{"id":1265,"date":"2015-06-29T10:43:40","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T15:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/?p=1265"},"modified":"2015-06-29T10:43:40","modified_gmt":"2015-06-29T15:43:40","slug":"introducing-kester-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/introducing-kester-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Kester Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The ACU Graduate School of Theology is pleased to announce that Kester Smith has joined our staff as the GST Recruiter.<\/p>\n<p>Kester is a recent GST graduate, having completed his MDiv. in May. Prior to pursuing an MDiv, Kester worked as a teacher, youth minister, and, most recently, a bi-vocational church-planter and bookseller in Austin, TX. This combination of ministry and GST experience make Kester an invaluable asset for understanding the calling of those considering theological education and how the GST might best serve that calling.<\/p>\n<p>Kester is married to Rachel Smith, who works as an Instructor and Clinical Supervisor in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Kester and Rachel have one son, Harrison, who will be a 6<sup>th<\/sup> grader at Craig Middle School this coming fall.<\/p>\n<p>We asked for an informal interview with Kester, in order to get to know him a little better.<\/p>\n<p>Favorite\u2026<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Food \u2013 When I was still eating meat, it was my mom\u2019s chicken potpie. Now that I\u2019m a vegetarian it\u2019s either a spicy yellow tofu curry (Krua Thai serves a great one) or my chickenless version of my mom\u2019s pot pie. My favorite \u201con the go\u201d food is a potato, egg, and cheese breakfast taco.<\/li>\n<li>Song \u2013 People that know me will be shocked that it isn\u2019t a Bruce Springsteen song, but they probably wouldn\u2019t be considering my love for hymns. My favorite song is either \u201cAmazing Grace,\u201d \u201cCome Thou Fount,\u201d or \u201cBe Thou My Vision.\u201d Were Springsteen to record acoustic versions of any of those songs, my head would explode.<\/li>\n<li>Book \u2013 Not to give the obvious answer, but the Bible truly is my favorite book. With that as a given, my favorite novel is either Dostoevsky\u2019s <em>Brothers Karamazov<\/em> or Marilynne Robinson\u2019s <em>Gilead<\/em>. My favorite authors (besides Dostoevsky and Robinson) include Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Flannery O\u2019Connor, Abraham Heschel, Toni Morrison, N.T. Wright, and pretty much every member of the Inklings. I\u2019m also partial to the writings of Maximus the Confessor and Julian of Norwich. I like books a lot.<\/li>\n<li>Movie\/television show \u2013 My favorite film is <em>It\u2019s A Wonderful Life<\/em>. My favorite television show is probably <em>The Simpsons<\/em>, as long as we\u2019re talking about the early seasons.<\/li>\n<li>Vacation spot \u2013 I was raised in Chicago and it is still my favorite place to visit, when I have the chance to travel. I\u2019d like to visit Ireland, England, and Scotland some day, but haven\u2019t yet been able to afford the trip.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Either\/Or<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Kindle or bound book? \u2013 Bound. I like how it feels to turn a page.<\/li>\n<li>Indoors or outdoors? \u2013 Indoors. I\u2019m a city kid. I don\u2019t mind walking in the outdoors, but I don\u2019t want to sleep or bathe in them.<\/li>\n<li>Coffee or tea? \u2013 Tea. Earl Grey. But a cold glass of ice water over either of them.<\/li>\n<li>Time with a group or time alone? Alone. I like to have time with people, but I have to have time to myself.<\/li>\n<li>Big city or small town? Big city, though small town has grown on me a bit.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Have you ever\u2026<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>worked in a restaurant? \u2013 Yes. Pizza Hut. First job I ever had and it led me to the conclusion that everyone should have to work in the service industry at least once.<\/li>\n<li>been horseback riding? \u2013 Yes. Once. Never again.<\/li>\n<li>climbed a mountain? \u2013 Yes. Twice. I wouldn\u2019t say I enjoyed it, but I\u2019d say it was worth it.<\/li>\n<li>performed on stage? Yes. I\u2019ve performed in plays, as the lead singer of various bands, and as a stand-up comedian.<\/li>\n<li>run a marathon? \u2013 No. Though I imagine I\u2019d feel about it the same way I do about mountain climbing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>What\u2019s a particularly interesting skill or hobby that you have?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I used to be a pretty decent mimic and impersonator, back when I did stand-up. I\u2019m probably still not half bad. I\u2019ve got a head full of pop culture trivia. And I make amazing mix tapes. Unfortunately, no one listens to mix tapes anymore.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What\u2019s something distinctive (or even weird) not many people know about you?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I can pop both of my shoulders out of joint. My right eye is prone to dryness and then squeaks when I scratch it. And Kester is a nickname I\u2019ve had for just over a decade.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What excites you about your work in the GST?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I am very much a pastor more than a salesman, so it excites me to help students discern their calling and to introduce them to a program that is as committed to academic excellence, spiritual formation, and preparation for vocation as the GST is.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ACU Graduate School of Theology is pleased to announce that Kester Smith has joined our staff as the GST Recruiter. Kester is a recent GST graduate, having completed his MDiv. in May. Prior to pursuing an MDiv, Kester worked as a teacher, youth minister, and, most recently, a bi-vocational church-planter and bookseller in Austin, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni","category-announcements"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Introducing Kester Smith - ACU Graduate School of Theology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/introducing-kester-smith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Introducing Kester Smith - ACU Graduate School of Theology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ACU Graduate School of Theology is pleased to announce that Kester Smith has joined our staff as the GST Recruiter. 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