Call to Ministry
"HOW did we get here?!" I've asked myself that more than once, but the answer is wonderful! God has been in control.
From childhood, I had a sense of God's call on my life, because of my upbringing. This is the direct influence of the Covenant at work through the Covenant Family. My believing parents and grandparents taught me the catechism, took me to church, and set an example for me.
As a young child, I went up and stood in the pulpit and wished to be a preacher to lead people to God. I built a radio transmitter and my Mom listened to me preach on her radio in the kitchen. As I grew, I questioned that faith, grounding it, deepening it, and making it my own.
At age 12, Christ confronted me, making me his disciple. The call came through the preaching of Matthew 16:24 by Rev. Brister Ware: "If any man will come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow ME." I followed in full commitment, and I have not regretted it.
I had an immediate sense of God's hand upon me, his comforting control, his love, his care. I dropped a pencil in the hall at Bailey Jr. High School and stopped to pick it up. Because of that, I met someone and immediately thought of the "chance" happenings every day which are superintended and planned by a Sovereign God who loved me.
A desire grew into an aspiration to be all I could be for Him, by Him, unto Him. My highest aspiration was to become a missionary--perhaps a doctor, perhaps a translator. My school counselor later told me she'd never seen a student who wanted to be a missionary!
A group of Jr High students met at 1st Presbyterian Church of Jackson on Sunday afternoons at 4pm to pray for Missions. God warmed our hearts for the world in this way, giving us "Kingdom eyes" that went beyond our own provincial world. In such small groups God does great things.
Even as a Jr. High student, I began to preach in the Gateway Rescue Mission to derelicts. I may not have had great effect on them, but this was great preparation for further ministry, and it was great to observe the example of Brother Roberson.
At Belhaven College, I entered Pre-Med, and my grades in Biology and Chemistry were fine, but I sensed I was not fulfilling my calling. I changed to a Bible major and LOVED it!! I had met Darlene in Chemistry class, and our vision grew -- along with our love -- to serve the Lord in ministry. This was about 1972, and several of us also did the very un-cultural thing to drive down to Mendenhall, MS, to work with a ministry among the poor Blacks run by John Perkins and Dolphus Weary called "Voice of Calvary". We also participated as counselors in the Billy Graham Crusade in Jackson.
While a student at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, I came under care of the Mississippi Valley Presbytery. I had a strange experience on the way to the meeting. As I approached the intersection of I55 and I20, I was telling the Lord how nervous and unprepared I was to tell these honored, august pastors that I was ready to do ministry. Realizing the burden of ministry and the high calling of the job, I told him, "Lord, I CAN'T DO IT!" -- and, I heard clearly, as if a voice, simply saying, "That's right." That's all. I realized in a flash that if the ministry is not BY GRACE ALONE, it is nothing. I calmly declared my readiness to serve -- by GRACE -- and I have not turned back. Yes, God can use even me.
In seminary, I worked with Randy Pope and other students to promote missions, organizing a huge Missions Retreat with Ralph Winter, John Kyle and others. Our own missions vision was fixed, and God turned our hearts first toward Bolivia, then Brazil, but he only finally opened the door to Portugal in 1979.
The call from there to Ukraine is a different story….
