About the Seminary

My name is Neil Walter Holzapfel. City Seminary of New York crystalized and confirmed some very important things for me over the last two years. Jesus gave his life away to give us life. Real Christian love demands self-giving and sacrifice. If we do not follow Jesus in giving our lives away, we will lose our lives. Community life demands that we walk, eat, pray, and partner together. Jesus was never co-opted in to power structures, but built God's kingdom and his kingdom alone. Indeed, God is making the world new. He is restoring the broken hearts, families, communities, buildings, economic infrastructure, social fabric. I want to join Jesus in this!

I worship at New Song Community Church in central Harlem and live nearby. New Song is a congregation focused on being a part of God's joy and justice for the neighborhood out of our love for Christ. I believe the only way for God's joy and justice to reign is for those who love Jesus to literally live together in community. New Song does this in wonderful ways.

My formal job is to try and find good stocks to buy in Africa and the Middle East for a large investment management firm. I spend a lot time in Africa and the Middle East. Besides Jesus, my passion in life is children without parents in sub-Saharan Africa. There are 20 million children without parents in sub-Saharan Africa today, and this number will double over the next 10 years. I believe that this is greatest opportunity in human history to see souls drawn towards the love of Jesus for life and hope, spiritual and economic. I know God is very passionate about these young ones, and I am too. My work takes me there frequently and I'm getting increasingly involved with walking with these HIV/ AIDS orphans.

When I finished college after re-entering as a father of two sons and as a husband of my beloved wife, my plan was to go to Westminster Theological Seminary to become a missionary. However, I was not able to pursue this dream because I had to face the reality of finding a job to support my family and waiting for the right timing. For the past ten years, I have worked for the Social Security Administration.

Praise our faithful Lord for allowing me to be in this program, which is still the same school that I wanted to attend but closer to home. I am eager still to go out as a missionary somewhere. Until last fall, I was not sure of God's will for me and my family, but I have confidence in Him that He will be my provider as long as I make myself prepared and available. I believe that He wants me to understand what my community is here first and to have compassion toward the people in this community.

Over the past year, I have realized how important it is to understand the city I am living in and to be engaged in urban ministry through my church before looking forward to being a missionary in another country. Having understanding more of this from the Urban Mission program, and getting more hands-on experiences through various classes and seminars, I am confident that I will be able to serve my community effectively, rather than just finish a degree. I have to admit that coming this far has not been easy but I thank the Lord for it. I continually seek His daily guidance for He is my wonderful counselor.

My parents are Japanese with no religious faith in particular, but they sent me to a Christian kindergarten where I came to know Jesus. A few years ago when I was at a Holy Communion service, responding out loud "He will come again", I wondered, "Who is this God who never gives up on His people?" I wanted to know Him better, and Christianity became "not about me" but "about knowing God." After I did some research, I decided to go with City Seminary and the Westminster Theological Seminary Urban Mission M.A. program.

City Seminary and the Urban Mission program lectures and materials have helped and changed me greatly. I read the Scripture with a different attitude – not so much to rebuke my lack of faith and morality but to gain knowledge in how we as believers can bring peace to the city and love our God and our neighbors. I also apply what I have learned in class at the Dewitt Nursing Home ministry where I volunteer. Others have already noticed the difference!

In the future, I would like to bring a mobile worship service to nursing homes, hospices and rehabilitation centers for those who cannot physically go to church or for those who feel awkward going to church for worship. Involvement of community is certainly important but strengthening it (I view residents of such institutions as a part of our larger community, too!) is just as important. In time, we will see if this is the mission that God has chosen for me to carry out.

I would like to first give honor to God who is the head of my life and I will continue to pray that he would order my steps in my life. My name is Latonja Serling and I'm a member of 1st Corinthian Baptist Church under Pastor Michael A. Walrond Jr., located on 116th Street on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd in Manhattan, New York. I'm currently a 41-year-old single mother of three. My son is 22 years old, and my daughters are 14 and 9 years old. At 1st Corinthian, I'm involved in several ministries. I'm the secretary for the Prison Ministry and Music Ministry as well as a singer in two choirs. Last but not least, I'm a teacher and mentor for the New Life Ministry, which is a class that is given to new members that join the church.

For years, despite my involvement in various church activities and schooling, I have felt there has been something missing in my training for ministry. Now, here I am, a student in the Westminster Theological Seminary Urban Mission M.A. program and so many doors have opened. My teaching ability is the perfect example. I should say that through this program, the Holy Spirit has given me the courage to be used by God in my ministry. I do not know where the Lord may lead me. I do know that I'm His vessel to be used wherever He sees fit. "Order my Steps, Lord". Following Him, I've found the missing link in my life.

I greet you in the Name of the Lord. My name is Oghogho West-Erhabor. I am from Nigeria and Nigeria is in West Africa. I have been married to a God-ordained husband for twenty years and it pleased the Lord to bless us with four precious girls. I am working for the church right now, and I believe in God for a job for the future.

I came to City Seminary and the Westminster Theological Seminary Urban Mission Master of Arts program through Pastor Mark Gornik. As I hungered more and more to know and work for God, I had wanted to go to a Bible school, but did not know how to go about it. I asked a sister in my church and she said to talk to Mark Gornik. I have always wanted to be a Minister, and the school is helping me grow spiritually and also to achieve my goals.

As a child my mother would take me every Christmas to an orphanage. We would take clothes, food and gifts to the children there. I hated the idea, because I was afraid of them. There was so much sadness and they wore tattered clothes, if they had any. They’d sleep on bare floors with no covers and were generally very dirty. I thought to be an orphan was bad luck. Once a child lost both parents, either their relatives used them as house-help, sent them to work like slaves or dumped them in an orphanage.

My plans for the future by God’s grace is to care for and help orphans - children that are hungry and naked, unwanted babies that are dumped in the street as soon as they are born. Unlike here in America, the government doesn’t take care of these children. One out of a hundred individuals care for these children. I pray and know that God in his infinite mercy will help me adhere to these goals.