3 minute read
Student Spotlight: Camisha Chambers
When you meet Camisha Chambers (DMin '22) you are immediately struck by her radiance and immense joy from within. However, her testimony reveals this came out of a painful journey that God miraculously redeemed full circle at United in Zimmerman Chapel, December 2018.
“United was a container for my metamorphosis,” she says.
Camisha grew up in the church, where she was involved in youth work, served at evangelism events, and received a powerful prophetic word over her life at age 15. As an adult, in 2015, she heard God’s call to ministry. However, she had her own plans.
“I was going to be COO of a Fortune-500 company, travel and make lots of money,” Camisha explains.
Driven and hard-working, Camisha earned multiple degrees that launched her into a successful career in the political and corporate sectors. But, privately, she felt empty and fell into a dark place.
In a moment of despair, she found herself crying out to God on her knees, “If this is all there is, God, I don’t want it.” She ended her prayer by committing to the call she had heard before: “If you redeem the time and allow me to go into ministry, I promise you I will do this and will do this correctly.”
Camisha looked to the legacy of her grandfather, Michael Harris Sr., who had been a pastor, and she discovered he had received his Master of Divinity at United in 1979. After attending United’s “DMin for-a-Day” open house, she made the decision to begin seminary in the Fall of 2018 and allowed God to take the lead.
“I came in very helpless, quiet, disjointed and unsettled in life,” says Camisha. Her transformation began in Zimmerman Chapel on December 7, 2018, as God spoke through Dr. Kim Maas (DMin '13) at the Holy Spirit Seminar the exact prophetic words Camisha had heard as a fifteen-year-old.
“When I was there in that moment receiving that word, I was able to be free and finally be present,” she recalls.
Camisha brings greetings at the Fellowship’s Music and Worship Arts Week, held at Lake Junaluska, NC, June 2022.
Four years later, Camisha has successfully defended her doctoral thesis on spiritual cultivation and trauma healing through music therapy, and she will receive her Doctor of Ministry in December. She currently serves as Associate Pastor at the United Methodist Church and Community Development for All People in Columbus, Ohio, and recently has become Executive Director of the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts, a door that God opened through her doctoral work at United.
