This year, the NTS Alumni Council launched an initiative to gather oral histories from our alumni. The Oral History Project will help us tell a fuller, richer story of our seminary. More importantly, it will bear witness to how graduate-level education shapes and equips students for God’s mission.
Many of these testimonies reflect lives that, in the words of John Wesley, “God is continually breathing” until they reach “full measure of the stature of Christ.”
One such story come from Rev. Julia Ezeigbo. I first met Julia during her first year at NTS. At the time, she came with a desire to grow intellectually. But as her journey unfolded, it became clear that God had more in store.
Her transformation was both personal and spiritual. While at NTS, she went from being a single college graduate to becoming a wife and mother. But more than these milestones, she sensed a clear and powerful call from God. She recalls, “I shifted my perspective from merely pursuing a degree to fulfilling a divine purpose. I had always sworn I would never preach from a pulpit. Yet God molded and shaped me into a shepherd and pastor—a role I never imagined for myself.”
Later, I co-taught Julia’s senior seminar. There, her growth was unmistakable—not only in knowledge, but in depth of character. She engaged with conviction and clarity. As she described it, “I learned to write and speak with authenticity, owning my beliefs and convictions.”
When Julia graduated in 2020, she was not the same person who first walked through our doors. She reflects, “I had grown spiritually, intellectually, and personally. NTS was not just an academic exercise, but a calling from God to serve and minister to others.”
Today, Julia is an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. She serves alongside her husband, Chima, who is also a minister, at the Manchester (CT) Church of the Nazarene.
Julia’s story echoes across the lives of many NTS graduates—students shaped by a love for learning, a deep hunger for God, and a call to serve. These testimonies remind us of the sacred work we are privileged to share: forming faithful and effective ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Rev. Julia Ezeigbo at her ordination. Her husband, Chima, is kneeling at her left. Praying over her is Rev. Mike Kennedy, an NTS graduate and a lifelong friend.
On Video:
Watch Rev. Julia Ezeigbo share from a 2020 NTS profile.
