number of different women in ministry from the community. So, Rebecca Henderson, who is a Beeson alum, will do one about counseling in the church – how we counsel in and for the church and use that type of ministry to support believers. And how those in ministry themselves can think about counseling. Kristen Padilla will do one about writing for anyone who feels like maybe the Lord is calling them to use their words in a written way for His glory and their ministry. And then we’ll have two panels with several women in different types of ministry and in different stages of their life. One of the panels is called “Maintaining an Emotionally Resilient Ministry,” about how do we take care of ourselves and deal with the ups and downs of just the emotional toll of ministry when we’re walking alongside others in some of the biggest highs and lows of their lives. How can that affect us? And then the other one is “Loving the Church When It’s Your Job.” So, whether it’s your job or maybe it’s your husband’s job, when you have a more kind of formal professional relationship with the church how do you continue to love the church as the bride of Christ and the people in the church even when it’s difficult. So, that’s the content of the conference. And we are sold out, which we’re thrilled about. So, we’re praying for the women who are coming that it would be a blessing to them. Many are in the Birmingham area but some are not, so we have some coming from out of state, which is exciting. After the conference is over we hope to put video of the conference sessions online on the Center’s YouTube page. So, those who can’t be there will hopefully be able to look back at those resources later on. And those who are there, if they want to remind themselves of what was said they can go back and see the videos after it’s over. >>Doug Sweeney: Sounds great. So, please listeners, be in prayer for our conference next weekend. The dates again, Anna? >>Russell: August 11-12. >>Doug Sweeney: August 11-12, here on the campus of Beeson Divinity School. All right. We don’t have much time left but we wanted to let people know, especially those who feel like they’re sad right now because they can’t participate in person in the conference. We want to let them know there’s lots of other things down the road in which they can participate. What are some of the plans you have in mind for future events through the Center? >>Russell: Well, so we are planning to continue doing the Women in Ministry conference every other year. So, our next conference will be summer of 2025. Beyond that we do a retreat for our female students on those off years. There’s no conference next summer, we’ll be doing a retreat with our Beeson female students. And then in between those big summer events we do a lot of smaller things throughout the semester. Some that take place in the evening, some at lunch that are kind of geared towards discipleship for our female students, professional development, networking opportunities, things like that. So, for this fall, already on the calendar we have Hayden Walker who is going to do an evening professional development event on October 10th. And she is going to talk about ministering to and through grief. When we are experiencing our own very heavy grief or we’re ministering to others who are walking through very difficult seasons of grief, what that can look like. And then we’ll also have Noelle Fulani Burt on November 16th. I think she’s going to do a lunchtime event about Spiritual Direction. She has her own ministry of spiritual direction and has written a book about it. I think that’s a kind of growing area of ministry that a lot of people are unfamiliar with. So, we’re going to have her come and talk about what that looks like and why she thinks it is important. >>Doug Sweeney: She’s been teaching Hebrew for us this summer and the students have been raving about her Hebrew teaching. >>Russell: Yes. She’s a popular lady. We’re excited to have her. >>Doug Sweeney: That’s great. All right, Anna. We always like to end these podcast interviews by asking our guests what they’re learning these days from the Lord. What is God doing in your life in the summer of 2023? Is he teaching you anything new? what’s going on in your life spiritually that you might share with our listeners as a way of edifying them in their own walk with the Lord? >>Russell: I think the Lord is for the last couple of years has been teaching me about just waiting on him and what that looks like, and how to sit in seasons of waiting. How to find the presence of God in those types of seasons when you’re not sure. And what his faithfulness looks like. How the Lord can surprise us in those ways. So, there have been a lot of just small gifts and surprises from the Lord for me and for Andrew over the last couple of years that we weren’t expecting that have just been glimpses of his kindness to us. Even as we wait and pray for other things. >>Doug Sweeney: That’s great. And there are of course many wonderful promises in scripture made toward those who wait on the Lord. >>Russell: Yes. >>Doug Sweeney: That’s an encouragement to all of us. Thank you, Anna, very much for being with us. Listeners, this has been Anna Russell. She has served for some time as the Events Coordinator at Beeson Divinity School and just this summer she’s begun also to serve as the Director for our Center for Women in Ministry. Please pray for Anna. Please pray for all the women who will be here next weekend at our conference. We’re praying for you. We love you. And we say goodbye for now. >>Rob Willis: You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast; coming to you from the campus of Samford University. Our theme music is by Advent Birmingham. Our announcer is Mike Pasquarello. Our engineer is Rob Willis. And our show host is Doug Sweeney. For more episodes and to subscribe, visit www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast. You can also find the Beeson Podcast on iTunes and Spotify.