Philippe Emedi, South Africa
Philippe Emedi's early years may have been turbulent - he was born in Congo and fled to Nigeria. But one foundation in his life has been Asbury. He first heard about Asbury Seminary (ATS) through his father, Rev. Emedi L. Mwenebenga, who attended ATS for his Th.M. But Philippe's decision to apply for the Beeson Program came after a meeting with a friend.
When Philippe met with Bishop Leslie Krober in Nigeria in 2002, Krober felt that Philippe needed further leadership training to enhance his ministry within and beyond the Free Methodist Church across the continent of Africa. "I chose to come to ATS because I believed and still do in the quality of training offered by this seminary," says Philippe. "Being a Christian, a Methodist minister, who believes in the Wesleyan and Armenian doctrine, I found my admission in the D.Min. program and offer of scholarship by the Beeson International Leadership program to be a privilege."
Philippe says his expectations from Asbury are high. "I hope to be guided as I seek to develop ways of being a good leader, learn from other people in my class and around me, and acquire the expected knowledge for the level of my training," Philippe explains. "I am testing my ministry experience and find this to be another chance to test, affirm, confirm, correct, or even learn to do better some of the things I did or struggled with in ministry after my previous educational experience."
