Here is my ministry story:
For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I loved animals (and still do) and wanted to give them a better quality of life in this world. I toyed around with pursuing a Doctoral Degree in Zoology, but pretty unwaveringly I wanted to work with animals.
Then when I was 12 everything changed.
My dad had recently accepted a call to start ministry as a pastor. Previous to this, he had been in another career. My sibling and I joined the church’s Pathfinder group (think: Boy and Girl Scouts mixed). It came time for Pathfinder Sabbath (where the Pathfinders execute the entire worship service) and they needed someone to preach. As I was the oldest Pathfinder, the duty fell to me.
I prepared my sermon, which happened to be an Easter sermon, and got up to practice in front of my Pathfinder group. It went well and when we were done practicing I crawled into my dad’s car and sat and waited for him and my sister. It was then in the quiet that I heard a nearly audible voice: This is what I want you to do, Casey..
What?
This is NOT what I want to do. You must be mistaken.
For the next few weeks I wrestled extensively. Girls couldn’t be pastors, could they? I was raised in the Deep South–not exactly a warm and welcoming place for resources for girls questioning the status quo. But then, if it wasn’t right or Biblical, how could I be so convicted? Was it all in my head or was there something more to this?
I was young, but I was earnest. For the next three years I wrestled with this idea. I asked for sign after sign–all of which affirmed my calling to pastoral ministry. God placed in my life one of the early female graduates from the theology program at Montemorelos (Seventh-day Adventist University in Mexico) and she and her whole family encouraged me. I talked to people, prayed, studied, and wrestled.
At some point when I was 15 years old, in high school, I surrendered. I told God that if He wanted me to do this, He would have to open all of the doors for me.
I changed my college plans. I shifted my life focus. I opened my plans. And it was the right choice. Once in college taking theology I realized just how much it was a good fit for me. My gifts, talents, and passions fell in line with the needs and requirements of pastoral ministry.
It was where I belonged. And where I belong today.
If you have further questions for me about my call to ministry or related topics, please drop them below!
