For Dawson Urwiller, a first-year Master of Divinity student at YTI, living in the mountains of Montana is a new experience. As the Kansas native recalls, “The tallest piece of land near where I lived was an overpass.”
It wasn’t just the call of the mountains that brought Dawson to YTI and Bozeman, however. Dawson is preparing for pastoral ministry, and several things drew him toward YTI as he considered options for seminary. In addition to already knowing Dr. Roy Millhouse and another YTI Master of Divinity student from his days at Sterling College, Dawson believed YTI’s educational focus would serve him well as he looked ahead to serving in the pastorate.
“YTI has more of a heart for creating pastors as pastors and what they’re supposed to be—not creating scholars who are thrust into a pastoral role. And I wanted that,” Dawson recalls. “If you want to be a scholar, you can be prepared here, but if you want to do ministry, this is the place that you want to be, because the people here are focused on forming you to do that.”
Through his first two terms at YTI, Dawson notes that he has experienced an educational community not only focused on preparing graduates to be competent ministers but also committed followers of Christ. “It’s lovely seeing that these people are not just academics,” he says, speaking of his instructors. “All of my classes have been heart-relevant. It’s clear that the people at YTI want to grow people in Christ in and through teaching us and being with us.”
The financial assistance made possible by YTI’s generous donors was also a significant factor in bringing Dawson and his family to Bozeman. “The full tuition scholarship being available to me was huge, and that was a deciding factor. The possibility of coming out of grad school with no debt is enormous. That’s a huge blessing to my wife and my son.”
Dawson is married to his high school sweetheart, Brooklyn, and they have a one-year-old son, Ambrose. The Urwiller family is getting used to life in the Northern Rockies. “If you want to live somewhere beautiful, come to Bozeman,” he says. “It’s a different kind of beauty—I think Kansas is really beautiful—but we get to experience this beauty for these years that we’re here, and we love that.” Dawson has enjoyed getting into hiking since he and his family arrived in Montana last August, and the mountain vistas add a fresh dimension to his long-time interest in running.
Once he has completed his degree, Dawson has a heart to return to his roots and minister in that context. “I’m hoping to serve the area that I was from in Kansas,” he says. “It’s still mildly the Bible Belt, but there are a lot of people who don’t believe, and there are a lot of people who need more formation in Christ, and I want to be a part of that.”