Warren Gillin
Hometown: London, England
Degree: Master of Divinity, Track 2
By: Samantha Angeles
“I probably have more male relatives that have gone to prison than to higher education,” said Warren Gillin, a third-year Master of Divinity student. “If it weren’t for my home church, I wouldn’t be here at the Seminary now.”
Warren, who speaks with a polite British accent, courtesy of his upbringing in England, is the first international graduate student in his family. As the fourth of five children raised by a single mother in urban London, he recalls recognizing two paths laid before him: a street life ending in an early death or incarceration, or an un-forged path answering God’s call to ministry.
Raised in a community where many young men landed in a life of crime, prison or the mortuary, Warren wanted something different.
“From a young age, I’ve had a desire to change my family’s trajectory,” said Warren. “I didn’t want to remain on the path before me. I saw what my environment had to offer, and I wasn’t satisfied with that. Coming to church and seeing functional families and healthy male role models showed me an alternative to my life. The church fellowship was what made a difference.”
At the age of twelve, a church leader at Stratford Seventh-day Adventist church recognized Warren’s preaching potential and invited him to deliver his first sermon. The church affirmed his gift of preaching and began to mentor him.
He received frequent invitations to preach both at his home church and all over London. These invitations, plus his work throughout high school and college with the conference youth department, London Youth Federation and leadership in local evangelistic efforts, deepened his relationship with God and solidified his call to ministry.
After high school, Warren made a plan to study banking and business management at London Metropolitan University and then get his Master of Divinity at the Seventh-Day Adventist Theological Seminary. “I want to be a well-rounded pastor,” said Warren, “And I know that my business degree will be useful in a church setting.”
The Seminary’s Master of Divinity Track 2 option is a good fit for students like Warren who have an undergraduate degree in something other than theology or religious studies. It offers additional courses to provide a strong theological foundation for aspiring pastors.
“I came to the Seminary because I wanted to go to the best possible school," he said. “The biggest collection of Adventist scholars is in this building and I wanted to be exposed to them."
Since arriving at the Seminary in 2015, Warren has found not just a stimulating academic environment, but also an outlet for his passion to preach. Twice a month, he preaches in a two-church district in Chicago and has been invited all over the U.S. to share God’s story.
“A lot of people reject Christianity and religion because they have not tasted the true fruits of it,” he said. “They’ve been shown a God who is not the true version of God.” Warren prays to expand that image of God through biblical teaching and preaching.
His ministry also extends to young adults on campus. As the 2016-2017 religious vice president for the Black Student Christian Forum of Andrews University, he leads Impact, the club’s weekly Friday night worship service. Warren describes it as a place where people can “worship freely, be as loud or as quiet as they want, and receive no judgment.”
Though Warren leads one of the most popular worship services on campus, shoulders a full-time academic workload and has a ministry internship, he has his eyes focused on what truly matters: growing in Christ. In his January sermon at Impact, he reminded the students: “Don’t judge yourself from the success you’ve had in worldly standards, but by whether or not you are in the will of God.”
Warren has followed God’s leading from the U.K. to the U.S. He hopes one day to minister to God’s people in London, that they may experience, as he did, a life changed by tasting and seeing that God is good.
