First Post

Greetings.

My name is Tyler Watson and I have just started the last quarter of the Master of Divinity program at Fuller Theological Seminary. So, some background information about myself? I grew up in Sanger --— a small town in the Central Valley of California. My parents own a hardware store and my brother and I worked there when we were in high school. My brother is learning the ropes to eventually take over the operations when my parents finally retire. I was raised in a PC(USA) church that eventually split well after I left the town and both sides left the denomination as well as each other. During my childhood and adolescence, I spent summers up at Calvin Crest Conferences --— I would later work there for two summers after high school. Calvin Crest exerted the most influence on my spiritual development as a teenager by far.

After getting out of Sanger as quickly as I could when I was 18, I attended UC Davis where I studied psychology but spent most of my time and energy with friends and participating in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IV) as a student leader. At Davis I met my wife Carey. We both look at our experiences in IV as some of the most formative and transformative moments in our respective faiths. There we experienced the beauty and challenge of Christian community. We learned about God'’s heart for justice, reconciliation (especially racial), and evangelism. It was there as well that I received my call to seminary.

After graduation in June 2001, a group of friends moved to the Midtown area of Sacramento to live, work, and participate in a church together. Carey and I married each other while we lived in Sacramento. I worked for the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center as an intake counselor. Basically, that meant I screened men seeking rehabilitation from their addictions, which meant I made sure they were healthy enough to participate in the work program, that they currently had no warrants for their arrest, and that they weren'’t coming in the program in the midst of their detoxification. That last criteria meant I had to test their urine. I tested lots of urine. It was a good experience to work at the Salvation Army and I was able to witness several miracles that took at least 6 months to occur.

Carey and I moved to Southern California in August 2002 when she was accepted to the Keck School of Medicine at USC. I started studying at Fuller in January 2003. My call up until this point was merely that I was going to seminary. I hoped that part two of that calling would come while here. Instead of the clarion call I received in college, this second phase has been more of a slow process of prayer and lots of questioning. I believe now that I want to be involved in church-based ministry, seeking to participate in a community that wants to become more missional. I also came in without a denomination, but after much thought and reflection upon my experiences I have decided that I do want to be a part of a denomination. I'’m open to suggestions.

As far as this class goes, my hopes are that I would gain greater skills in being an exegete of culture. I am a firm believer that we do not stand outside of culture as objective observers, but are immersed as participants. Cultures carry whole sets of values and assumptions of which I am often unaware. I am interested in learning to and later equipping others to be fish who can talk about the water.

By the way, I have another blog that I keep, The Space Between My Ears. You are free to check it out and leave a comment if you feel so led.