If you have ever taken a New Testament class at Palmer Theological Seminary, you have likely had the privilege of being taught by Dr. Debbie Watson. Dr. Watson serves as Affiliate Professor in New Testament and Seminary Chaplain. She also serves as the Associate Pastor of Narberth Presbyterian Church in Narberth, PA. Many Palmer students have sat in Narberth Pres for their first intensive course in Greek, where Dr. Watson began as a seminary intern in 1993.
Debbie Watson first visited Eastern Baptist Seminary in 1992 through a friend and fellow camp staff member at Camp Sentinel in New Hampshire. After visiting with current students and sitting in on a class taught by Ian Scott, she recalls writing in her journal "I wonder if these people have any idea of the gift they have been given - called by God to study and live together in this amazing place that is both school and home!" She enrolled at EBTS in March of 1993.
Since then, Dr. Watson has become a pillar of the Palmer community. As seminary chaplain, she offers students pastoral care and coordinates the weekly Chapel & Chew on Thursday evenings. The unity of theory and practice, academia and pastoral ministry, is intuitive for her. She says she could never get away from teaching and has always had the heart of a pastor. “I am committed to keeping these two things together. A threefold cord is not easily broken.”
This commitment to theory and practice is something Dr. Watson says is reflective of the seminary’s mission The Whole Gospel for the Whole World through Whole Persons, and is born out in the Palmer community.
“In our students, staff and faculty, I see lived acknowledgement of God as Sovereign over all of life, deep personal commitment to the Lord Jesus, openness to the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit, respect for the authority of Scripture, and determined focus on love of neighbor which reflects the love exhibited by Jesus, and his earliest followers. These things shine in the care every member of the Palmer community demonstrates for each other.”
Would that we all strive to serve, without hesitation, those around us. If you are on campus on a Thursday evening, step into McInnis 215 for Chapel & Chew. And when it comes time to study Greek take Dr. Watson’s encouragement to heart: trust God, trust Dr. Watson, and do your homework.