MFA’s higher education grants cover seminary tuition, expenses
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (May 27, 2026) — Seven Arkansans pursuing degrees at United Methodist-related seminaries in the fall of 2026 have been named Seminary Scholars by the Methodist Foundation for Arkansas (MFA).
This designation by MFA includes support for tuition and educational expenses for up to three years. In return, each Seminary Scholar signs a covenant agreement to serve two years under appointment in the Arkansas Conference for every academic year of scholarship support received.
Since the program’s inception, the Foundation has awarded more than 40 Seminary Scholarships to students attending one of the 13 U.S.-based United Methodist seminaries, with 10 full-time seminary students enrolled as Foundation scholarship recipients for the fall 2026 semester.
“The Foundation wants to help ensure strong clergy leadership in communities throughout the state. These scholarships enable some of the best and brightest students to answer God’s call and become clergy serving through local churches here in Arkansas,” said MFA President and CEO the Rev. J. Wayne Clark. “From the beginning of this scholarship program, the Foundation’s donors have given generously toward the cause, and the careful stewardship of those funds has continued making these scholarships possible.”
The 2026 MFA Seminary Scholars are:
Kelly Blome
Blome currently serves as the associate pastor of intergenerational ministries at Asbury United Methodist Church in Little Rock, working with staff, laity, and the community to sponsor free back-to-school events, expanding missions and ministries and partnering with other United Methodist churches. Traveling to the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference to connect and learn about our Native American neighbors has been a highlight of her ministry, as well as creating a worship service centered in Native American traditions with the Asbury congregation. She has served on ministry cohorts, led district youth councils, and planned conference level events and is encouraged by witnessing multiple generations gathering and engaging in sharing life and ministry together. She is grateful for her husband of 23 years, Dustin, and their three children, Maddy, Jackson, and Tilly, as she prepares to pursue a Master of Divinity degree from Iliff School of Theology in Denver.
Nathan Fryar
Fryar grew up in Munford, Tennessee, before moving to Conway, Arkansas, to attend the University of Central Arkansas. While there, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and became deeply involved in the Wesley Foundation, serving as a resident intern, then assistant director, and closing out his experience as the interim director. During this time, he experienced a calling to ordained ministry as an elder in the United Methodist Church. He also served as a pastoral intern for First United Methodist Church of Conway, where he is a member. Fryar is excited and grateful to begin this new journey God has put upon him. He will soon marry his fiancée, Destiny Elms, and move to Durham, North Carolina, to attend Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina.
Christopher E. Jackson
Jackson is an award-winning educator, nationally recognized turnaround principal, minister, and community leader whose life and work reflect a deep commitment to service, faith, equity, and transformational leadership. He began actively serving in the church at age 10, and currently serves St. Paul Maumelle United Methodist Church as minister of music. During college, he followed his call to preach, beginning a lifelong commitment to ministry and spiritual leadership alongside his work in education.
He holds bachelor’s degrees in music and English education from Grambling State University, master’s degrees in English education and educational leadership from Louisiana Tech University, an Ed.S. degree in superintendency from Arkansas State University, and is currently completing his Ed.D. in School Leadership at Arkansas Tech University. He is a proud life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., initiated through the Delta Sigma Chapter at Grambling State University.
An English and music educator, he became one of the youngest principals in Louisiana at age 26 and has led multiple campuses through significant academic transformation. He currently works in the Little Rock School District as principal of Watson Elementary School, which is experiencing sustained academic growth through strong instructional systems, literacy-focused practices, innovative supports for multilingual learners, and the development of one of Arkansas’s pioneering dual-language programming initiatives.
Jackson will begin seminary studies this fall at Perkins School of Theology at SMU.
Darnell Rice
Rice is a social entrepreneur, speaker, and advocate dedicated to advancing healing, equity, and opportunity in underserved communities. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, by way of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, his work spans sexual assault survivor support, mental health advocacy, community organizing, and disability rights. He currently serves as part-time local pastor of Magnet Cove and Shorewood Hills UMCs in the Arkansas Conference’s South District.
He is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Embrace Elevate, where he leads initiatives focused on supporting students, Black men, and Black boys through mentorship, resources, and community-centered programming. With more than two decades of experience in Behavioral Health Sciences, he uses his voice and lived experience to champion healing, empowerment, and lasting social change. He will use his MFA Seminary Scholarship to attend Perkins School of Theology at SMU.
Randy A. Seale
Seale serves as a licensed local pastor at Fairview United Methodist Church in Camden, Arkansas, where he has become known for clear, compassionate preaching and a steady commitment to building a church that welcomes every person with dignity. He has learned how the Spirit works through small congregations, honest conversations, and the faithful rhythm of week‑to‑week ministry. His years there have strengthened his call to serve as an elder in the United Methodist Church, and he will attend seminary at Perkins School of Theology at SMU.
Before entering full‑time ministry, Seale spent 25 years in radio broadcasting and earned his Bachelor of Integrated Studies with a focus on Communications from Henderson State University. That background helps him guide congregations in telling their stories, communicating with purpose, and sharing the gospel with clarity and grace. Rooted in Wesleyan theology and shaped by the fruit of the Spirit, Seale strives to let love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self‑control guide his preaching, his leadership, and his approach to pastoral care.
Randy and his wife, Summer, have been married for 24 years. They have raised five adult children, and are now raising their granddaughter. Family life has taught him patience, hope, and the long arc of grace in ways no classroom ever could, shaping the way he listens, the way he leads, and the way he believes the church can be a place where people bring their whole story and still find belonging.
Peaches Smith
Smith, a licensed local pastor, currently serves Salem United Methodist and Wesley United Methodist Churches in Conway. She chairs the Arkansas Conference Fellowship of Licensed Local Pastors and Associate Members, which provides clergy encouragement and leadership development statewide, and attends Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia.
Known for compassionate leadership and community-centered ministry, Smith leads outreach efforts focused on food insecurity, recovery support, grief ministry, and developing mental health ministry initiatives. Under her leadership, Salem UMC’s Sharing Fridge and pantry ministries have expanded to serve even more individuals and families with dignity, compassion, and care.
Smith is one of the founding facilitators of “When We Become Me,” a widows ministry designed to provide healing, support, and spiritual encouragement for women navigating life after the loss of a spouse. An accomplished storyteller, she has written 13 published children’s books centered on faith, resilience, identity, and moral development. Her work in literacy, storytelling, and violence prevention received recognition from President Bill Clinton, and she was awarded the Key to the City of Fort Smith for her community impact and advocacy efforts. She is also the founder of “Bullets to Books,” an initiative focused on youth literacy and violence prevention.
As a Black female pastor in cross-cultural ministry settings, Smith is passionate about building bridges of inclusion, healing, and hope within the Church and the wider community. She remains committed to faithful pastoral leadership, justice-centered ministry, and helping people experience the love, grace, and transforming power of God.
Kay Strahan
Strahan will attend Perkins School of Theology at SMU as she pursues her calling to become a Deacon in the United Methodist Church. An Arkansas native, she is committed to serving her home state and believes deeply in the Deacon’s role of connecting the church to the needs of the world through Word, Service, Justice, and Compassion.
Trained as a health information professional, she brings a strong passion for information literacy and critical thinking into her ministry. This background informs her understanding of ministry as a calling to help people make meaning, ask faithful questions, and navigate life through the hope of the Gospel. She sees access to trustworthy information as an essential part of justice work and believes education and service are powerful tools for loving neighbor.
Her call has taken shape through time spent serving in the food pantry at her local church, Farmington UMC, where relationships form gradually through conversation and small moments. In that space she has come to see ministry as something that begins with simply being with people and allowing trust to unfold naturally.
Strahan looks forward to attending Perkins as a time of formation, and to building lasting relationships across the Arkansas Conference of the UMC as she prepares to seek ordination.
About the Methodist Foundation for Arkansas
With a mission to establish and manage charitable funds to strengthen and expand Methodist ministries across Arkansas, the Methodist Foundation for Arkansas manages over $260 million in endowment funds and other charitable assets that benefit local churches and other Methodist ministries. Founded in 1963, the Foundation has grown into one of the largest Methodist foundations in the country, managing more than 800 funds that support Methodist ministries. To learn more, visit methodistfoundationAR.org.
