I'll Say Yes!

I have spent lots of time in prayer about this announcement. Mainly because I want everyone who is special to me to know what exactly is going on in my life. I know many people will not accept it; because they either one know me, how I was raised and many will think that this is just a phase. However, I will tell you that I have fought this for over a year now and I am honestly answering the call of God and where He is leading me. I did not wake up at 3am, have a craving for fried chicken and discern that as a calling from the Lord to ministry.

A year ago, I was approached by my minister and asked if I felt the calling of God on my life to do something more than just sit in church on Sundays. We spent a few Sunday school hours speaking about what I felt like God was calling me to do. I explained to him that I did feel the call to minister, but I wasn’t sure what that ministry would look like, and I certainly wasn’t sure if it was to preach. During the time that we were speaking about this, I was really unhappy in the school district and after I got my job at Lowe’s I put ministry on the back burner. I still did things for my church, of course. I even drove the church bus to the Ordination service.

After the ordination service, I again, began feeling a lot of uneasiness about my job at Lowe’s. I was happy, but not content. Immediately I started praying “God, are you calling me again?” “Why can’t I just be happy at Lowe’s?” and answers started coming. “This isn’t where you are supposed to be.” I sat down and read Paul’s words “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” Over and over and over these words would course through my mind. Then one morning I woke up and I said “Okay, God, to live is Christ and to die is gain!” That Sunday, I told my pastor, “We need to talk.”
I met with my minister the following Thursday. I was terrified. I was walking into the parsonage office as an inquiring candidate to become a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is NOTHING in this world more intimidating as knowing that the creator of this world is calling you to minister HIS gospel.  And while it is intimidating, it’s incredibly humbling that God will use someone so insignificant to tell others about His love.

I walked out of my minister’s office with a copy of the historic questions, a 2012 Book of Discipline and more questions than answers. I came home, sat down and wrote to my district superintendent. I was again terrified. I knew that I was being called, and I knew my next steps would be to meet with the DS and find out if he also felt that I was being called. On Thursday, September 7^th, I met with the DS and I told him verbally my statement of call, the fact that I had been raised in church, professed my faith at 9 years old as a Christian; was picked on in youth group as the weakest link, very nearly gave up on God and my faith. The fact that I always felt like a black sheep because my faith wasn’t in plastic preachers and a fake gospel of prosperity. The fact that I had endured being asked to leave a rather large local congregation after I did everything to keep peace and felt the sting of undeserved church discipline. Instead of judging me, the DS looked at me and said “Rachel, why do you want to be a minister? Why now?” I looked at him and said “Dr. Arrington, I believe that all I have been through is a testament to the work of God and that somewhere in my story, others can pull encouragement for their own journey.” The next question he asked was “How does Methodist theology differ from what you learned as a child or even in the churches that you attended as an adult or even at Liberty University?” I told him, “We as Methodist, actually try to live out our faith daily.”

I walked away from that meeting knowing I was doing exactly what God was calling me to do. The meeting set my mind at ease to be able to say “Yes! I am being called to pastoral ministry!” I am excited, I am scared, but most of all I am humbled to know that I am finally walking according to God’s plan in my life.

The next few months of my life aren’t going to be easy and I get that. I have one weekend retreat, several mandatory meetings with a mentor, a psychological evaluation and a meeting with my church’s Pastor/Parish Relations Committee and a meeting with the Charge Conference; as well as a meeting with the District Committee on Ordained Ministry to become certified as a Candidate.

What I need from my friends and family is prayer and support. I will be updating my blog the1witness.blogspot.com as I journey through this time in my life. You can share the posts if you like; and of course, you can always contact me for information about my journey if you want to know more.

For those that want to support my ministry or help offset some of the cost of my retreats and psychological testing, you can donate by using
Paypal: randers@att.net