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Introduction
My call to ministry began at a very early age. In order to fully understand I am going to
use my introduction to share some of my personal testimony and a little bit of my dads too. My
father grew up in a very rough home environment, his parents were drug addicts and he became
one too. When he was 12 his mom, my grandmother, got saved and began praying for him.
Seven years later he got caught selling marijuana and was incarcerated for 13 months. When he
got out he accepted Jesus Christ into his life and started living for Jesus, shortly after he married
my mother and had me, and then shortly after that surrendered to the call of ministry he had on
his life and became a Youth Pastor. He is now a Senior Pastor at a church back home. Now why
is this important? Because I grew up with parents who were in ministry it has shaped my
worldview and my view on ministry. One of my earliest memories is of my father preaching at
the funeral of a man who had committed suicide. I remember being told to go and play with and
comfort his young daughter. Because of my dad’s history of drug and alcohol addiction, we were
constantly surrounded by people struggling with the same thing and usually, it was up to me and
my siblings to entertain and minister to the children. When I turned 14 I had something traumatic
happen to me and it started a downward spiral that lasted about 2 and a half years. During this
time I turned to marijuana and alcohol to cope with what had happened to me, I was searching in
all the wrong places to fill the void only Jesus could fill, and what made all that worse, was that I
knew that. Fast forward to halfway through my senior year and I realized that, so I rededicated
my life to Jesus and decided I was going to go to Liberty and major in Music education. I still
swore I would never go into the ministry because I had seen the nitty gritty underside of it. Little
did I know that God had very different plans.
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The Call
I surrendered to my call to ministry in September of 2023, halfway through the first
semester of my freshman year. I have always felt the tug to ministry but I always denied it
because I’ve seen the things my dad went through and felt the pressure of ministry and I wasn’t
even the one in the position. I had seen many corrupt people who claimed to be Christians and
were in ministry positions and I saw the abuse and corruption of church politics and I didn’t want
anything to do with it. Even despite all of that, the tug toward ministry never left. Last fall I
stopped running and trying to make compromises with God and I surrendered to the call he has
placed on my life.
Area of Ministry
The specific area of ministry I feel called to is youth ministry. I have always been drawn
to teenagers and that started when my dad was a youth pastor. Even as a very young child, I
remember there always being teenagers in our house, one even lived with us for a while.
Everywhere I looked there were teenagers and I saw my parents love and minister to them. As I
grew up and my dad transitioned out of that role I still always wanted to be where the teenagers
were. I of course had the awkward nervous transition from children's ministry to youth ministry
but after that, I took it in stride. I loved being there and I took every opportunity I could to hang
out with them. I am the oldest of 6, which means I have always naturally been more of a leader
than a follower, although if you asked my siblings they would just say bossy. I’ve known that I
wanted to work with teenagers for a long time I just didn’t think it would ever be in a church. My
senior year I discovered that I really good at marching band and my first year I quickly excelled
many of the people who had been doing it for years longer than me. I assumed that because God
had gifted me musically that this was what I was meant to do. So, I applied for Liberty to major
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in Music Education. I made a compromise with God because I would still be working with
teenagers but I wouldn’t have to deal with any of the church stuff.
Demographics
I know that I am called to share Jesus with teenagers but I specifically feel called to
impoverished teenagers. The teenagers most people don’t want to touch or the teens that other
parents tell their kids not to be friends with. Teenagers with broken families and substance abuse
addictions. Teenagers who have already seen and been through what most adults will never see
or go through. I was one of those teenagers. At the time I didn’t know why I was going through
any of that but now I see that it was equipping me to be an example of what God can do. My
whole testimony is God redeeming and mending brokenness. It wasn’t by my power but by God
alone. I want to show teenagers who feel like there’s no way that they can possibly be redeemed
that God is a loving father who wants nothing more than to meet them where they are and
redeem everything they thought was irreparable.
Location
This section won’t be long because I have no idea. I feel pretty confident that it will be
somewhere in the United States but if God calls me overseas then I’ll go.
Conclusion
In conclusion, God has done amazing things and brought me from what I thought was the
best I could ever be. He showed me that there is absolutely nothing that he can’t handle and
nothing that he can’t and won’t do to bring his children back to Himself. I want to show
teenagers that God can bring so many blessings out of an impossible situation.
