Soon-to-be graduate Curtis Haynes
has lived 'two lives' at the seminary

Curtis Haynes

PHILADELPHIA, PA (April 15, 2005) - Once, as the financial manager for an Atlantic City casino, Curtis Haynes "rendered unto Caesar." More recently, as both the chief operating officer and a student at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP), Haynes, of Marlton, NJ, has been focusing on the Lord. He graduates from the seminary with a Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree May 22.

His newly earned degree qualifies him for ordination, and Haynes anticipates that soon he will be serving as pastor of a nearby congregation in the American Baptist Churches denomination. Not that he plans on giving up his day job soon. "I expect to continue in my present administrative capacity at the seminary," he says. He will serve a congregation at other times, he anticipates.

Curtis Haynes was ordained a deacon in 1997 while active at Bethany Baptist Church, Lindenwold, NJ, an Independent Baptist congregation. These days he's a member of Zion Baptist Church in Ardmore, PA, a congregation shepherded by the Rev. Dr. James Pollard, who has mentored Haynes during his seminary days in the seminary's Urban Theological Institute (UTI) program. Haynes's educational journey took eight years, studying part-time on weekends and evenings.

Curtis Haynes sensed the Lord was calling him to professional ministry in 1997. He was working then as controller for the Sheraton chain in Atlantic City, the parent corporation at that time of Caesar's Casino. Haynes recalls that he was often in a position to lead the high life in those days. He remembers the required corporate trips to Las Vegas, staying in the fanciest of hotel quarters and eating and drinking whatever he liked.

But as his sense of "call" to the Lord's service grew, Haynes acknowledges that he began to feel uncomfortable in the world of gaming. In 1997, his pastor, Bishop David G. Evans, also a cousin of his, wrote him a reference letter intended to recommend him to a seminary for education. Haynes learned from the Bishop and members of the church's Deacons Board of several seminaries in Philadelphia where he might hang his educational hat. Haynes remembers making appointments to visit all three schools.

"By mistake I got lost and ended up at LTSP first," he recalls. LTSP was the first and last seminary he saw as a prospective student. Visiting with his wife, Geraldine, an occasionally tearful Haynes told the story of his sense of call to then Admissions Director George E. Keck and soon found himself enrolling to study in the UTI program. "The Lord had told me that He could not use me further without a seminary education," Haynes recalled.

For his first year of classes, Haynes commuted from his Marlton home to Atlantic City, and then twice a week drove to Philadelphia in time to make class early in the evening. "One day in 1998 I told the Lord: 'You've got to find me a job in Philadelphia. I can't take this kind of commuting anymore.'" Almost immediately he received an issue of PS Magazine in the mail from LTSP. It featured a back cover ad for "a Business Officer," Haynes recalls.

He made a second appointment to visit the seminary and began the employment interview by leading Dean Philip Krey, President Robert Hughes, and Chief Operating Officer Ken Feinour in prayer. Haynes ended up getting the job and succeeded Feinour in the COO post after the latter took a position with Diakon Lutheran Services.

Haynes is not the first seminary employee to study part time at the seminary. (Currently, Database Manager Kathie Afflerbach is a seminarian, for example.) But Haynes is the first senior administrator in memory to juggle such a dual role.

Has it been difficult to handle both responsibilities? "At times it is a challenge to figure out where the administrative lines end and the student lines begin," he acknowledges. "The faculty in the UTI and my classmates know who I am. But the Dean and President have been very diligent about working with me to set up a process that avoids any conflict of interest."

Haynes says he has a certain advantage as a member of the seminary's senior cabinet. "Because I've had a personal relationship with members of the faculty I think it has been easier for me to have special times of reflection and conversation with faculty members." He says that the probing conversations about theology and the Bible have had a profound impact on his development as a Christian leader. Who have been the most influential teachers at the seminary? The list is long. He mentions memorable conversations with the Rev. Dr. Gordon Lathrop, who recently retired as the Charles Schieren Professor of Liturgy. He discusses the Rev. Dr. Pamela Cooper-White's mentorship in the area of pastoral care. He describes times with Dean J. Paul Rajashekar, President Philip Krey and the Rev. Dr. Adele Stiles Resmer, who recently stepped down as the seminary's professor of Homiletics (preaching). He is also grateful for the tremendous support he has received from the Rev. Richard Stewart, who teaches parish administration, and the Rev. Dr. Charles Leonard, who directs the seminary's Contextual Education (field education) program. He says all have been patient when he brings them a question about what something means or how to interpret a teaching and learning point. Of Dr. Leonard, Haynes says, "he helped me understand the right questions to ask myself in dealing with discerning my calling."

"Curtis can be kind of quiet, but he is a good, thoughtful student," Stewart recalls. "He asks probing, serious questions. For my part, when I had him in class I thought of him as a student. When he was sitting behind his office desk, I saw him as an administrator. There was no mixing of the two roles."

Haynes has been patient about earning his MDiv degree. The process has taken eight years. "It took me 10 years to earn my Master of Finance degree from Fairleigh Dickinson." He studied for the first degree while holding a full-time job and helping wife, Geraldine, raise their two daughters, Crystal and Carly. He and Geraldine have been married 26 years.

And what about the administrative side of things, the day job?

"It's been an excellent challenge," he says. "The biggest challenge is how to balance the ethics of the church and working for a church organization over against the corporate policies I have been trained by." And he's had quite a varied corporate training ground - having held jobs with DuPont, Sony, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, TIAA CREF, as well as Caesar's and Sheraton. Haynes notes that the gaming industry he was once a part of is scrupulously diligent in what it requires of employees ethically. Background checks for prospective employees are exhaustive, for example. "In many ways we want the seminary to function as a business," he says. "But I have learned how church handles practices differently than a corporation would. I think as the seminary grows we will become more institutionalized, less Mom and Pop. I think we will become more immersed in the notion of being corporate, but I suspect we will never be engulfed by that perspective." A secondary challenge is one Haynes faced at the beginning of his seminary career - automating the accounting and business practices of the seminary's reporting and tracking of finances. "The internal controls of the Business Office were impeccable when I arrived," he said. "But the process in place then was quite laborious." Haynes has always had an "open door policy" of management style.

In both the administrative and scholarly pursuits of the seminary, Haynes says he has learned much about the benefits and values of being involved in an enterprise that is truly ecumenical. "By working and studying here you can see the benefits of understanding the perspectives of different denominations," he says.

"It is exciting to be part of a working environment where the community is willing to change," Haynes says. "We have a faculty that is very open and understanding." He has been part of a strategic planning process at the school that has steadily changed for the better, he says. "We are more and more recognized as a school that develops strong leaders. I'm really optimistic about the future of the seminary. It doesn't feel like we have any significant limitations."

Speaking of being willing to change, listen to what Curtis Haynes said when he attended his first class at seminary as taught by Dr. William McClain, who teaches preaching. "Dr. McClain went around the room and asked us to talk about ourselves, to introduce ourselves," Haynes recalls. "I remember saying, 'I'm not called to preach. I don't preach. I have no intention of preaching.'" How someone's perspective can change. Haynes has been preaching for a couple of years now, including at the Seminary Chapel.

Curtis Haynes can be a tough administrator who speaks his mind on issues. But members of the seminary community have experienced Haynes's pastoral side. In one case, Haynes prayed with a colleague and consoled him when an adult child was having serious problems. He visited another colleague's mother in the hospital, not once but several times.

Haynes advises others who may be discerning the possibility of a call to professional church service to be bold in terms of their faith. "The way I have shared the Gospel with others helped people to see something in me that I didn't see in myself," he says. "I guess I'm a little like the biblical Jeremiah. I just can't help sharing the Gospel. I'm fired up in my bones."