My Calling into Ministry as a Pastor
I accepted the call into full-time vocational ministry as a
pastor in August 2004. This was done after much prayer and study of the
Scriptures. I was raised in a very fundamentalist Church and was raised to
believe that divorced men cannot be Pastors. Yet I continued to have a strong pull
from the Holy Spirit that I was supposed to attend school and study for the
pastorate. I studied the Scriptures with the help of my pastor at the time,
Mark Wilcoxson, a Southern Baptist Pastor, who walked me through the passages
that cover the qualifications of elders and deacons, including I Timothy 3:1-13
and Titus 1:5-9, as well as the passages that cover marriage and divorce. Two
of many are Mathew 19 and I Corinthians 7. After much prayer, fasting and
meditation by my pastor, my self, and my wife, we agreed to follow and submit
to God’s call on my life in 2004. I started my undergraduate work at Vennard
College in Oskaloosa, IA. In 2005, we moved to Oskaloosa, Iowa, where we found
a home with Jubilee Family Church (JFC). I ministered as an unpaid associate
pastor for a year and a half while at JFC, and I was licensed and ordained in
2007. After three years at Vennard, God gave our family a clear call to move to
Virginia and finish my undergraduate work at Liberty University. I have now
finished with my Seminary Training at Liberty University’s School of Divinity
and have received my Masters of Divinity in Pastoral Ministry. My license and
ordination was transferred to the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia in
2015.
God has continued to confirm to my wife and me the calling
that the Lord has placed on our lives as well. I have taught and preached as a
lay minster and on many occasions filled the pulpit for the pastoral
associations in the towns in which I have lived. The calling of Pastor has also
been confirmed by each of my Pastors and mentors in the Churches I have
ministered. The calling on my life has been confirmed by several of my
professors at Vennard and Liberty University as well.
As my wife and I continue to grow in the Lord and seek His
will, we look forward to his continued refining and revealing of His will for
our lives in ministry to Him.
