Master of Arts

Chapel is an important part of life at HST.  We meet two times a week during the semester and daily during intensive courses.  Students and professors both lead the community in worship and Bible study.  Distance students and alumni participate in chapel via Zoom.   

Opportunities for cross-cultural experiences in urban contexts are available for students through internships, apprenticeships and other ministry settings.

New students participate in a spiritual formation retreat in connection with one of the first courses they take.

All HST degrees have a residency requirement (a number of courses that must be taken on our Searcy campus). For the MA and MACM, the residency requirement is two courses. For the M.Div., it is three courses. Many distance students choose to attend one-week intensive courses on campus in Searcy over the course of their degree to meet their residency requirement.  The standard intensive course meets for one week, Monday through Friday, 8:00-5:00. Intensives are usually offered for one week in the fall, one week in the spring, and two weeks in the summer. 

Need to reserve a room for intensive classes? A block of rooms are set aside for HST students at the Heritage Inn on campus in Searcy.  HST students receive a 20% discount.  For more information on room types, cost, and making reservations, please call the front desk at 501-279-4700 or visit www.harding.edu/heritage. 

Students who want to take HST classes but do not live in Searcy can attend weekly classes via Zoom.  You will participate in class discussions in real time along with students who are meeting in the physical classroom. You can see them, and they can see you. You and your virtual classmates are on a screen at the front of the class visible to the local students and professor in the classroom.

During class time, you will see the physical classroom and other distance students on one of your monitors, and the professor’s slides on the other monitor. When you speak in class, the camera is situated so that the local students are looking right at you, making virtual eye contact. This allows for more nuanced communication as both you and your classmates can see facial expressions and other body language. Responding to a professor’s questions and illustrations or asking your own questions about classroom material is essentially like being in the room.  You are present and engaged for the entire class period.

Typically, classes meet for a three-hour block of time one day each week on our regular HST schedule. Standard meeting times are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday at 8 am, 1 pm, or 6 pm central time.

Students in online classes are required to have the following equipment:

• Laptop or desktop computer with a camera and microphone
• Internet access 
• A web browser such as FireFox, Chrome, or Edge
• A second monitor