Mitchell Tobler, from the Orthodox Church in America (OCA)’s Diocese of the West, is a former Baptist minister who never expected to be a St. Vladimir’s seminarian. Yet in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, he faced ministry burnout and health issues, and he and his wife Christina began to explore the Orthodox Faith. As he begins his first semester at St. Vladimir’s—together with Christina and their children, Charlie (age 8) and Jamie (age 1 ½ )—Mitchell shares the challenges they faced leaving their life and home behind, and why St. Vladimir’s Seminary was instrumental in his conversion to Orthodoxy.
Mitchell, what were you up to before you became a Seminarian at St. Vladimir’s?
About thirteen or fourteen years ago, I did an undergraduate degree in Biblical studies with an emphasis in theology, with the intention to do ministry. I was in a Baptist Christian school and did my undergrad in Southern California, and then I was asked to be Associate Minister for a Baptist church back in a small town where my grandparents were. It was a town that had always been kind of connected to my family, even myself when I was really little, called Overton, Nevada. I was ordained and became the youth minister. I also did a couple of other jobs to make that job happen, because the church was really small, and so I worked full time at a local hardware store, in management, and also helped operate my grandparents’ apartment complex, where we were living. I did that for seven years. I had the privilege of having a small group of kids and saw them from the beginning of middle school all the way through the end of high school. It was a wonderful experience. Then when the head pastor retired I became the head pastor. I did that for about two years.
That was right at the time of COVID—I stepped into that position in the fall of 2019 and then COVID happened—and it was a really difficult time for everybody, right? It wrecked everything. And my health had been kind of declining. I'd just been really burned out, had been really pushing it for far too long. That was really, though, on the cusp of us becoming Orthodox. My wife and I were kind of journeying out of our tradition, looking for spiritual nourishment and answers to a lot of questions that had grown over the years of ministry, and we were finding our way. And then near the end of COVID is when we discovered the Orthodox Church and decided to convert. We were received into the Church at St. Paul the Apostle Orthodox Church in Las Vegas under Fr. John Dresko [SVOTS Class of 1980]. He's our spiritual father, and so he brought us in and that became our home parish.
When we came into the Church, it was just really a time for us to recover, find our place, settle. Of course, when we converted I had to step down from the ministry in the Baptist Church. I set ministry aside and I went back to work at the hardware store, full time in management again. We then just kind of found our life in the Church, and saved questions about the potential for ministry for later.
The Tobler family moving onto campus in August.
When did you start considering ministry again, and how did you find out about St. Vladimir’s Seminary?
Since Fr. John Dresko was a graduate of St. Vladimir’s, naturally a lot of the resources I was exposed to were connected to the Seminary. My very first introduction to the Orthodox Church was Fr. Thomas Hopko's The Orthodox Faith series through the OCA website. I couldn't believe it when I found it the first time! I was just like, here it is, right here: doctrine, Scripture, church history, and spirituality. I mean, it was like the bombshell of my adult life to find those books. Everything we'd been searching for, everything that had been changing in us, was all there in one place. And so when I reached out to Fr. John, we started to get to know each other, and everything like St. Vladimir’s was kind of connected in my mind to the Orthodox Church in America, because that was a gateway for me coming into the Church. Then, when I later started the conversation with Fr. John about seminary, the only option in my mind was, well, there’s St. Vlad’s. So the ball had already kind of started to roll in that direction, and I'm one of those types that won’t disrupt something once it’s already in motion. I’m just going to see where it leads, and if it continues to unfold before me, I'm going to continue to follow that path. And so it continued to unfold before me, and here I am!
What was that decision like for you and your family, given that you and your wife were already no strangers to sacrifice and difficult journeys?
Leaving the ministry before was difficult in a couple of ways. One of them was that we truly did love doing ministry. The circumstances were hard. We had felt over the years that we were doing what we were kind of made to do, and that included my wife. She has loved life in a ministry capacity. And so leaving that was difficult, but we knew that we were doing the right thing. We were kind of in the wrong place, as things had changed in us. We knew that our place was now somewhere else. So when we revisited the conversation about seminary, my wife was—I don't want to put words in her mouth—but I remember her communicating something like, “Well, that was kind of always my thought of what was going to happen next if, God willing, that’s what unfolds.” As far as she was concerned that was kind of always in our future, I think maybe because we had been a part of that for so long. Now, I'm not assuming that I’m gonna do ministry on the other side—we’ll see what the Church decides, right, and what Christ decides. But as far as us testing that out, that was the next question in her mind. And so when we started the process of selling our stuff, moving, packing up, and everything else, she had already prepared herself, I think, for that. And so she was, in a way, more enthusiastic than me. Because, while doing ministry I felt like I was made for it, there was also a lot of pain that I had to process from the years before. Re-entering into that has been hard to get my own mind and heart around, but she's been really a wonderful spirit when it comes to this decision, and I've drawn a lot of encouragement from her.
Mitchell and Charlie at the Seminary’s Three Hierarchs Chapel.
Our son Jamie was born after we came into the Church, so he’s just a little one. He’s finding his way and seems to be embracing things really well. My son Charlie, he’s struggling. He’s having to find his way, but I’ve seen so much courage in him. Overton was our home. It fit him like a glove. He had his best friends there, and so for him to leave, I could see the difficulty and the struggle. But he’s constantly trying to be like, I’m ready for a new adventure. I want to see New York. He’s really trying. I couldn’t be more proud of him.
As someone who has experience in ministry and theological education already, what’s on your mind as you begin your journey as an Orthodox seminarian?
If I'm really candid, the quality of the institution here, in a good way, intimidates me and sobers me. I don't want to go in with a sense of overconfidence or anything like that. There are things, sure, that feel familiar, but to be around these professors, even the students and the people who are running this institution, there is such sincerity. I sense that they're here because they love this, this institution, what it does for the Church, Christ and His Kingdom. So there is that, but I am also looking forward to exploring in depth how everything in our tradition comes together and impacts us spiritually. I'm a bit nervous, in a good way, but also I'm excited and open, and I want to be changed. I want to be open to that opportunity to change and to explore the richness of our faith in this place. I’ve just really looked forward to it for some time.
