{"id":563,"date":"2026-07-21T15:45:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T15:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/?p=563"},"modified":"2026-07-24T12:03:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T12:03:31","slug":"student-spotlight-terra-lumley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/21\/student-spotlight-terra-lumley\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Spotlight: Terra Lumley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Where did you grow up, and what first got you interested in studying theology and ministry?<br><\/strong>I grew up on a farm in central Minnesota and have a little hobby farm in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What degree program are you in at Luther Seminary, and what are you hoping to do with your seminary education?<br><\/strong>I am really enjoying my first year at Luther Seminary. I am an M.Div. student and am working on my entrance into the Northwest Wisconsin Synod as a candidate for ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What led you to pursuing theological education here at Luther Seminary?<br><\/strong>I applied to Luther because there is a pastor shortage in rural Wisconsin. Although my original intent was to return to Wisconsin when I am finished with seminary, my passion for social justice and God may call me somewhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"285\" src=\"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/07\/Terra-Lumley_August-2026_2-300x285.jpeg\" alt=\"Headshot of Luther Seminary student Terra Lumley in the Olson Campus Center\" class=\"wp-image-566\" srcset=\"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/07\/Terra-Lumley_August-2026_2-300x285.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/07\/Terra-Lumley_August-2026_2-1024x974.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/07\/Terra-Lumley_August-2026_2-768x730.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/07\/Terra-Lumley_August-2026_2.jpeg 1103w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How has your experience been so far?<br><\/strong>I really enjoy being on campus with my cohort. And I appreciate the Luther Seminary faculty and staff\u2014they are knowledgeable, kind, and patient with me as I learn how to be a student again. Being a student at Luther has been really transformative for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What\u2019s something that most people don\u2019t know about you?<br><\/strong>I currently work for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity as a construction supervisor. I have been building homes and hope with that organization for 29 years. In my free time, I enjoy activities around the farm, such as tapping maple trees, playing in the garden, and raising chickens. Right now, school, work, church, and my teenager keep me pretty busy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Terra Lumley is an M.Div. student at Luther Seminary who applied to Luther and entered candidacy because of the pastor shortage in rural Wisconsin. She also works for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity as a construction supervisor and has been building homes with that organization for nearly 3 decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-563","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":570,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions\/570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}