MOSAIC SPOTLIGHT

By Meron Araya Mosaic Spotlight: Leslie Rogers

Leslie came to faith as a child and rededicated her life to Christ in college. She graduated with a BA in Biblical Studies in 2013 from Trinity International University. She also earned a Masters of Divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Fall of 2017. When she came to Trinity as an undergrad, Leslie reminisced being embraced in a community of young believers who were living out their faith in community. She shared with me that her experience living inside the undergrad halls was particularly impactful and transformative. Throughout her time at Trinity, Leslie said that most of her journey has been about transforming head knowledge to heart knowledge. In her own words, “I pushed knowledge aside and focused on the experiential relationship with Christ.”

After graduation, Leslie went back to her home church in Chicago and is currently serving as the Children’s pastor ministering to 1st grade through 8th grade. Leslie is passionate about wholistic discipleship in children’s ministry. Her philosophy of Children’s ministry is church connected and community focused. As Children’s ministry pastor, she believes in discipling and serving not just the children in the Sunday school program but also the volunteers and the parents. She said that her favorite part of her ministry is just listening to her Sunday school kids, the volunteers, and the parents as they share their stories and what is important to them. She said, “until people tell you their stories, it is hard to minister to them.” She oversees about 38 volunteers every Sunday and on average about 140 children attend Sunday school service. ARTICLES | ART | VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY | MOSAIC SPOTLIGHT

Full Interview

Mosaic Bulletin interviewed Leslie Rogers as our spotlight guest. Leslie is a graduate of both Trinity International University undergrad in 2013 and more recently from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. To those who know her, Leslie is a kind-hearted servant, thought-provoking leader, and a resilient woman who is fully engaged both in her church and her community. She graciously has shared her time, her story, and her wisdom with the Mosaic Bulletin. We present the interview to you our readers as a treasured gift to the Trinity community. We invite you to get to know Leslie through her warm and story-telling style of communication.

Mosaic Bulletin: Tell us about your faith journey.

Leslie Rogers: I grew up in the church. I think for church kids, there are multiple points of conversion. I had such a child-like faith and I knew God as a father. However, in high school, I felt like I was so sheltered, and I wanted to experience the world. So, I rebelled against God. By my senior year, God began to remove everyone from my life. It was kind of like me and him and I was recommitting to him before I went to college. I had no desire to go to college. At that time, Charlie Dates 1 , was the young adult pastor at my church and asked me to check out Trinity.

It was a rainy day and the campus did not look attractive to me. But this was the only school I got accepted to. I decided to come to Trinity. I had an amazing Resident Assistant (RA). I lived on a floor that was mostly seniors and juniors, and I was welcomed. I didn’t feel ostracized because I was this black girl coming in as a freshman. To see Christian community in action had a transformational impact on my life at college. It was one of the turning points for me. Because I’m a church girl, my faith journey has been about transforming head knowledge to heart experience. Because we know so much about God, we feel like we know God. Knowledge is great but I have been putting knowledge aside and seeking experiential relationship with Christ.

Mosaic Bulletin: What program did you do at Trinity? Leslie Rogers: I did my BA in biblical studies and I graduated in 2013. And then, I did my MDiv on the seminary side and graduated in the fall of 2017.

Mosaic Bulletin: What line of ministry are you in now? Leslie Rogers: I’m the children’s pastor, 1st to 8th grade, at my home church in Chicago. We have a children’s church service once a week. My job is to pastor children, volunteers, and I partner with the children’s parents. I do know that I have always had a passion for discipleship. I’m constantly thinking of how children, volunteers, and parents can be discipled. If it’s not holistic, then it doesn’t work. I need all three to work together. It’s an African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child. I really believe that.

It’s a huge responsibility to be chosen by God to reach this generation. Just because we have challenges that we have never had before in the previous generations. For instance, technology and what it has done to human connection is something I think about all the time. I knew a time before cell phones. I didn’t get a cell phone until I was in 8th grade. Today, two year olds have iPads. So, we have to realize the impact that has on teaching. I have to make sure that I’m constantly providing new stimuli and multiple different facets of learning. So, the traditional teaching model does not work.

My favorite part of my job is just listening, from a child to a volunteer, to a parent. I think one of the honors that I have in this position is that I get to know people’s stories. And for me, that is like gold. Until people share their stories with you, it’s hard to minister to them. And so I’m privileged and excited when I get to just sit and listen to people’s stories; a parent telling me how their child was born, their stresses, and their lives because it makes my ministry more relevant. I’m single; I don’t have children. So, I’m constantly thinking about what is a mother thinking about or even a single mother and how to minister to their needs.

On the roster, our ministry has 63 volunteers, and about 38 show up every Sunday. On average, about 140 kids attend our children’s service every week. And, there are hundreds of kids who attend service with their parents and don’t come to children’s service. We serve their needs.

1. At the time of this publication,

Pastor Charlie Dates is the Senior Pastor of Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago.

Mosaic Bulletin: To the women at Trinity,can you share some insight or wisdom gleaned from your time in ministry about being a woman in ministry? Leslie Rogers: I would encourage students to find a space of rest after graduation. As women, we are conditioned to handle a lot. We are also conditioned to put others first. We almost always put others first, whether it’s our families, or our ministries, or our studies. I would encourage young women in ministry to really think about what you need in this season after your graduation. The reality is that seminary can burn you out. And, I didn’t know that. I didn’t hear anyone talk about burn out. When I graduated, I had a vision that I would just kick start into ministry, and I found out that it’s difficult to do that right after graduation. I would encourage women to do an honest assessment of where they are and what that looks like. It might be not necessarily starting into ministry immediately after seminary. It might be spending time with family. Try to find space within work that is more restorative and not carry on the exhaustion that comes with the MDiv or other studies.

Mosaic Bulletin: What was your experience like as a woman of color at Trinity?

Leslie Rogers: I have to divide that question between my experience as an undergrad student from my experience as a graduate seminary student, because they were two polar extremes. My experience as a woman of color undergrad was amazing. The diversity, the leadership, I felt that I was seen. I felt like I had a place there through the Multicultural Development Office. I came in having Watson Jones III 2 , who was the director of Multicultural Development Office, as a mentor and I was automatically connected to people of color through that office. So, it just made my experience so much easier. I wasn’t this black girl from the Southside Chicago by myself. I was with a group of people to do life with. We would always have meetings which were more like hang outs, which is community. We would do lunch or dinner together. We needed that place in a predominantly white institution. I just remember it being a light time and really a great time. I remember feeling very seen and very appreciated by all of my professors.

And then at TEDS on the seminary side, it was so disorienting and so disrupting to me because I could not understand how the same campus could have two different cultures. TEDS was overwhelmingly white, from the classroom to the community life. It took me a while to find my place within TEDS. I think I found my place when I worked in the Multicultural Development Office. It

was energizing to me. I was also part of Mosaic and that was redemptive to me. I was also a Resident Assistant (RA) and served in Student Res Life. Being involved in different spaces helped me navigate the reality at TEDS.

Mosaic Bulletin: What resources would you recommend for students at Trinity not just to survive but also to thrive and flourish both in life and in ministry? Leslie Rogers: I definitely recommend to take advantage of counseling services. The reality is that this is the time you actually have to deal with your stuff. You know...you have time to process what it means to be a woman in ministry. I think counseling is such a redemptive space.

I would also say to take advantage of the people on campus and staff in general, student life, admissions, the dining hall staff, and the professors. I really wish I would have met with more professors, and met with more women who are not always visible but they have worked for a while and have seen a lot of life. I think a lot of times we just stay in our own little circles. We have a goldmine of diversity at our fingertips. We have to take advantage of that and not just be comfortable in our circles. I would also say to intentionally think about what holistic care looks like to you. It’s going to be hard to try to do it after graduation.

Mosaic Bulletin: How did Trinity prepare you to do what you’re doing now? Leslie Rogers: My training at Trinity has humbled me in entering into ministry. My most impactful time for training was outside of the classroom. It was the talks with the guests after their “official talks” were done. It was the conversations with friends, with professors, and with staff. It was doing life with people who have been exposed to so many different things. That helped develop my own character in training me for ministry. To me, character and theological training have to be intertwined. There has to be an intertwinement of relationships and living out our convictions. I could only have that at Trinity because Trinity provides the network for that.

2. At the time of this publication, Watson Jones III is the Senior Pastor of Compassion Baptist Church in Chicago.

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