In February 2025, Beeson received a major gift from an anonymous donorwhose generosity created the Our Risen Lord full-tuition scholarships. These scholarships, given to top Master of Divinity (MDiv) applicants, were first awarded to students beginning their studies in the fall 2025 semester.

Beeson recently announced the renewal of these scholarships for students beginning studies in the 2026-27 academic year. Here is a glimpse into the stories of four students who received these scholarships and have begun their studies at Beeson.

Brianna Chapman

A missionary kid from Uganda, Brianna Chapman grew up in a Christian family and surrendered her life to Christ at age 9.

In 2015, while attending a convention for high school students, Chapman heard a speaker with cerebral palsy talk about how he gave his vocational life to the Lord. While she knew she loved Jesus, Chapman was struggling with her purpose in life and what the Lord would have her do. Convicted by the speaker, she knelt at the front of the stage and prayed, “Here I am, Lord; send me.”

Interested in apologetics and theology, Chapman made her way to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago in 2021 where she earned her bachelor’s degree in theology. Multiple professors at Moody encouraged her to pursue graduate theological studies at Beeson.

“Beeson was the only seminary I applied to, and soon I got the notification I had received the full-tuition scholarship,” Chapman said. “I felt that was the Lord confirming, 'This is where I have you.' I was so overwhelmingly grateful and so ready to make the move to Beeson.”

Chapman experienced the rigor of Beeson’s MDiv right away. “My first semester hit me like a freight train because of the hard classes I took, but I’m so glad I took them,” she said. “Once I settled in, I never regretted my decision for a moment. The faculty have been intentional in praying and asking about me. I look forward to my mentorship group every week and know I can trust my friends and professors with everything."

Beeson is a model of the kind of ministry Chapman said she wants to pursue, as well as an example of the kind of ethos and character she hopes tohave when she graduates. She is interested in college and/or international ministry, as well as pursuing a PhD and teaching theology.

Handley Hicks

Handley Hicks spent most of his childhood in St. Louis, growing up in a strong Christian family and a small urban church plant that included young people, refugees and immigrants in a diverse congregation. “The seed for living cross-culturally and living as an exile came early for me because of the church,” he said.

Hicks can’t remember a time when he didn’t know God’s love for him in Christ. Baptized at 6 years old, he went through a period of rebellion as a high school student. While the Lord brought him back, that time led to unique friendships with unbelievers.

“That desire has always stuck, to befriend people who weren’t in my immediate circles,” Hicks said.

Hicks’ father is a bivocational pastor, and Hicks followed that model, graduating from the University of Alabama and working in business, IT and software development. Hicks moved to Birmingham with his wife to work at a company in the city. Fellow parishioners at Church of the Cross in Birmingham encouraged him to apply to Beeson, and after hearing about the scholarships, Hicks felt the Lord leading him to pursue seminary.

When he learned he had been chosen for the scholarship, Hicks felt honored. "This is an incredible gift," he said. "I can't not do this now. I don't know if I would be moving toward ministry now or even at all if it wasn't for the scholarship."

Hicks said the atmosphere and environment that is formed as a result of Beeson’s interdenominational commitment is special, as well as its commitment to forming ministers, not just seeing seminary as a place to download information. “The atmosphere that exists because of the diversity of backgrounds that are here makes for a really fun classroom experience and camaraderie,” he said.

Hicks plans to pursue cross-cultural ministry after graduation, working in church planting and/or in global theological education in the Middle East or South/Southeast Asia.

Natalie Lett

Natalie Lett’s senior year at Briarwood Christian School in Birmingham became a time of seeing God’s faithfulness and learning how God reveals Himself through story. “Every story that we try to tell is just retelling the same story,” Lett said. “Everybody wantsto be loved; everybody wants to belong.”

An avid reader, Lett's love of books brought together a desire to understand people with a desire to connect the Gospel to their stories. She taught high school English at a public high school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but after two years, Lett moved back to Birmingham to be closer to family, with expectations of teaching high school English in the area.

Lett began working at Cala Coffee and attending Church of the Cross in Birmingham after taking a coffee order from Zac Hicks, an adjunct professor at Beeson and pastor of the church. Eventually, Lett led a girls' Bible study at the church, building relationships with the students there, which led to her current job as the church's student ministry coordinator. "I love connecting with the students, hearing about their lives," Lett said. "I love listening to them and their questions and wrestling with God with them."

In that work, however, Lett also realized how inadequately prepared she felt, which led her to Beeson. Knowing she would need the full cost of tuition covered, Lett prayed God would provide it. While waiting to hear about potentially receiving the Our Risen Lord scholarship, Lett said her grandmother told her, "You just call me when they tell you they're giving you the money."

One day, while closing the shop at Cala, Lett got the call she had received the full-tuition scholarship. "I started crying. I've never had something like that happen to me before," she said. "I've never had that clear of a 'yes' from God."

Steven Slappey

Steven Slappey is a University of Alabama graduate from Carrollton, Georgia, who grew up in the Methodist church before attending a nondenominational church. A minister at a church in Tuscaloosa encouraged him to consider Beeson for seminary. Before a visit, Slappey recalled telling his mom he didn’t feel like he was meant to be at Beeson. “God would have to be very clear in this visit for me to go here,” he told her.

God was indeed clear. During a meeting with Methodist Chair of Divinity Timothy Tennent, Slappey felt the calling to attend Beeson. When he learned he had been chosen to receive the full-tuition scholarship, he took that as an affirmation from the Lord.

“It was an ultimate confirmation from the Lord that He was going to provide for me to do this,” Slappey said. “It’s just grace from the Lord to be able to do this and not have to worry about the finances. Even now, being in seminary is such a grace and a gift, but that is more starkly seen when you have a scholarship to do it. I'm free to focus on my school and my work."

Slappey said he has loved every single day at Beeson. “Not that there aren’t really hard things, but every day has been a joy,” he said. “To be ableto learn about the Lord, the Scriptures, the history of the church, with the intent of helping the church understand and know it for the sake of building it up, it’s just been joyous.”

Building relationships with professors and his peers has convinced him of the importance of formation, which he said is offered better at Beeson than anywhere else. “There is something about that relationship. You’re not able to buy the illusion that formation is all about content download. It has to be something that happens in the real world with people,” Slappey said.

Slappey is pursuing ministry in the local church to serve in the areas of preaching and teaching.