Denver Seminary

CHURCH RESOURCE ENGAGE 11 Denver Seminary Invites You to Listen to Engage360 Fall semester often brings new opportunities as Denver Seminary starts to bustle with students at the Littleton campus, extension campuses, and the online class portal. But providing the same opportunities to engage all of these students as well as other audiences is not easy. To address this, Denver Seminary launched Engage360, a theologically rich podcast that explores the larger conversations taking place within the spheres of evangelicalism, theological education, and cultural engagement. Each week, a new podcast serves as a platform for expanding the reach of the Denver Seminary voice to all students, as well as alumni, donors, churches and parachurches, prospective students, and the broader community. Listen as Engage360 guests share what it means to engage the needs of the world with the redemptive power of the gospel and the life-changing truth of Scripture, at the Seminary, in the community, and globally. And please share the podcast with others you believe would like to be a part of these conversations. We also invite you to provide your feedback with us by emailing podcast@denverseminary.edu. What do you like? What topics are you interested in learning more about? What other feedback do you have for us? Please share. FIND ENGAGE360 ON OUR WEBSITE AT DENVERSEMINARY.EDU, ON ITUNES, SPOTIFY, OR WHEREVER YOU LISTEN TO PODCASTS. After graduation, Downs took a job in Nevada and began attending Christian Center Church. She was drawn to social programs like food pantries and thrift stores, and in 2016 the church's leadership asked her to join their staff as the compassions pastor to oversee their outreach ministries and benevolence fund. When the lead pastor stepped down due to health problems, Downs became their interim pastor. "I've always been a strong advocate for women in ministry," Downs said. "But being an advocate is a different story than actually doing it. I said, 'I guess I'll put my money where my mouth is.'" Although Deborah admits she has always resisted the idea of calling, she acknowledges that her direction with her current position has been clear. "You have to be confident in what you're doing and where God is calling you," she said, thinking especially of women in seminary. "God opens doors for you. This was a door. You have to be faithful to your calling." Since her installation on September 2, 2018, Downs has learned a lot. "Pastors need to help other people with their problems," she said, "but they must also remember to work on themselves." "Everybody is broken, myself included, and if I work on myself, people are more likely to follow in my footsteps," she said. "There's a DNA to every church, and it feeds off the pastor. Whatever the church's DNA is, I have to embrace that myself." Deborah Downs enjoys writing, running, and CrossFit. In her free time, she helps her husband, Todd, run Boulder Dam Brewing Company. She has two children—Naomi, 16, and Declan, 10—and two stepchildren—Ashlen, 23, and Colsyn, 11. DENVER SEMINARY HAS OVER 5,550 ALUMNI, LIKE DEBORAH DOWNS, WHO ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD. IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING THE SEMINARY, PLEASE CONTACT ADVANCEMENT@DENVERSEMINARY.EDU.

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