Speaker: Macy Smith, Senior Enrollment Advisor
Please introduce yourself, your job title and your degree. What led you to work at Asbury Seminary? Share your story.
Macy Smith: Hi, my name is Macy Smith. I'm the senior enrollment advisor at the Memphis site, and I am taking the pastoral care and spiritual care degree. Pretty much what left me here was my open doors that God gave me. There's a lot of prayer moments, but um ultimately, I did not know I was going to be in seminary because I was at my dream job at the time. And I say that jokingly because I was working at a climbing gym. And there are a lot of moments that were just really obvious to me. And one of those was a time where I was in prayer over considering seminary because I wanted something more than Bible study. And like I said, I was working at um a climbing gym. I've been climbing for a while and I loved my work, but I also felt God calling me to be obedient in other areas. And so, When he found me a full scholarship to attend Asbury seminary, that is also when this job position opened up and everything just fit together like a puzzle piece. And within a year, I found beautiful family. I left my old job and I came here and it turns out my spiritual growth was what was needed. And when I came here, that's exactly what I got because there's no place that I have found such. Carrying And genuine spiritual people. I have grown my spiritual family since I've gotten to Asbury, and that is above everything else, one of the best rewards, even that full scholarships, that's, that is seriously one of the best things that I have gained here. And that's why I love it.
Take us through a typical day in your role at the seminary. What are some tasks or challenges you encounter regularly?
Macy Smith: So a typical day at the Memphis sites, strangely enough, it's me. And I just maintained the classroom, but it's also recruiting, calling, reaching out, keeping in touch with local churches, and it has a lot to do with Working with the Holy Spirit to know where I need to go because I don't know who needs seminary. I can guess, I can assume, but there are so many instances where I have stopped in a Panera and I will talk to somebody about seminary or I'll be in the airport and somebody has a connection with Asbury, and I wouldn't know about these instances unless I was prayerful with where God needs us to be. So wherever I go, I feel like I represent Asbury if I wear this name tag or not, and One of the biggest challenges that I encounter at this job does have to do with some of the remoteness of it. But This place has also really made a huge effort to make us feel included, such as the online chapel, um, making sure that we go to Wilmore twice a year at the EMT department and I rely so heavily on those twice a year trips where I just get to see my whole staff family. Um, and as I've said before, the spiritual family portion is what I value. The most. So some of the tasks I do other than just general relationship upkeep and networking. I love talking to people, so just getting to see how they are day to day and how my students are doing or how I can help somebody kind of overcome a challenge. What I encounter the most regularly is uh prayer and spiritual aspect of it, which I'd never expected and I've never had a job. I love it though. And that's a little bit about what I do.
What's a common misconception people might have about your role or the work that happens at the seminary, and how would you clarify it?
Macy Smith: Um, one common misconception, this is the one I get the most, is that when you work for Asbury, that means you've been in ministry for 10+ years. And if anybody knows me, that it's not the case. I've been on my walk with Christ for about 4 years, so the I will get asked to give us an Asbury prayer or could you give the message this day in such and such? I'm not, it's, it's not me. I've, I've not been a preacher. I've not been a minister, uh, but I know that also God has used people at Asbury clearly because their reputation and the expectation has been that people from Asbury unabashedly share the message of the gospel and that. It was a shock and it was intimidating at first, but now I see that that is what Christians are expected and called to do, but also just to show love to others. So when they meet somebody from Asbury, they also see a facet of God that they've never seen before and they welcome it because we're so giving in our spirit. We're incredibly generous with our time, with the effort that we put into relationships with our finances and especially when it comes to your prayer. Prayer is so, so big, and I just learned all of that just by saying, hey, yeah, I'm from Asbury, and then people will just start giving me information. And that's where my eyes were open to how God is wanting us to work. So I've just gone with the flow and. That's That's what it is, but I, I've never worked at a church before. I've never been a minister and now I feel like I can fully, I'm at a place where I can fully represent Jesus when I've been at previous workplaces and been coached for praying for people or for talking about my faith and now that is, that's not the case it's, it's welcome here and I, I appreciate it. I love it. I feel like I can be myself here and um yeah, that's, that's it. So I'm just, I'm thankful. I'm thankful for that.
If you had to describe your role at the seminary using a fictional character, who would it be and why?
Macy Smith: I'm only gonna take this recording once because the first thing that came to my mind, if I had to describe my role at seminary using a fictional character, it would be Milo James Thatch from The movie, the Disney movie Atlantis, at least I think it's a Disney movie. And the reason why I say that is he gets into a group. He's got all this information. He's really passionate about sharing this message about Atlantis and he gets into this group, this motley crew of people that you would never expect to ever work together and they all go out and complete this mission together. And he has to wear these different hats and do all these different things, but he uses his expertise to kind of puzzle piece all these relationships together and then just help people. Get the the mission done, and I feel like when I'm at my role, I encounter many different characters that. I just flow with and network with, but we're putting different events together. We're talking about the gospel, we're seeing how we can get higher education to be spiritual and really actually edify each other instead of just become prideful within our community. And when I think of my role, I think of how humble Milo is. I think of um how he gets along with everyone and how he's able to Just spread the message that he's so passionate about and in our mind, that's what I do day to day. It's just help others spread the message of the gospel. And when it comes to that, being equipped at seminary could possibly be a step, but we need the in between moments where we need those phone calls made or those meetings or those in person. Gatherings that are necessary to connect the dots to form that full picture. Yeah
Can you share a personal story that has had a significant impact on your spiritual journey and how it relates to your work here?
Macy Smith: The one story I refer back to when it comes to Asbury is how I got admitted because. When I asked for one of my good friends who is the one who baptized me. Um, to write me a reference letter to go to seminary, he said no. And I was heartbroken. I was so heartbroken because I knew I was called to go to seminary. Bible study was good, but there was something about it that just wasn't. Getting deep enough. Maybe I hadn't found the right group yet. Whatever it was, I spoke with some of my peers. And These peers were women, and the reason why my friend who's a pastor and we're still good friends today, he said no because it went against his doctrinal beliefs. And I was heartbroken because I, I didn't feel like somebody had supported my spiritual growth journey and in as many ways and as many nights and months that he and his wife spent in Bible study with me. This made me realize that I needed to obey God and not another man. I needed to obey God's word to me and not, you know, my pastor's word to me. And that was such an eye-opening moment. So I continued to pray about it and I said, Lord, this is a closed door. Does that mean seminary is a closed door and As I continued to pray, he said, no, you know, continue to pursue it. It just, it just meant that the timeline was much longer than necessary, but that was still a really valuable lesson I needed to learn. And that was through a lot of pain, but through that pain I had found some truth and revelation that he gave me. So. I was already attending another church, and I asked one of the pastoral leaders there who was a woman to write me a reference and lo and behold, I got all my references through and I said, OK. The last piece is here. I can't afford, I can't afford graduate school. I'm already in debt for my undergrad and I don't want to put me and my husband in a worse situation. We had just gotten married, so You know, going to a graduate program didn't seem the wisest decision at the time, but. God makes a way and. I got my references and then he opened the door to a full scholarship to pay for my entire master's program. This was before I got hired at Asbury. So Asbury obviously pays for school, but the fact that this was just such an obvious sign that, hey, I'm going to support you. This is what you need to do. You need to be equipped for such and such. At the time, I had no idea what I was called to do. Still need some clarification on it, but I feel good and peaceful where I'm at. So he gave me the full scholarship and then this job opened up and everything just started lining up one after another. It was effortless, but all I had to do, and I say all I had to do, I still had to be present. I still had to be on the battlefield. I still had to show up in The answer to say, God, I will obey you. I am here, basically, here's my ticket. I'm clocking in. What do you need me to do? And he answered, he answered so clearly and refreshed me and comforted me throughout that time too, and afterwards, still does to this day, and Asbury continues to show me why I'm here, and I love it. And how that relates to my work is I'm able to give that testimony to people who to other women who have gotten the same barriers, but also are experiencing doubt and just need to take that leap of faith and know what it looks like on the other side that showing up really matters. It really matters. And I don't show up for my, for my job and I don't show up for this recruiting instance or this conference or this coffee with a student or even just if I'm if I'm not at this certain place in time that God has called me to, I might miss an opportunity to help somebody else take that next step in their faith and that is what it means to add somebody else into the family, into your spiritual family and it's just got so much bigger and so much bigger and my smile and my grin, like just, uh, every time I get so excited about it. So Yeah, that's just one part of my story I love telling. It helps others, and I hope that God continues to use me.
