I was a high school sophomore serving in my church Youth Group’s servant leadership team when God stirred in me and called me to serve in full-time ministry. Matthew 9 tells us the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. I knew then that I wanted to be a worker for the Lord in church ministry. At the time I thought it was as a Youth Pastor.

It wasn’t until I had begun going down the path of becoming a Youth Pastor that I came to the realization that God had a different plan for me… Kids Ministry! The following occurrences came together to reveal the shift.

• I was a student at Biola University and needed to register for a class in my major, Christian Education. All the Youth Ministry classes were filled and the only class available was Introduction to Children’s Ministry.
• I signed up to volunteer in my church’s youth ministry, only to be told, we don’t need any more volunteers. (What!? I have yet to hear that again.) I was encouraged to start as a fifth grade small group leader, and then I could move up with that group the following year into the youth group. I did and loved it.
• Back in my intro class at Biola, I was one of two guys in a classroom full of girls. While this was anything but a problem in my personal life, it caused me to be heavily burdened for the Church. I thought, “We need more men in Kids Ministry!”
• God then brought all the previous experiences to mind in which I had enjoyed Kids Ministry over the years, combined with what I was learning and experiencing in class and as a Kid Min volunteer.

In that moment, I knew God had orchestrated it all to point me down a new path, a path that He intended for me all along… to serve in Kids Ministry.

What is your story? How did God call you?