Challenge As Opportunity

05-02-2022

May graduates Maryclare Beche, Capt. Joseph Kim, and Troy Underwood find opportunities to serve from the challenges they face.   

Theme parks are best known for their thrill rides, carnival games, and water slides. Some near Moody Air Force Base in Georgia are also known as places for helping Air Force families build resiliency.

“Several times a year, we take families from the base to various water parks, vacation sites and local attractions for some downtime,” says Capt. Joseph Kim, who will receive his Doctor of Ministry degree this May, “over the weekend, we facilitate workshops on building relationships, problem solving, healthy communication and other topics that can help connect families to each other. It also connects them with us [chaplains] if they want to talk about anything.”

An active duty chaplain in the U.S. Air Force, Kim will be among the nearly 50 certificate, and master and doctoral degree candidates who will take part in McCormick’s 188th Commencement on Saturday, May 7. The Commencement speaker will be Rev. Dr. Nicholas Pearce.

Right in the middle of his doctoral studies, Kim was deployed to the United Arab Emirates. Frequent deployments are a challenge many military personnel face, and the reason Kim wanted to enhance his ability to help military families handle this and other realities of military life. “My doctoral studies allowed me to research how to help couples understand themselves and their spouses in a more holistic way,” says Kim, the father of two girls and a boy. “Our relationships impact our ability to serve and function in all parts of our lives. Helping families find and build common ground despite sociocultural, religious, or diverse points of view can help them deal with the challenges of military life, and the challenges we all face as human beings.”

There are often no explanations for the tragedies of life, but there are ways to offer hope, healing, and relationship, notes Maryclare Beche. “Jesus was always with the wounded, the brokenhearted, people regarded as less than so that he could rebuild and renew the broken places in their lives,” says Beche, “we have opportunities to do the same.” Beche, who will earn a Master of Divinity degree, sees herself offering hope, healing and relationship to women who have experienced violence, especially women in her home country, Kenya.

“Receiving a theological education has been an empowering experience,” says Beche, and she looks forward to working in ministries that can empower the voices of women. “I came to McCormick thinking I’d focus on Bible stories,” says Beche, “but I started to understand the Scripture in terms of human relationships and connections. I’m more aware of its call to justice and a concern for all, especially anyone marginalized by their society.”

Advocacy became the next level of ministry for Troy Underwood, an associate pastor at Covenant United Church of Christ in South Holland, Ill. Underwood saw the number of people who were using the church’s food pantry quadruple during the pandemic. While thankful for the food resources provided by the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Underwood became concerned with the nutritional value of the shelf-stable and prepackaged food being distributed after learning that some of the food was being rejected by those with high blood pressure and diabetes. “We serve predominantly African American communities,” says Underwood. “We have a responsibility to ensure that our help is not hurting. As the Black church and as African American Christians, it is important that we aren’t unintentionally complicit in our own oppression by only providing food that does not support the health and wellness of our neighbors.”

Through his course work in the Prophetic Leadership Doctor of Ministry cohort, Underwood started looking at the needs in the community in broader terms. "These have not been comfortable or convenient times for many communities," Underwood points out. "We must mobilize in new ways. We have to look at where we have allies in the community, in corridors of power, political arenas, and educational institutions. And we must work together toward sustainable change for communities. The prophetic voice has always gone beyond the walls of the church, in particular the Black church, which calls for actions that privilege and relieve the burdens of the poor.”

Maryclare Beche

Capt. Joseph Kim

Troy Underwood