In January, the Rev. Dr. Marc Potvin began a new role as Director of Field Education in the Montreal School of Theology, the consortium of which Dio is a part. The position is part of a five-year grant to the MST from the Lilly Endowment in the United States that is allowing MST to revision and renew its programs, with a particular focus on identifying, preparing, and supporting pastoral leaders.
Marc was born and raised in Montreal but has lived and worked in about a dozen other places in Canada throughout his career.
His homecoming to Montreal is the first time living in the city since he was 17 years old when he left home to join the Regular Officer Training Plan of the Canadian Armed Forces.
At Dio’s first Wednesday community lunch of the semester, Marc was asked to share a fun fact about himself by way of introduction. He shared that while he has flown in a Canadian Army helicopter many times, he has never landed in one. Instead, as a paratrooper, he was practiced in jumping out of and rappelling out of helicopters. During his military service, he was deployed with the Canadian Airborne Regiment to Somalia, and to Croatia, and Bosnia to prepare the troops to return home at the end of their tour.
When Marc left home to join the military, he had his sight set on becoming an air navigator, but he soon found himself called in another direction. “Early one Friday morning in September, I clearly heard a voice calling me to vocational ministry as a chaplain to the military.” He described feeling an unmistakable presence of warmth and light that he still struggles to put into words. “I kept that event to myself for one full year, unsure if anyone would believe me.”
He ended up pursuing a Master of Divinity at Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia followed by a Post Graduate Diploma in Prison Chaplaincy. “Looking back, I think that God has had a grip on me from an early age,” he says. “I remember, as a young boy, after my First Communion as a Roman Catholic, pretending to be a priest and celebrating mass.”
During his time at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario he had an encounter with Jesus that changed his faith expression, and he became Baptist. “I accepted the fact that Jesus loved me as I was, that my sin did not have to keep me away from being loved by God. That moment began my life’s transformation which continues to this day.”
He is an ordained Baptist minister and was most recently employed as the Pastoral Leaders Development Associate for the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec before joining the faculty at MST. After pursuing his M. Div. in his 20s, he continued to work in the military as a chaplain, and member of the Air Force and Army for nearly 20 years.
He eventually settled down in Nova Scotia to provide stability for his children and began working in congregational ministry where he remained for 18 years. During this time, he went back to Acadia Divinity College for a Doctor of Ministry that focused on the supervision of seminary students in field education. He moved to Toronto in 2018 to begin his job at the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec. “I was not looking for a change,” he says. “I was very settled in my position. It was really by chance that I stumbled upon the position at MST.”
He was in Montreal, helping to look after his grandson, when he happened to skim the newsletter from the Association for Theological Field Education. His curiosity was piqued when he stumbled across an ad for the Director of Field Education job. He was attracted to the prospect of taking leadership in renewing the field education program and helping to shape future ministers, especially given the nature of his D. Min. research.
“The consortium that is MST was also attractive to me,” he notes. “I am ecumenically minded and strongly believe that the unity of the church is necessary to announce the Kingdom of God. As a military chaplain I had the opportunity to work with Anglican, United, Presbyterian, Lutheran and Roman Catholic colleagues. To me, it felt like church at its best.”
We are all eager to witness how Marc transforms the field education program at MST. The wisdom and guidance he will provide to our future ministers will be an asset to the Church. “I do not take my responsibilities lightly,” he says. “I trust that God will lead the way as only the Holy Spirit can.”
