Your Impact

For Lauren Redmond, attending Dallas Theological Seminary wasn’t a spontaneous decision—it was a dream planted years ago, nurtured by family legacy and a deep personal desire to know God and His Word more intimately. Now, halfway through her ThM program at DTS, Lauren’s story is one of faithfulness, obedience, and a heart for the next generation of young women. 

Lauren grew up moving frequently due to her father’s career in the business world. During their time in California, her dad made a radical decision to leave his job mid-career and pursue theological education at DTS. Though he later returned to the business world, the impact of his studies, along with his commitment to Scripture, left an indelible mark on Lauren. “All his decisions stem from his love for God and the Bible,” she reflected. That example, paired with her own observations of a world in desperate need of truth, stirred in Lauren a clear calling to study God’s Word at DTS and be equipped to teach it to young women. Without the scholarships of our generous donors, Lauren might not have been able to attend DTS. 

Lauren is a recipient of the Grace University Legacy Scholarship, which was established by Michael Goding, a former trustee of Grace University, to support students from Nebraska, where Lauren’s family currently resides. Grace University was a theological seminary that opened in the fall of 1943 and ultimately closed in 2018. Michael had a deep love for Grace University and desired to continue its legacy at DTS by establishing the scholarship. 

Financial aid has been essential in Lauren’s academic journey, as it has alleviated the burden of trying to afford seminary after completing an undergraduate degree. Without the scholarship, Lauren would be navigating both full-time work and full-time seminary studies. She loves that she can fully invest in the studies to which God has called her while still working part-time at her local church in student ministry. She sees a direct link between her classroom learning and her students’ questions. Lauren is experiencing firsthand the fruits of giving from our DTS donors. Their generosity makes such opportunities possible for students like Lauren to attend DTS and pursue God’s call to ministry. 

Before coming to DTS, Lauren majored in Biblical Studies at Liberty University. Her professors, including several DTS alumni, deepened and confirmed her desire to attend DTS after graduation. “The way they taught the Bible and how they handled Scripture was exactly how I wanted to learn it,” she said. The clarity and depth they brought to the classroom confirmed that DTS was where she belonged. 

Now that Lauren is at DTS, she is thriving. The program is more challenging than she expected, yet better than she expected. Getting a ThM degree is no easy task, but Lauren describes how professors like Dr. Darrell Bock have helped her connect the dots in Scripture in ways she has never experienced before. Her favorite class so far has been Dr. Bock’s The Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. She especially likes that he is brilliant, yet humble, and he keeps the main thing the main thing: Jesus. One of the most impactful takeaways that Lauren has gained from his class was a fresh understanding of the Great Commandment—the way we love God is reflected in the way we love people. 

Lauren hopes to apply what she is learning in the classroom to a life of ministry among young women. Looking ahead, she aspires to work in either a church setting with high school girls or at the collegiate level in a women’s ministry. Lauren desires to teach women to fall in love with the richness of God’s Word, so they are equipped to pursue Scripture themselves and teach others. 

What makes Lauren’s story inspirational is the way in which her life reflects the ripple effect of people saying “yes”—yes to giving generously, yes to obedience, yes to ministry, and, most importantly, to God, resulting in an actual, eternal impact on them and the lives of others.

Lauren’s story was made possible by the generosity of donors like you. If you would like to contribute to the work that God is doing and impact DTS students, we invite you to prayerfully consider giving to an existing scholarship or establishing a scholarship of your own. For more information, please contact Madison Miller, Scholarship Coordinator, at mmiller@dts.edu. 

Susan He hadn’t knelt in prayer for years, but she could still remember the ache in her knees—the pain she’d endured every night in childhood as her grandmother led her in nighttime prayers on the hard bed. Back then, her grandmother’s prayers for each family member had felt comforting, but as Susan entered adulthood, she came to regard that faith as naïve. As a university student, standing in her dorm room in Beijing, she recalled the faith she’d rejected when another student asked her, “Is that a Bible?”

The question caught her off guard. Why had her friend noticed and drawn attention to that? To most people she knew, the Bible was an antiquated relic, irrelevant to modern life. But for Susan, the small copy of the Bible was a reminder of a faith she had left behind. It was the Bible her grandmother had gifted her, a symbol of what Susan had pushed aside as she moved forward with her life.

Born and raised on Xiamen Island, China, Susan was cared for by her grandmother while her parents worked long shifts. Her grandmother, a Christian, had modeled daily spiritual devotion. When Susan grew older, she turned away from that faith. As the only child in her family, she felt the pressures of academic success and the constant drive to prove herself. It pushed her further from her Christian heritage. China’s communist education system afforded little room for the kind of faith her grandmother clung to.

That small Bible was about to become the key to the questions she had been asking since beginning university studies. The friend who noticed it invited her to a small group led by a professor. Susan attended the group, and the Bible became something new to her. The more she read it in community with believers, the more she realized that it wasn’t outdated at all—no, it was the living, breathing truth. After dismissing faith for years, Susan now found herself confronting the unexpected idea that God is real, and that he had been guiding her all along. She began to see that faith wasn’t just about habits or rituals but about a living relationship with God.

It wasn’t long before Susan took the step of baptism, publicly proclaiming that she had found something more fulfilling than the endless pursuit of grades and approval. She had found grace. From that point on, Susan’s life took a new direction. She boldly shared the good news of Jesus with everyone she met, bringing the energetic enthusiasm of a new believer to every conversation.

Unsatisfied with her job in banking, she heeded her pastor’s counsel to seek further theological education in preparation for continued ministry. She had met three Dallas Theological Seminary graduates in Beijing and decided that if she attended seminary, she wanted to go to DTS. How did she get to Dallas? “Only God knows,” she laughs. Susan was the first recipient of the seminary’s “Pray for China” scholarship, which made her studies possible, and God even guided her through a tense moment during her passport application interview in China. The officer misread “Theological” as “Technological” and said, “You must be very smart!” as he approved her passport.

After completing her Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling at DTS in 2006, she returned to China, using her training in strategic ways, including translating ministry resources for pastors. Her work took another turn when she moved to the Bay Area of California with her husband, Richard, where they’ve built a life around faith, service, and financial stewardship. While living in California, Susan watched her parents face financial devastation as a result of a Ponzi scheme. This sparked a deep conviction in her as God helped her see her previous career in the finance industry with fresh eyes. Whereas she had previously found only drudgery, the perspective gained at DTS helped her discover a calling to help people understand the story they want to tell with their money and time, ensuring that no one else experiences the pain her parents had endured. Susan now helps families become faithful stewards of their finances, enabling them to focus on their God-given purposes.

Though Susan and Richard have faced their share of challenges—including the heartache of infertility—they remain committed to serving others in any way they can. Their legacy has taken shape in the Mei Hui Xie International Women’s Student Scholarship, which they established at DTS, named in honor of Susan’s grandmother. The scholarship helps students from China, just as Susan was helped when she was a student. Today, Susan works at an international financial firm, where she oversees assets worth half a billion dollars; her heart is focused on the people she serves and the larger purpose of using her resources for God’s kingdom. Her vision remains trained on the work God has called her to do—whether that means continuing her financial career, moving abroad to serve as a missionary, or helping others discover the transformative power of faith that changed her own life.

DTS graduate, Tonya Neal, speaks about her experience with domestic violence and how she is answering her calling to minister to domestic violence survivors.

DTS Graduate, Jana Thompson, talks about her journey to DTS and coaching DC students.

Jalil Dawood tells the story of his journey from refugee to pastor and how DTS helped him to fulfill his life’s mission.