Revisions.....?!?

Having grown up in a Christian home, I have been blessed to be surrounded by Christian family for most of my life; however, it was not until later in adolescence that I discovered the true importance of Christ in my life. Growing up, my parents and older brother were my constant encouragement and solid foundation from which my understanding of Christianity grew. I have known from a young age that God is my creator and sustainer and that through Him anything is possible. Growing up in the church, I was active in youth groups, church choirs, vacation Bible schools, and church retreats; I always felt these things fed my soul and taught me more about my faith and the Christian community we find in the body of Christ.

 As a young person, I heard a lot of amazing and inspirational testimonies about how God was at work in other people’s lives, especially during difficult times; I prayed that I, too, would have a great testimony to share as I grew up. My foundation in Christian family greatly prepared me to face one of the hardest times in my life which became an important part of my own testimony. During middle school, I was diagnosed with clinical depression. This depression separated me from feeling the love of Christ, as well as those around me. My poor self image and feelings of lack of control over my life led me to feelings of anxiety and self-mutilation. It was only through regular encounters with friends in the Church that I was able to see that I am a unique part of God’s creation and He loves me as His child. I learned that Christ is my strength and my foundation; and, through Him, anything is possible. This part of my testimony is one that God has used continuously in my life to connect me with my brothers and sisters who are hurting or struggling through hardships like my own. Although it was a difficult time in my life, it has helped to provide me with a basis for ministry to others through my testimony..

I was given the opportunity to go on several mission trips with my church’s youth group throughout middle and high school, the first of which was to a Hispanic community in Atlanta, Georgia. Every day for a week, we met between apartment buildings to have Bible school with a group of children who all spoke very little English. To my amazement, the language barrier wasn’t a problem for us; the love of Christ was enough to overcome any obstacle that separated us. This realization changed my perspective of life and faith, and it gave me the desire to continue seeking out mission trips in order to serve the Lord and reach out to other peoples.  In high school, I participated in a mission trip in the Appalachian Mountains each summer. Each summer, I helped lead Bible studies, worship, and skits with my peers. It was amazing for me to see how much the Holy Spirit could do through a group of young people. Spending time and growing with children and youth who desired to feel Christ in their lives brought joy to my life because of the way in which God was using us all to be a blessing to each other.

Since beginning college, I have continued seeking our opportunities to share the love and message of Christ with others on my college campus and around the world. In college, I have been active in campus ministries.  Over the years, my involvement grew from participation into leadership. In my sophomore year, I led a small group based on Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ. The next two years, I was in charge of planning, organizing and implementing all of the small groups on campus as the Director of Student Growth on the Campus Ministries Leadership Council.  I also became a worship leader for our contemporary worship service, and in the final semester of my senior year, I have been given the opportunity to serve my campus as a student chaplain. I have been blessed to see my college’s campus ministry grow immensely over the past four years and I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue work on the campus. With my college, I served on missions to Panama, South America and Ecuador. On these trips, I was able to use my love for construction work and building relationships for God’s glory. I was also blessed to have the opportunity to serve on several mission teams with my parent’s church. I spent two weeks in Beijing, China after my freshman year. During this time, I worked with university students teaching English and building relationships with each of them. This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The students’ passion for Christ and desire to continue learning more about the gospel was so inspiring to me. It is so incredible to meet with the people who make up the persecuted Church and learn about the amazing things they encounter and the ways they are able to see God working in their lives. I was able to return to Beijing a year later to spend more time with some of the same students and several more from other universities in the area. Once again, I fell in love with the people and their passion for the Lord.

I was recently given the opportunity to serve for one year as an intern with the youth ministry at First United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, a youth ministry that had been through a lot of different youth ministers in a short period of time. I felt it was my opportunity to be the stable role model that the youth need in their spiritual lives. My position as an intern involved planning, implementing, and supporting Bible studies and events within the youth group.  Over the course of the year, I gained a better understanding of ministry, especially geared toward young people. One of my favorite parts of the internship was getting to know each of the youth better by serving alongside them on their summer mission trips to Savannah, Georgia and Hinton, North Carolina. On both of the trips, we spent a week helping local missions projects in feeding the hungry, painting and repairing homes, and even framing new homes for underprivileged families. The relationships we built within the youth group are some that I hope will last well into their adult lives.  

            My understanding of ministry has certainly grown a lot through college because of my leadership in campus ministries as well as my religion classes. My heart breaks for those who are persecuted, but they remind me that as followers of Christ, we are called to persecution in His name. I believe that if we are not being persecuted for our faith, we are not doing a good enough job living radically different than the people around us. Christ was constantly being persecuted for His actions when He loved and spent time with those people who were thought to be inferior. The ideas most American Christians consider to be radical today are generally straight from Jesus’ mouth. Giving everything away, taking up our own cross, and hating people in comparison to the love we have for Christ is not just what new age, “red letter” Christians are called to do, it is what Jesus told all of us to do if we wanted to truly follow Him and be considered His disciples.

            In furthering my education in the MA program at Asbury Theological Seminary, I hope to better prepare myself for the life of ministry that I believe I am being called to. Being able to build relationships with a foundation in ministry has been a blessing to me, but I hope to be able to adequately share the Gospel with others so that evangelism is heard around the world.