In late July I had an oral examination by Skype with the two readers of my resub-
mitted thesis. Skype is a way to have a conference call over the internet. One of
the readers was near Oxford, England, and the other was in St. Andrews, Scot-
land. We were not able to connect with one another when we first tried back in
March, so we had to wait until late July to finally try again. This time we were
successful.
We went over my thesis for a little over one and a half hours. They were satisfied
with the main bulk of the thesis, but disappointed with my conclusions. Because
I had been running out of time to resubmit my thesis, I had hurried the conclu-
sions and did not do the job I had wanted to do. Neither I nor my two readers were
satisfied with my conclusions section. That could have been sufficient grounds for
my thesis not to have been accepted, but they granted me two months to re-write
the concluding section. They did not have to do that. I can only wonder if they
saw some value in the thesis that warranted one last opportunity. I did not request
additional time; they encouraged me and offered it to me. It is pure grace and mercy
for which I am extremely grateful.
I do sense that the two readers take my work seriously and see it as a contribu-
tion to discussion of the Church's mission to the world. Their comments on my
research have been extremely invaluable to me. I am not in this for a PhD de-
gree. I firmly believe that the Lord has called me to this task and that He has sus-
tained me and provided for me these seven years. It has been a long and difficult
road, but I am grateful to the Lord for putting me through it. I have received what
I wanted: not a degree, but critical attention and feedback on my research from two
Christian scholars who are committed to theology and the Church's mission. For
the past seven years I have been working through the Church's mission from the
perspective of Orlando Costas, the Latin American missiologist who is the sub-
ject of my thesis. The two readers focused on my thesis and gave me solid critical
feedback on it.
I now have about a month more to work on my thesis. I have many thoughts and
insights that I desire to put in my conclusions. Plus I am reflecting on the insight-
ful comments of my two readers in July and will incorporate them into my final
submission. If I am successful, I will be granted a PhD; if not, it will be an MPhil
degree. Regardless of what happens, the past seven years have been formative in
my life.I would appreciate your prayers in remembering me as I write these final
conclusions.
Blessings to you and yours,
