Starting Grad School

I just started, on Monday night, my first year of Grad School at the Haggard School of Theology. I am taking a course called "Dynamics of Christians Formation" with Dr. Keith Matthews. Matthews has an impressive resume in pastoral ministry, having worked with Brian McLaren and Dallas Willard in past years. I am excited about the class but I must say, this program is different than I had expected. It turns out that I am the only one in the school (the San Diego campus) who is in the more academic MATS (Master of Arts in Theological Studies) program. All the other students with whom I am studying are either MDiv or MAPS (Pastoral Studies) students, meaning they are all in this primarily to learn pastoral ministry while I am in it mostly for academic education so that I might be well prepared for PhD work. It will be interesting.