Campus minister honored for teaching students to think

Pastor emphasizes both
spiritual, intellectual
growth during activities

By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
Every Monday the Rev. David L. Semrad conducts a Bible study at the University of Texas at San Antonio—hoping to lay the foundation for future clergy and laity leaders in The United Methodist Church.
Every Tuesday he facilitates the Student Academy for Theological Study at San Antonio College—hoping to discern calls to full-time ministry in the 12 to 25 students who commit to attending.
Every Wednesday he leads San Antonio College’s “Hot Potato Issue” forums—hoping to develop thinkers in tomorrow’s future leaders.
Semrad, director of San Antonio United Methodist Campus Ministries, has found great joy and satisfaction in the challenge of campus ministry. For his efforts, Semrad received the Don Shockley Award for Contribution to Intellectual Life of Campus Ministry Sept. 11—during what he thought would be “routine board meetings.”
The actual presentation ceremony was July 27 at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, but Semrad was unable to go because of his mother-in-law’s funeral.
He didn’t know he had been honored until Sept. 11.
Given by the United Methodist Campus Ministry Association every other year, the award is named for the Rev. Don Shockley, former chaplain of UM-related Emory University in Atlanta and an influential scholar and author about campus ministry.
Rob Kirby, director of the Wesley Foundation at the University of Illinois—who served on the award selection committee—said Semrad impressed the panel because of his emphasis on theological issues that “make students think.”
Brenda Meneses, secretary of the San Antonio Campus Ministry Foundation Board—who was a student intern under Semrad from 1999 through May 2004—said he is an inspirational and encouraging mentor.
“If anyone deserves this award, it is him,” she said. “He works very hard at campus ministry and devotes a lot of time to it. He leads by example and with compassion. Anyone who knows him—and he knows a lot of people all over—will tell you the same.
“Proof of his success as a leader is that many of the interns have gone through (the process of) ordained ministry or are in the process. Others, like me, are in lay leadership positions and are very much involved at our churches.”
Students, she added, often wonder where Semrad, 65, gets his energy.
For nearly 40 years Semrad has been involved in campus ministry—30 of those in San Antonio.
It all began in Great Bend, Kan., in 1967.
Just out of Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, Semrad was appointed to Great Bend, population 20,000, where a community college was being developed. Seeing a need to reach out to students, he initiated a campus ministry with the other pastors in the city and developed a coffeehouse.
His work caught the attention of the campus ministry in Fort Hays, Kan., where the director was retiring. Semrad accepted the job and served in Kansas for eight years, then moved to San Antonio.
Semrad said campus ministry has been interesting—because he’s able to join others in developing future leaders.
“Higher education is where we’re shaping the next generations of leaders in our institutions, in the world of business, politics, education, religion and international relations,” he said. “We have a major impact on our future.
“I like to be a part of that as an instrument of God, helping shape values and education in the global community. That’s been satisfying.”
He said he approaches campus ministry differently from many of his colleagues. He emphasizes not just spiritual growth but intellectual growth.
“We have to have the best minds going for us,” Semrad said. “Typically in the arena of education and the interchange of ideas, that’s meant that loving God with our minds is an important part of theological studies. We discuss issues our society faces and come at it from a faith perspective.
“I tell our young people, many of whom want to go on to seminary, that this (ministry) will equip you with the intellectual tools for the most challenging thoughts out there. It’s more than a youth ministry, where you nurture them and give them self-confidence. Here, they grow intellectually in their vocation and their faith.
“Then they have some real tools.”
The Student Academy for Theological Study, run at San Antonio College and UTSA, is a covenant discipline of study that introduces students to theological issues, holds them accountable for consistently attending worship in their faith community and teaches them about mercy outreach ministries.
UTSA, one of the largest campuses in Texas with more than 28,000 students, is predicted to grow to 40,000 by 2015. Semrad said he believes it’s essential for churches to develop programs to reach out to those students.
“College is a family affair,” he said, “and the church has to be there with the family. Our roots with John and Charles Wesley are deeply ingrained in what higher education is. The value of education is a Methodist family value, and all it does is enrich the community around us.
“We have to understand that (students) are shaping their identity. It’s really good to have somebody there with them in the process who understands that. We’ve not kept up with seeing that as a priority.”
As a result, he said, society has generations of unchurched, “biblically illiterate” people visiting churches.
“When we have an aging church and aging clergy, we are well behind the time to say this has got to be a priority,” Semrad said.
The best part of campus ministry, Semrad said, is seeing the growth and development of students.
“When they begin here in the fall semester, they’re a bit bewildered and overwhelmed and a little uncertain and timid,” he said. “And when they participate in our ‘Hot Potato’ issues, you literally see them grow in faith, theology and witness, so by the time the school year’s over, they’re not hesitant. They’re witnesses to what God has done in their lives.
“Education is the center of what shapes the future of the students who come here. We’re doing that for the church, and we’re doing it for the laity in the church—equipping them for a life of discipleship.”