In May 2004 I began blogging. It was a great way to wrestle with some changes happening in my psyche and perfect outlet to express novus lumen thoughts and opinions.

The blog was called novus•lumen.

Novus Lumen is a combination of two Latin words: novus, which means “new” or “fresh”; and lumen, meaning “understanding” or “clearness”. After deciding it was high time to stake my claim in the worldwide blogosphere, I had one minor detail to arrange: I had to conjur up a name that would accurately and appropriately describe what I was experiencing in life as a 25 year old missionary on Capitol Hill who was emerging through new territory (terra nova) experientially, professionally, personally, and spiritually.

Then I was forced to shut it down 6-months later. But two years after I began this project, the same is true for my life as a 27 year old soon-to-be seminary student: I am still emerging through terra nova.

As I have tried to communicate to people what I am experiencing at this particular stage in my life, the word re-understanding continues to enter into my explanation. I think I am in a period of re-understanding several things: myself, my life course, the world and culture around me, theology, God, and what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ in 21st century America. I am continuing to experience a “new understanding” or “fresh clearness” about my life and God’s reality, and this blog will once again be a chronicle of that newness.

Once I return to GR MI, I will once again write and create in that space, and I invite you to join in the conversation.

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Lots of packing, parties, and pow-pows to fit in before I leave!

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On May 26 I am starting a new chapter in my life: I am moving from Washington, D.C. back to the Grand Rapids, MI area where I grew-up to pursue a Master of Divinity and train to be a pastor. So in honor of that new chapter, I decided to start a new site to chronicle this new portion of my journey.

On this site, I plan to post updates on my life, things I am doing, places I am going, and general things happening in my life journey. While I do not plan to post on how I am thinking about a variety issues and my opinion on things (there will be other sites for that!) I will probably talk about some struggles and road blocks I encounter along the way. It is sorta gonna act as my non-myspace-myspace site
If you’ve come to this site then you’re a friend, so stick around!

-jeremy

PS-In case you are wondering why this is a .net rather than .com site, I am the victim of cybersquatting! jerembouma.com was bought by someone who had a severe reaction to a front page LA Times article written about me and a program I coordinated in 2005. They decided to point my namesake to a blogpost on the article. I must say, I was a little irritated (not to mention flattered) when I found out…

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A few weeks ago I made my final decision on which school to attend: Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. I was accepted to two: GRTS and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary near Boston.

I knew I was going to spend at least a year back home with my family in Grand Rapids, so I would have started my program from home and then moved. And while Gordon-Conwell is certainly a great school and would even have offered some advantage over GRTS, I realized that part of graduate school experience is the relationships with professors and other students, sitting in class, and the general dialogue and interaction that happens in an academic setting. That coupled with a realization that it was God who was drawing me back to Grand Rapids longterm helped me make my decision.

So this August I will begin a Master of Divinity program, with a concentration either in Pastoral Studies or Church Planting. I am also considering doing a dual program and add a Master of Arts in Historical Theology. Doing so would basically add another semester, taking me until the end of 2010, and give me more rounded, historical rootedness in my theological studies that I don’t think I would get in straight MDiv and pastoral studies.

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Welcome to my personal life-space. Here you can find my resume, links to current projects, and updates on things going on in my life.

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