Wesley Seminary passes 500!

So exited to see Wesley Seminary at IWU pass the 500 mark this month! That puts it in the top 20 seminaries in the Association of Theological Schools (the average seminary is only about 155 students).

Amazing kudos to President Wayne Schmidt (I'm just going to call him that ;-), Dean Dave Smith, and Aaron Wilkinson, who is
Superadmissionsman
(he called the event, pictured in the middle).

President David Wright reminisced on some of the questions the Seminary had to answer when it began. Would the whole church accept it or would it be more an IWU regional seminary? Wayne Schmidt in command guaranteed that the whole church would claim it for its own.

Then there were those who suggested it might not have girth because most of it is online. Man, do those voices sound like pre-Industrial Revolution curmudgeons now. I dare anyone who thinks it's light weight to take a class... hands down more demanding than the classes at _________ (insert name of your seminary here).

Aaron did a great job of thanking all the players at IWU who make everything possible. It was a LONG list! When President Wright got up, he joked that the list of people it takes to run the place is almost as many as the 500 students Wesley now has.

So many congrats to Wesley, to Wayne, Aaron, the faculty, staff, and new Dean Dave Smith, who is fixing all the problems I left with magnificent skill!