Scholarship Recipients

Astrid Rios

Biography:

My name is Astrid Rando Rios. I am originally from the vibrant Guatemala City, where I was raised in a Christian family that was involved in ministry. My childhood unfolded in between the busyness of city life and the embrace of small rural and indigenous communities that my parents visited for ministry. Weekends and holidays were woven with the warmth of shared meals and heartfelt conversations in these small villages where my parents served. In those moments, as I witnessed my parents connecting with souls who lived in a starkly different reality, I felt God gently crafting within me a heart attuned to the outcast, the needy, and the broken.

This awakening ignited a dream to pursue medicine, a calling I believed would allow me to bring healing. Yet, when that door remained closed, I stepped into the world of architecture, where I spent seven years chasing the accolades of success and the security of a corporate life. Yet, amidst the clamor of ambition, I lost sight of the world’s profound struggles, drifting far from the compassion that once stirred my spirit.

In 2015, after reaching peaks I thought would be fulfilling, I found myself confronted by an unsettling emptiness. It was in that moment of soul-wrenching reflection that I sensed the Father’s gentle summons, beckoning me to return to Him. With a small mustard seed of faith, I relinquished my career as an architect, yearning to serve God wherever He might lead.

The path ahead unveiled itself gradually, and sometimes painfully slowly. In 2019, a remarkable opportunity brought me to GCTS, where I graduated with an M.Div. in 2023. This season became a sanctuary of growth, where profound friendships and wise mentors etched their legacy upon my heart. Their gentle presence allowed me to recognize that it was often easier to me to be useful to God than to be loved by Him. Their kindness, patience, and insight nurtured my understanding of both God and self—an understanding I have strived to mirror as I have mentor and disciple others.

Through this journey, I discovered counseling as a powerful vessel to walk alongside those in need. It is this calling that has led me back to pursue a second degree, an opportunity for which I am deeply grateful. I am thankful beyond words for this scholarship that allows me to deepen my understanding and skills to journey with the wounded to the feet of Jesus and experience his healing touch.

Jimin Yeo

Biography:

My name is Jimin Yeo. I was born and raised in South Korea until I moved to Phoenix, Arizona at 16 yrs old. My parents trustfully supported my passion to learn the western culture and language by sending me to the U.S. for high school. During my college years, I had a personal encounter with Jesus and became a born again Christian. I studied Accounting in my undergrad and grad school and worked as a Certified Public Accountant. Now, I am married to a godly husband, Michael Son, and have two young children, Noah and Leah. After my first child was born, I prayerfully thought about what the vision and calling are in my life that God has for me. It was then God showed me the heart he implanted in me for the poor and weak. I am so thankful to be in the counseling program at Gordon Conwell. Through the program at GCTS, my goal is to experience God’s love deeper and be equipped to be a Christian counselor.

Rachel Lohia

Biography:

I am blessed to have grown up in a Pastor’s family just outside of Burlington, Vermont. The Lord blessed me with musical abilities and from a young age I loved instruments and foreign languages as both came easily to me. When asked in fifth grade what I wanted to be when I grew up, I responded, “a mommy!” Since that didn’t satisfy my teacher, I settled on a music teacher because I wanted to learn how to play all the instruments. I pursued music passionately, became a music teacher and was even able to start my own music program in Lawrence, MA. After a short-term mission trip to North India to teach music for a summer, I felt called to live in India full-time as a music teacher. I moved there the summer of 2012, a 20-something single gal excited for this new adventure the Lord was taking me on. In December 2014, I married Livingstone, a friend who had acted as a liaison on several tourist trips. We were blessed with Josiah in 2015 and Jasmine in 2016. I continued to teach until the end of the academic year (March 2017) and then we moved back to the US, landing in Vermont. I began studying in 2019 through the Part-time Partnership Program, one to two classes per semester. My hope has been to learn more about how to study and teach the Bible, as well as learn about world religions so that we might be better neighbors when we encounter others from different backgrounds. I hope to be able to disciple and teach others both here in America and back in India, if and when then Lord leads us back there.
 
Update (Fall 2022)

Lisa Martin

Biography:

I was born and raised in a farming family in Lancaster County, PA. From childhood, I have had a strong sense of calling toward underserved, hurting people, but I was unsure about how I would live out that calling. I gave my heart to Christ when I was 11 years old, and as I grew in faith and knowledge of Him, I found myself drawn toward the mental health field. I was the first person in my family to attend college, so the decision to go to Penn State for my BA was life changing for me. In my time there, God placed so many wonderful mentors in my life – both spiritual mentors in my community and academic mentors in the university – who encouraged me to lean into my strengths as a clinician and researcher, and to inhabit my career as a ministry. After graduation, I worked in an intensive outpatient mental health program for teens, which was a wonderful opportunity to confirm that I wanted to pursue further training to become a licensed counselor. Isaiah 58:6b has become my prayer as I mature in my role as an agent of God’s healing: “…to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke.” Having studied and worked in largely secular spaces, I knew that I wanted to complete the next phase of my education in a place where I could ground my future ministry in solid theological teaching and Christian community. Gordon-Conwell was an obvious choice, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be shaped as a Christ-follower and a counselor here!

Esther Xiang

Biography:

I love people. I feel deeply drawn to people and their stories and struggles. I’ve lived in 6 countries, 6 provinces, 9 states, 18 cities, and attended 15 schools. I thought Harvard would give me everything I needed, but only Jesus will. He saved me! The more steps I’ve taken on this path of pursuing ministry, the more I am in awe at how God weaves a beautiful tapestry of our lives to tell a story that uniquely glorifies Him. I feel pressed to lay down my plans and take up God’s plans for me in ministry! After graduating from college, I spent my year pursuing missions in 5 countries through Youth With a Mission (YWAM). I trekked the Himalayas to meet unreached people groups, sharing the love of Jesus and witnessing incredible miracles.

I also got to memorize and share 2 hours of scripture from Genesis to Revelation! The Word has become alive in my heart! The cry is for Jesus to be exalted in every nation, among every people, and in every language. It’s been my greatest joy to go and make Him known in every way possible! I’m passionate about seeing people walk in God’s extravagant affection and live from that place of His love! I want to help spread the Gospel everywhere I go! I don’t want to live chasing after the wind. I want Jesus to use me in remarkable ways! I never want to be sleepy about The Great Commission. I love the nations! God has completely changed my heart since graduating from Harvard! He’s spoken to me that my dreams are too small, reminding me that He is my dream! GCTS is equipping me with an education rooted in God’s word with a family of fellow Christian leaders around the globe, helping to make His kingdom known on earth as it is in heaven!

Amanda Ward

Biography:

I am a Boston native, born in this area while my father was finishing his MDiv at Gordon Conwell. I met my husband Ryan in our college Intervarsity Fellowship. We fell in love while serving alongside each other in ministry and contributing to Christian scholarship through the Veritas Forum’s Augustine Collective student journal network. After graduation, God brought us back to Boston for Ryan’s law school and my call to ministry with the Fellowship of Christians in Universities and Schools (FOCUS). For the last five years, I have been serving high school students at independent and boarding schools in the Boston area through FOCUS, sharing the gospel with young people. In this season of ministry and law school, Ryan and I worship and serve at Church of the Cross in the Fenway area. It has been a deep joy to watch God’s church flourish among our community there, especially as I serve on the vestry. FOCUS’s ministry partnership with Gordon Conwell allowed me to begin taking seminary classes over the last few years, and those classes have stirred a love for further theological training in my heart. I have seen my studies enrich both my ministry with students and my love for the church. I want to faithfully follow God’s call on my life by taking this next step to train for further ministry through the MDiv at Gordon Conwell. I am so excited to see where God leads us through these next years!