The Ultimate Online Education Experience

“During the pandemic, I felt like I just wasn’t in a good place spiritually. That’s the first time I ever experienced that. I felt like I was stagnant in my growth.”

Sharon Johnson has been a Sunday School teacher at St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church in Indianapolis for 43 years. The isolation of COVID-19 restrictions made her realize that her fervor for the Word of God was waning.

“I said, ‘Lord, I need to do something to get my zeal back!’” she says. “I had been listening to Moody Radio for four or five years on WGNR in Indianapolis. One day, I heard them mention online classes, which caught my attention. I am sure they had mentioned it before, but I had just never heard it. However, I heard it that time and thought I’d do some research.”

Sharon began perusing the Moody education website. It didn’t take long before something caught her eye: a two-year program for earning a Certificate in Ministry to Women.

“I have a passion for helping young Christian women, and I wanted to have a ministry where I can work with them to address some of the issues they have,” she says. “They often do not realize that God is always for them, that God is an ever-present help in trouble—like it says in Psalm 46:1.”

‘I fell in love with the Institute’

Two of Sharon’s friends were Moody Bible Institute graduates, and they encouraged her to enroll. “My granddaughter and I visited the Chicago campus. I had never been there, and I fell in love with the Institute,” Sharon says. “We were able to sit in on a class lecture, meet professors, talk to counselors, and go on a tour. That was in April of 2022, and I started classes online that August.”

Sharon’s first class with her first professor not only stands out as a favorite, but its “live” component allowed her to log in and attend the class along with the students on campus. Although she was an online student, Moody’s unique HyFlex modality gave her the option to experience the class live via Zoom, enabling her to participate virtually. The class, “Theology and Philosophy of Women in Ministry,” was taught by Dr. Pamela McRae.

“During the lectures Dr. McRae would engage us in conversations through questions and group discussion,” Sharon says. “She would ask a question to a person in the classroom, then she’d zoom in on me and ask me a question. I was able to see my classmates, and the visual connection is what drew me in. It was just what I needed, especially (for a first class) because I did not know what to expect.”

Over the next two years, Sharon tackled numerous assignments. But she found one assignment the most challenging—and the most rewarding.

“I had to interview my pastor and two female associate pastors,” Sharon says. “Since we are dealing with women, one of the questions I was supposed to ask was, ‘How involved does your congregation allow women to be?’ The interviews were really informative, and I better understood our congregation's stance on female ministers, their individual struggles, strengths, and rewards as they entered a predominantly male field.”

Studying abroad

Sharon completed her Certificate in Ministry to Women in the spring of 2024, but not before she discovered an amazing opportunity to study the life of Paul and to have more personal interactions with other students.

“I felt a disconnect because I was not on campus or around other peers,” she says. “I was on the Moody website when I saw the study abroad Greece trip. It was about Paul's second missionary journey and would involve traveling to the different places he walked in the book of Acts. I thought, This is for me!”

Sharon and her husband had traveled abroad several times, always making a point to immerse themselves in local traditions, foods, and cultures. But since this trip was specifically for Moody students, she would be traveling solo in a group where she did not personally know anyone.

“We had 20- and 30-year-olds, we had our professors who were probably in their 40s and 50s, and then there was me in my 70s,” Sharon says. “I did not know if I would fit in. But one of our professors said he had never seen a group become so cohesive so quickly, and that is what happened!”

Miriam Smith, Moody’s assistant dean of education abroad, was part of the Moody team traveling through Greece with the students.

“Moody’s study abroad programs give students the opportunity to enhance their education through study in different cultures,” Miriam says. “These programs open our students’ eyes to the global church as it functions in different contexts, growing an appreciation for both the diversity and unity within the body of Christ.”

Experiencing Paul’s missionary journeys

The group traveled through Greece, following the route of Paul’s journeys. Sharon’s face lights up when she remembers the cities and sights, learning about their famous philosophers, Greek and Roman mythology, Roman emperors, architectural and archaeological museums, and the Olympics.

“We flew out of Chicago on January 1 and went to Thessalonica. Then we visited Philippi,” she says. The Philippi stop included a visit to the city’s 2,000-year-old amphitheater. “Our professors selected a couple of people to stand in the middle of the amphitheater and read Scriptures. And as they spoke, the acoustics were amazing! We felt like we were sitting a mile away, but we could hear everything they said.”

The group spent a few days exploring Philippi and studying at the AZ Bible Centre in Leptokarya. On “class days,” they met at the center, reviewing notes from sites and tour presentations.

“In Greece, you can only be a tour guide if you are a native of Greece. Not all of our tour guides were Christians. They would insert information that was not biblically correct,” Sharon says. “When we returned to our dorms, our professors were very good about reviewing the information presented. We would discuss some of the things that we were told. We would go through the Scriptures, and the professors revealed the parts of the guide presentations that were inaccurate according to Scripture. That was so important to me.”

From Mars Hill to Philippi and Corinth

Travel days took the group to Berea, Corinth, Macedonia, and finally to Athens, where Sharon and her fellow students spent five days at the Greek Bible College just east of Athens. “We went to a church on Sunday with some of the Bible college students and worshiped with them,” Sharon says. “That was so beautiful! We also went to Mars Hill, where Paul made that famous speech about the ‘unknown God.’ We walked in all of the major places Paul visited, and we always had someone who was giving us instructions about the places.”

For Sharon, two cities stood out as favorites. “Philippi and Corinth—because of the persecution Paul experienced in those cities and how he stood his ground,” she says. “We were able to see some of those places where he might have been imprisoned, where he stood and spoke to the people about Christ.”

The group’s visit to Corinth was made memorable by a powerful statement delivered by their tour guide.

“On the Corinth tour, our guide was a Christian,” Sharon says, “and he talked about all the different gods that would have been there and how corrupt the city was. He talked about how Paul would have probably taken three or four days just walking around, taking in the culture and listening to what they were saying before he finally stood up and said, ‘Let me tell you about the one true God, Jesus Christ. You worship these other gods, but they are not gods at all.’ It really stuck with me—just how bold he was.”

An experience she’ll never forget

Sharon is still in touch with several of her study tour class members. “One of the tour professors had the group over to his house a few months ago, and several of us still correspond with each other on WhatsApp,” she says. “I would tell any Moody student to take part in study abroad tours like this.”

“It was such a pleasure to have Sharon on the trip,” Miriam Smith says. “She was an eager learner and engaged so well with the group. I could tell how grateful she was for the experience. She was incredibly appreciative for this opportunity and took full advantage of it!”

While the chance to study in Greece gave Sharon the opportunity to follow God’s pathway for the apostle Paul, she believes God mapped out a journey of her own with Moody. “The reason I signed up for this trip was because I just ‘happened’ to be on the website browsing around and saw that Moody students could study abroad in Greece,” she says. “It was just like when I got on the website and saw that Moody had online classes in ministry to women. God was orchestrating this whole thing, saying to me, ‘See this, Sharon? See that?’ And I finally said, ‘Lord, I see!’”

Sharon isn’t finished on her journey with Moody yet.

“I am taking another class this fall, even though I have graduated,” she says. “The class is Introduction to Counseling, which I know I need so I can adequately minister to women. It has all been a wonderful experience. I cannot thank God enough for even putting it on my heart because He's the one who orchestrates. He knows what we need, and I needed to be more rooted in His Word.”