New Students, Fall 2003

Faith on the move:
Joshua Wilson

Because his father served in the U.S. Air Force, Joshua Wilson moved frequently with his family and has spent much of his life overseas. "One of my earliest recollections from childhood is the grand image of St. John Baptist Church, an ancient stone Anglican church in Barnack, England," he says. He remembers attending that congregation in early childhood. "That’s when I first became attentive to God’s Word. I remember preaching on the importance of putting God first in life. I was terrified that I might put something else before God, and I prayed that I would never lapse." Josh says the church always played a role in his life. "Even though we moved a lot, we always worshiped regularly and sang in the choir wherever we joined," he says. He was confirmed at the age of 13 at St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Williamsburg, VA. That same year he was given the chance to preach a children’s sermon at a youth-run worship service. "I enjoyed preparing and giving the sermon and for the first time considered that I might join the clergy one day. In college he worked as a computer programmer and received training in performance and classical singing, but the activities seemed "limiting to me." He continued to think of the ordained ministry as the way to "put all of my talents and skills directly and exclusively in the service of God and society." He majored in philosophy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, as an appropriate program of study to prepare for a seminary education. Pastor Ed Whetstone of his home congregation now, Salem Lutheran Church, Catonsville, MD, shared ideas with him about the realities of rostered ministry. For a time after college, Josh worked as a computer programmer, "but I found it sedentary and isolated." He decided on seminary education, the path "God had been suggesting to me since childhood." He chose LTSP because of its "small, friendly campus, convenient proximity to my family and loved ones in Maryland and its academic atmosphere. I feel truly at home here and look forward to a life and career of serving God and humanity in the name of Jesus Christ."