Issue link: http://denverseminary.uberflip.com/i/653157
Elizabeth Staples (2013) | MASTER OF ARTS Shortly after Elizabeth Staples received an MA in counseling with a concentration in clinical mental health, she moved to Kigali, Rwanda. She intended a short visit, but it has turned into a two-year stay—and counting—and the most joyful and enriching experience of her life. Elizabeth works as a counselor and teacher with Bridge2Rwanda, an intensive university prep program. She provides therapy and helps students tell their stories on college applications. She also teaches psycho-education to young adults from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Liberia, and Rwanda. Counseling helps students heal from past wounds, grow in self-awareness, and become emotionally healthy individuals upon entering university. Elizabeth finds it a tremendous honor to work with these students and the people of Rwanda. They demonstrate God's love in powerful ways, particularly through the forgiveness and reconciliation they have shown each other since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the atrocities her students have experienced in nearby countries. Although she never imagined living and working in East Africa, Elizabeth believes her time at Denver Seminary led her down this path to a life of greater purpose than she could have imagined. Bryan Wilkerson (1984) | MASTER OF DIVINITY Can a decision for Christ as a five-year-old at vacation Bible school really stick? In the case of Bryan Wilkerson (MDiv, 1984), that decision was the beginning of a lifelong love of Christ and His Church. Today Bryan serves on the Board of Trustees for Denver Seminary. Bryan describes his spiritual journey as a story of great churches. His earliest years in a country church in upstate New York introduced him to a God who loved him and to church as a second home—thanks in part to a nice lady who fed him animal crackers during church services! His teenage years were spent at a thriving suburban church where he experienced God in powerful and personal ways through a vibrant youth group and pastoral mentors who poured into him. A call to ministry led him first to Wheaton College, and then, on the recommendation of his senior pastor—Dr. Leslie Flynn—a Seminary board member— to Denver Seminary. Bryan's heart led him back to the Northeast, where he pastored Shelter Rock Church in Manhasset, New York for 16 years. In 2000 he was called to Grace Chapel in Boston, where he succeeded Gordon MacDonald. In all that time, Bryan has not lost his love for the local church or his passion for preaching. Since moving to Boston, he has completed a doctor of ministry at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and expanded his conference speaking and missions travel. His role on the Denver Seminary Board has brought him full circle, back to the Seminary he loves and a cause he believes in: preparing men and women to serve the Church. Bryan Wilkerson lives in Bedford, Massachusetts with his wife, Karen. They have four grown children, three of them married, and are the happy grandparents of four. ALUMNI & DONORS Alumni in Action These alumni are using their seminary education to follow God's call on their lives. 10 SPRING 2016