Inspired by Children, Empowered by God: Carolyn Goodson (MDiv ’16, DMin ’20) – Alumni Profile
June 26, 2025
It was those kids, those kids in Kenya. They changed her life.
The first time Jeanette Goodson visited Kenya was in 1997, on a birthday trip from her husband, Joe. The kids’ questions there made her nervous, especially after she tried to help them understand who she was—an American with African roots. Jeanette’s worst fear was, “What if they asked me a question about the God I believed in, a question I couldn’t answer?”
Retired from her 36-year career in the Bell System, Jeanette received a new call, the call to ministry and seminary. Her goal? To learn more about God—more about this invisible God she believed in.
From the very first time she walked into NBTS for her interview as a nontraditional student, she has felt welcomed . . . and challenged. Immediately asked probing questions by Dr. Warren Dennis as he sat on the sofa in the former seminary lobby, Jeanette realized that NBTS was the place God wanted her to be. “I love everything about New Brunswick Theological Seminary,” said Jeanette.
“At times I was pretty overwhelmed,” admitted Jeanette. “But all the professors encouraged me and walked beside me, guiding me along. And I learned patience—to take just one step at a time toward my goal.”
At age 77, Jeanette is now an instructor herself: a full-time educator in the Pastoral Care Department of Hackensack Meridian JFK University Medical Center in Edison, NJ. She seeks to emulate the safe environment for learning that she experienced as a student at NBTS. “My professors and fellow students were a family with whom I felt safe.” She believes that a sense of safety is critical for authenticity and for learning about self and others.
Jeanette would sometimes arrive early to class just to experience quiet time at the Seminary or in Sage Library. “There was peace and serenity in those halls.”
It is through the NBTS Field Education program and Dr. Faye Taylor that Jeanette first connected with Hackensack. Her desire for an “easy six credits” of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) eventually led to her becoming a board-certified chaplain from the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy and a supervisor/educator. Jeanette trains all pastoral care religious volunteers, chaplain interns, and pastors of all faiths in the art of being an effective listener who demonstrates empathy and compassion.
“To me, pastoral care is journeying with people, seeing people as living, human documents with narratives to tell.” Over the past five years Jeanette has recruited and assisted in training over 300 chaplain interns to work in Hackensack Meridian hospitals, including interns from NBTS.
Jeanette believes in bringing a pastoral care approach to the mission field as well. Those entering another culture need to demonstrate the ability to listen well and commit to journeying alongside people in their context.
After visiting Kenya and seeing the impact of a mission-supported school, Jeanette and her husband, Joe, along with others from Fountain Baptist Church in Summit, NJ, felt directed by God to organize an educational sponsorship ministry in 2000. Over the past 25 years. the Kenya Educational Sponsorship Program (KESP) has supported over 5,000 children from the rural community of Kibwezi to attend school at the elementary, secondary, and college level. Jeanette has been to Kenya nineteen times, often bringing others along to see God at work.
Jeanette and her husband wanted to support those studying missiology at NBTS, so each semester they fund a scholarship for an African American student in the DMin program. She remembers the significant cost of books alone and is happy to help.
“NBTS faculty and staff along with God’s guidance were the tools that changed my life and made me the person I am today. NBTS and God worked a miracle on me.”