One of my favorite old African-American Gospel tunes is entitled “How I Got Over,” whose punch line goes “My soul looks back and I wonder, how I got over.” When I remember The Urban Ministry Institute's (TUMI) first classes more than 20 years ago, I can clearly see how we were armed only with a clear vision of what we knew God wanted to do in equipping leaders among the poor for the city. With virtually no budget, very few books, or classroom space, we set out as missionary educators to make a difference. Armed with a passion to raise up a generation of men and women whom we believed God would touch, our very first classes were truly unimpressive – two classes with four and three students respectively! Little did we know then what God would eventually do in raising up a network of hundreds of satellites with thousands of leaders scattered across 16 countries today.
That first generation of classes did attract a wide variety of students – lead and associate pastors, Sunday school superintendents, lay ministers, urban Christian workers, evangelists, and even church planting missionaries. These folk were deeply committed to biblical training, in spite of the difficulties they faced in terms of funds, literacy, and access to theological training focused on urban concerns. Some students had to lease textbooks, and pay classes in tiny installments through the semester. Some students took the exams orally because of their challenges in both reading and writing. One student traveled three hours each way to the Institute from Kansas City because he said he was receiving “the best training (I) could get anywhere – training that is both culturally sensitive as well as practical and applicable to the ministry I am doing day to day – it is definitely worth the drive.”
We had students from diverse cultures and backgrounds, ministering in tough places: halfway houses, prisons, nursing homes, new urban church plants, and established churches. Two young mothers (having seven and four children, respectively) attended classes together each week, taking full class loads (i.e., three classes). One young pastor, recorded his classes and studied in the middle of the night, the only time he was free to work on his assignments.
Some of the earliest TUMI students were a unique couple, Dearlin and Shatona Brown, who started taking classes in 1999. Sensing God’s leading to start a church, they attended World Impact’s Crowns of Beauty Conference in 2001, and shortly afterward planted a new church in Wichita’s inner city, Perfect Peace Community Church. Working full time jobs with a family, Dearlin and Shatona targeted folk carrying long addiction to drugs, alcohol, and abusive relationships. They took a full schedule of classes while shepherding a new church, raising their family, and serving in outreach ministry in a tough neighborhood. They not only graduated, but they excelled in their studies, established the church, and continue to pastor a growing and healthy congregation still going strong.
When I look back at God’s handiwork, it is clear to me that his hand was on those little fledgling biblical training classes, which were the embryo of our movement today. Now, I wonder what God intends for the future, as this growing movement gains momentum across the world, multiplying laborers for the harvest fields yet untouched by the Gospel across the globe. What a mighty God we serve!
