If I have learned one thing over the years it's that God is with me always, and once again I am asking God what the next chapter of my life will look like. It's been a long time. I just counted back the years since I first started in ministry and I realized that I have been in ministry for over 27 years. But it really started before that. As a young man of 16, God spoke to me and he quietly said in a meeting out at a little farm in Manassas, VA that he wanted me to work with young people. I wasn't quite sure what that actually meant but I wrote it down on a piece of paper and put it in my bible. Not too long after I graduated HS I started an internship and spent time as an 18 year old working with a man named Jack Wojiech who taught me how to study the Bible using a Halley's bible handbook and allowing me to take the reigns of that group. It was fifteen kids who needed to understand God's love so I started showing them what that looked like. Years later Jack's son John said that I was the first person that showed him that you could be cool and chase after God. I got my CDL license so I could drive a school bus and started taking these kids to concerts, putt putt, and whatever I could come up with so I could spend more time with them sharing God's love.
Not long after, under the mentorship of Jack, I ended up meeting a man named Bill Jeschke who taught me some leadership 101 principles. He asked me if I'd like to be in a youth ministry internship. I jumped at the chance as I could see this really lined up with what God had spoken to me when I was 16. I jumped into some bible classes that Bill's Father-in-law, Professor Earl Morey taught at our church. By the end of that summer I was leading the group and I was really hoping to get hired on as a youth pastor of our church. I got the call from the Lead Pastor Derrel Emmerson and he wanted to take me out to dinner. He took me out to a very nice restaurant and I thought for sure this was it. But, as God would have it, he said at the end of the dinner that he and the elders prayed about it and they all felt that they should hire someone from the outside with a bible school degree. I was upset and really started questioning God about whether I should just quit this idea of youth ministry and move on. And then this story happened.
At the end of my internship, I was preparing for a youth/parent night, we decided to show a video on peer pressure and suicide. It was a very cheesy film and the acting was horrible. I remember reviewing the film with my leaders and they laughed their way through it. I asked them if we should show it and they were most definitely against it. But every night that week God said to show that video. I mean it was a strong feeling that I should show it. I told the volunteer staff that I felt this and they were again begging me not to show it. That Friday evening we started showing the video. Kids and parents were laughing and when I got up to speak at the end and ask if there was anyone who wanted prayer not one person came up. It was horribly embarrassing and I felt like God let me down, until the next week when I came into work that next Monday morning.
In my inbox was a letter, handwritten and no name or address on the envelope. The letter basically said that this young girl was planning on committing suicide Friday night. She had planned out her death step by step and had come that night to say goodbye to her friends. After seeing the cheesy video she left the meeting and had an encounter with the living God and decided not to end her life. She said if it wasn't for us showing that video she would have gone through with it. As cheesy as it was, it gave her message of hope and that God loved her. At that moment I was overcome with emotion. I remembered how I didn't want to show this video but God was gently nudging me showing me that he can use anything to reach someone who is in need.
From that point forward I was hooked. Partnering with God to bring people into a relationship with Him through His son Jesus is such an amazing feeling. It satisfied my soul. I felt complete. And 27 years later my family and I are still in ministry and God is still inviting us to join in where he's at work to partner with Him. It's been a crazy ride but we love every minute of it! He's so faithful to complete the work that he's started.
