My Story

During the past several years, I have been repeatedly asked to share my biography or story with classmates and professors in the seminary. I was also asked to share my story on my employment application to IWU, my application to Wesley Seminary, and a ministry application at church. It has been difficult for me to figure out how to write down my story -- what to include...what not to include. Well, a few nights ago I finished the last homework assignment for my degree, and suddenly, I knew what to say. It's as if a window was opened and the sun was shining in, lighting up the room. So, here goes. (I will warn you that this will take a few minutes to read.)

 Four years ago, I did not have my undergraduate degree, although I had completed all of my degree requirements 20 years earlier. One week from tomorrow, I will receive a Master of Arts in Ministry degree from Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University. Four years ago, I felt discouraged, beaten down, and practically worthless. Now, I am daily humbled by respect and compliments from students, faculty and staff within the School of Theology & Ministry. But, maybe I should back up a bit in this story.

I was raised in a fairly average middle class Christian home. Both of my parents worked. We went to church almost every Sunday. I had what I needed but not always what I wanted. I was an only child until junior high.

 I began talking to God at an early age. It just seemed natural. I also spent HOURS enveloped in music. Living in the country, there wasn't a lot to do as an only child. TV was rarely an option, since we only had 4 stations and I wasn't allowed to watch it very much. So, I listened to records and 8-track tapes -- mostly the Gaithers, musicals (like Pete's Dragon, Annie, Fiddler on the Roof, and...well, you get the picture), and Donny and Marie Osmond. (Quite a diverse collection, hunh?)

During the summers, I played outside with my animals and gave concerts on my swing set. Yeah, that said, 'concerts'. I 'sang' (or rather yelled at the top of my lungs so that the neighbors might hear and be saved) Gaither music to large, invisible crowds. Of course, no Gaither concert would be complete without an alter call, which I was sure not to leave out. Oh, and the pets. Well, I'm embarrassed to say that some might think I did strange things with my pets.

First, when I was about five or six, my parents caught me sharing the dry cat food with the dog. I'd eat a piece, then give him a piece. Come to find out, I had an iron deficiency which dog and cat food are high in. Other than that, I have no clue why I did that. I do know that, to this day, vitamins almost make me gag because they smell like dog food!

Second, my mom sometimes caught me dunking kittens in a bucket of water. My explanation, I was baptizing them so they wouldn't go to hell. On to the third thing -- I often closed my eyes and had my dog lead me around the yard. He was pretty good; he knew a few commands. I attribute that fascination with Mary from Little House on the Prairie. (For those of you born after that era, she was blind.)

Needless to say, accepting Christ as my personal savior and being baptized at eight was a no-brainer. I went to Sunday school, junior church, Sunday night service, and Thursday night service pretty much every week. During the summer, I went to VBS and church camp. In junior high and senior, I also began attending youth group on Sunday nights and weekend retreats. Hardly a church activity happened that I did not attend.

Something else that happened in junior high -- I became an older sister. That's right, my family adopted my brother. When I was thirteen, my family's name finally was chosen to adopt Michael (who had just turned one). We had been on the list since I was six. 

During high school, even though I was no longer an only child, there was so many years difference between my brother and I that spent most of my time alone. Too old to play on the little aluminum swing set, I spent countless hours listening to 'contemporary' Christian music. In those days (1980's), contemporary sounded much different than it does today. The Gaither Trio was pretty edgy in some circles. I had added some groups to my repertoire, though. I listened and sang to the Imperials, Petra, the Couriers, Michael W. Smith, Sandi Patti, Michael English, Rich Mullins (back when he was first starting out and still hitch-hiked to most churches), and several others. Besides singing to the music, I also directed it. (Yeah, I was kinda dorky and didn't really care.)

Another piece of information that should be noted is that I was extremely shy. I didn't talk in large groups. I never raised my hand in class. I only talked to about 8-10 close friends. (Of course, I talked a lot at home to my parents, myself and God.) My junior year, I tried out for drum major but didn't make it. However, my senior year I blew them away when I hollered out commands.

My high school youth group played a large part in shaping my faith. Our Sunday night youth group probably met 48 of 52 weeks out of the year. We had Sunday school every week. We had a couple of weekend retreats each year. We met in students' homes over the summer and some during the winter. Our church attendance was around 500. The youth group attendance averaged 15-20 during the summer and 50-100 during the school year. Every year we went to the Mississinewa Reservoir spillway on Labor Day Sunday, attended the ICYC conference in Indianapolis on Thanksgiving weekend, had a New Year's Eve party, and went on a 10-day trip called the Joyful Journey during which we went to the CIY conference (and went caving/spelunking, hiking, tubing and rappelling in the Appalachian Mountains on the weekends surrounding the conference) and attended the Great Escape retreat in Anderson at Highland High School in the spring.

I went on the Joyful Journey the summer after my sophomore year. It was a time of growth for me. I was not very adventurous. (I still don't ride roller coasters or large rides at amusement parks.) However, I participated in all of the Journey activities.

There was a 'bottomless' lake that we crossed during one part of the spelunking. We had to shimmy down a steep incline with anchored ropes, get into waist-deep water, and carefully stay on the ledge at the side of the lake. There were people in our group who could not swim, one of which was my partner. There were all sorts of insects and bats. We had to crawl on our bellies through one section. Our goal was a large cavern about a mile inside. Upon reaching it, we shut off all of our lights and sang for about thirty minutes. I cannot begin to describe that time!

We hiked up a trail in the Appalachian Mountains. A few brave souls climbed the face. The rest of us took the paved trail that turned into climbing a somewhat steep rock to the summit. We also rappelled off of a lookout tower. I was one of the last ones to gain enough courage to leap off the side, but it was worth it. Trust me, it's nothing like climbing the fake rock wall.

One year we visited Willowcreek's weekday outreach program, so that we could start a similar weeknight program. I was on the student leadership team for that. A small group of us also went to visit people in the nursing homes about twice a month. Once or twice a year, we designed and led the adult worship service. We also helped with puppet shows in the junior worship service and with the children's musicals.

When I was in junior high, the youth pastor and some high school students and adults began the first dramatization of A Night in Bethlehem. I was allowed to help in one of the areas as a junior high student and continued to help in high school and as an adult. We turned our basement into Bethelehem, complete with live sheep, goats and rabbits, a basket shop, an inn keeper, a strolling musician, a carpenter shop, a "home" with warm bread to sample and kids playing, Caeser and some guards, Mary/Joseph/Baby Jesus near the animals with a manger, and wise men in a different room (they were traveling because they had seen a new star). People who visited were 'transported back in time' at the beginning and end of the experience. At the end, there was a presentation describing Christ's crucifixion and resurrection with pamphlets for people to take with them. Several hundred people came through each year we presented it.

Our youth group's weekly Sunday night meetings during the school year consisted of an hour-long teaching time and an hour of worship/prayer. (See "I don't do organized religion" for a more detailed explanation of our worship time. Trust me, it was different but awesome.) During the summer, when we met in homes, we had snacks and prayer/worship. Each of us took turns leading a small devotion (giving the youth leaders time off, the summers were mostly student-led). During my junior and senior year, I rarely went to Sunday night youth or the weeknight outreach without a car full of people. (I drove a Chevette that had seat belts for 3 passengers. I usually had 3-5 passengers -- and sometimes 7-8. I wouldn't recommend doing this, today.)

During junior high church camp, I had felt called to ministry. However, I grew up in a denomination that did not believe women should lead anything but other women or children. So, when presented with music scholarships for the bassoon and academic scholarships for my SAT scores during my senior year, I chose to attend Ball State University. While there, I made a handful of friends and spoke to maybe a dozen people during the five years there.

After a series of bad decisions and unfortunate happenings, I found myself divorced and a single mother trying to finish my student teaching. (Kiersten and God are all that kept me going at that time.) Besides being depressed from all that had happened in my personal life, I was put with a teacher that was not allowed to have any more student teachers after me. Needless to say, I failed my student teaching. (Although I had no clue she was failing me until the last day, nice, hunh?) That finished crushing an already crushed spirit. I wound up settling for a general studies degree and took a computer course over the summer. However, I forgot to turn in my graduation application and was so shy and backwards, I thought that meant I didn't graduate.

Fortunately, a woman from home was listening to God. She had felt for a few months that God had placed both my name and Ernie's name on her heart. After several weeks of praying, she asked the two of us if we would like to meet. We both agreed and met at her and her husbands house for supper and euchre.

After a summer of getting to know one another, I was scared that Ernie might think I wanted to more than just friends. So, I told him that we needed some space for awhile. After two weeks of not talking, I missed him and realized that I did like him. So, I called him, we went out on a date, and the rest went really fast! We met on Memorial Day weekend, started dating towards the end of July, and were married on Thanksgiving. About ten months later, Ernest Joseph Fipps, IV, was born.

For the next several years, both my faith and my self-confidence grew. One big thing thing that really helped me break out of my shyness was clowning. Someone from Converse Church of Christ was a member of a Christian clown alley and had invited me to check it out. That changed my life so much! Behind the clown makeup, I was free to be the outgoing me that had hidden for so many years. I gained the confidence to begin breaking out of my shell without the makeup on, too.

Then, an elder from the church approached me and asked if I would be willing to help the new children's pastor in junior church. I hadn't attended junior church since sixth grade. He asked if I would lead the worship songs. I had no clue what they sang. I had sang with the preschool kids a few times on Sunday morning, but singing with 3-5 year-olds was much different than leading elementary kids in worship. I agreed to help, figuring I would help for three or four months until Amanda was settled in. (I had no clue what God had in store.)

I was a junior high youth sponsor, occasional helper in the preschool wing, and helped with the elementary kids during the summer sometimes. However, leading kids' worship was a completely new experience. For the first few weeks, I pretty much let the sixth grade girls lead. After awhile, I began leading more and introducing the kids to new songs. Amanda and I met every week to discuss the lesson and music. A few months later, I began helping her do some of the skits and teaching segments. After several months, Amanda and I were team teaching. Then, she asked me to help her plan the curriculum for the next year for the elementary Sunday school classes and junior worship.

Eventually, I was leading the junior worship team, designing and planning most of the lessons, and leading a kids choir. I also helped on Wednesday nights with the large group lesson and had a small group of fourth-sixth grade girls. I also led the worship for the 4th-6th grade church camp and was a cabin mom. After several years, I had successfully worked myself out of a position as the other volunteers I was leading blossomed into more confident teachers. I felt it was time to hand the reins to someone else but had no clue where God was leading me.

During that same time period, I changed jobs a few times before finding myself at Swayzee Elementary as an instructional assistant with the Title I program and also as a recess aide. That was a lot of fun, because most of the sixth graders from church were at Swayzee, since that was where all of the sixth graders from Oak Hill Schools were bused. I really got to develop relationships with the kids by playing with them at recess and seeing them in the hall. I also helped with an after-school program sponsored by the church camp in the spring and fall that was offered to the fifth and sixth graders.

I didn't leave all of my music training behind. I have had many private piano students and several private clarinet and saxophone students over the years. One semester, I stepped in for the 6th grade band director who was on maternity leave. In recent years, I have assisted the Eastern High School marching band, mostly with the clarinets and flutes. I also ran sound for the adult worship service and have sung in church choirs, sung solos, and been a member of the worship team.

If you are getting the idea that I have jumped around a lot, you are right. I get bored fairly easily. The employers that have kept me around the longest are the ones that gave me extra duties. While an instructional assistant at Eastern junior high, I was often asked to run/teach classes when the teacher had to be out. (The substitute just sat and watched.) While working at the bank, I redesigned several forms and instruction manuals, trained several new tellers, and assisted with main branch's vault. At Swayzee Elementary, I was given special state-required projects to edit, taught a Microsoft Excel workshop to all the secretaries in the school system, and applied for and won an NEA grant to attend a week-long master's lever dyslexia conference in California.

Well, back to that strange change I felt God was calling me to when I stepped down from the junior worship position. I had attended a special sermon series at Crossroads Community Church in Kokomo on Saturdays. This is the church Ernie had attended as a child. His mom and one sister still attended there. We decided to try attending there for awhile. I wound up volunteering to help with the third-fifth graders during the Saturday service. Then, a new children's pastor was hired. He invited me to be a part of the children's staff, which I accepted. Unfortunately, the position I was hired for was not a good fit for me. That with some other factors led me to step down after a year, which gets us back to four years ago.

Four years ago, I did not have my undergraduate degree, although I had completed all of the degree requirements 20 years earlier. I applied for a secretarial position with the Religion Division (now School of Theology & Ministry) at Indiana Wesleyan University. I really wasn't sure if I could successfully do the job, but I knew how to do almost everything on the list of duties. During my interview for the position, Dave Smith (the division chairperson at the time) asked me why I had so many undergraduate credits but no degree. I gave him the short version of the divorce, depression, shyness, and forgetting to turn in the graduation application. He informed me that undergraduate hours don't go away, and that, if he hired me, he wanted me contact Ball State and find out what to do to get my diploma. He did; I did. I officially graduated from Ball State University 16 years after having completed my degree. (I graduated the same year Kiersten graduated from high school.)

The past four years have been amazing. I have worked with good people over the years, but this group is one-of-a-kind. This group of about twenty professors like each other. They don't agree on politics or even on every part of theology. However, they are friends and enjoy one another. They support and encourage each other. Every day at 10 am and 3 pm, they go for coffee together -- partly for the caffeine and largely for the socializing. They have encouraged me like no others. I wish everyone could work in such an environment! But that's not all...

Three years ago, the spring after I received my undergraduate diploma, the seminary was birthed. Having felt the calling into ministry back in junior high, I signed up for the Master of Arts in Ministry program (which had been going on for some time, but was now being brought into the seminary along with the new M.Div. program). So, one week from tomorrow, I will receive a Master of Arts in Ministry degree(with a focus in youth ministry) from Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University. (I am graduating with my master's degree the same year Joseph is graduating from high school.)

I have been asked several times in the last few weeks, "So what are you going to do now?" I have no idea, but God does. Right now, I'm continuing to enjoy working in the School of Theology & Ministry as an administrative assistant. In the future, I would like to teach an occasional course and maybe start my doctorate education. I would also like to be on a pastoral staff at a church.

"Where do I see myself in ten years?" I would like to be a mentoring/teaching pastor at a church (children's, youth, worship, or whatever) working my way towards being a professor (or maybe already being a full time professor). My spiritual gifts are teaching, leading, shepherding, creative communication and administration in that order with only 3 points difference between the first and last one listed. (These are from the 2 assessments I have taken at various times at Converse Church of Christ, always resulting in the same gifts).

Well, that's pretty much my story as far as major moments that have developed and express my professional, character, and faith growth over the past 43 years.

Ministry areas in which I have served over the past 20 years: 
preschool/nursery: Sunday morning teaching/helper
elementary children: worship leader, large/small group leader, camp counselor (k-6th grade), day/overnight camp dean for K-2nd grade, ministry team leader, Sunday school teacher, VBS (crafts, small/large group teacher, main group skits), designed/led and helped with overnighter, curriculum/vision leader team member, after school program helper, writing/performing skits, children's choir leader, children's musical producer/director, power point design, church camp cook
junior/senior high: small group leader, large group teacher, overnighter volunteer, ran sound for worship, church camp cook


(the following are all for the adult worship services)
media: team member/leader, shooting/developing slides, designing/presenting slide/media specials
drama: clowning (writing/performing both comical and worship skits, balloon twisting, teaching makeup techniques), writing/performing skits for adult worship, various positions with dramatization/re-enactment of the town of Bethlehem at time of Christ's birth
music: choir member, worship team member, woodwind player for worship band
sound: team member
lighting: ran for VBS programs and occasional morning worship