The following is both a testimony to the work of God in my life and my admission essay for doctoral studies at Oakland City University.
I began, both, my journey in ministry and education at Oakland City University. It was May of my senior year of High School when I first heard the passage from 2 Timothy 2:1-4 preached,
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
It was then for the first time I knew with certainty what God wanted from my life. It was then I received my call into vocational ministry, a life in service to the Kingdom of God. This was also when the door of opportunity was opened for me to begin to pursue this calling I had received at Oakland City University. I hadn’t heard of Oakland City University before, but in light of the calling I had received, I knew two things; I knew I needed experience & I knew I needed formal training.
My experience of the church, theology, and its tradition in my life was predominantly Roman Catholic. I was raised, baptized, and confirmed Catholic. Everything I understood about life and faith was Catholic. I knew I needed help because the very nature of Protestantism was unknown territory for me, and with my call into ministry, there was an evident call out of Catholicism.
This sparked a grand journey of discovery. Faith became new again. Faith became alive again. There was so much to discover and so much to learn. Oakland City University opened its doors to me to begin this journey. During my Freshman Orientation at Oakland City University, I met some individuals who were aspiring pastors who, in time, would become mentors and brothers in Christ of mine. These are relationships that have been grown in the Spirit of God and have continued to this day. These relationships provided me ample opportunities and ministerial experiences to help me discover the reality of my calling.
One such opportunity was with a General Baptist youth camp, called Flat Creek. It was a small camp, but it was where I began my vocational journey in ministry. Throughout the years at Oakland City University in my undergrad, I was blessed with opportunities to serve as a group counselor to the camp evangelist and was even blessed to serve as camp director with my wife whom I met at Oakland City University.
Flat Creek was just the beginning and during this time of serving at Flat Creek other opportunities and doors were opened to my family to actively serve in ministry. After returning from basic training with the Army National Guard. My wife and I served alongside each other in a small youth ministry at Trinity United Methodist. This was a time of great growth for us as ministers of the Gospel because something was made abundantly clear to me during this ministerial appointment. It was made clear in how badly I failed as a minister. I needed more practical training. I needed to grow up. I needed to better understand the Word of God. I often look back on the lessons I taught while serving at Trinity United Methodist and wonder what was I thinking.
It was around this time that I determined to fully throw myself into my academic preparation at Oakland City University. Up to this moment, I attended my classes and done my work, but there was a lack of heart in what I was doing. Sometimes I didn’t understand why it was important for me to do this, but in my failure, at Trinity United Methodist I began to see clearly the reasons why. I recalled what one of my professors had said during my first class in my studies; Old Testament I. That we were going to read the entirety of the Old Testament because many, if not all of us, had never done so. I was one among those who hadn’t and I was inspired by that moment to correct this grave error. I was further inspired by my failure; how could I claim to be a teacher of God’s Word when I myself was not its student.
Once again, I had decided to take my studies seriously. I put down the video game controller along with the late nights with friends in Evansville, and I began to read my books. I began to read my primary textbook; The Word of God. Not surprisingly I began to grow as a Christian and communicator of the Word. I began to understand more about what it meant to be a pastor, and I wanted to learn so much more. There was a fire in my soul to be the best version of what God had created me to be.
It wasn’t long after this time when I was deployed to Iraq with my National Guard Unit. During my deployment, I remember feeling lost. I remember feeling alone. This was the first time in a long time I was away from the community I had grown accustomed to at Oakland City University. My passion and fire began to die out because I felt as if I couldn’t fulfill my calling. It was in this place where I was approached by our unit chaplain and asked to help him with the various worship services he had to lead on Sundays. He asked me to help him start some Bible Study groups with our fellow soldiers. He showed me God’s calling wasn’t isolated to a spot on the map but was centered on people. The people He chooses to surround us with.
I began to meet with our unit chaplain daily, and we engaged in a mentorship style relationship. We would discuss the Bible, talk about ministry, and pray together. What I would have seen and called my isolation from the ministry had become the very cocoon, which would shape me and set me forth on a trajectory I would not falter from.
Upon arriving home, I was entering my last year of studies at Oakland City University. The time came for me to do the practicum course. This meant I needed to find an internship as I was not actively serving in a church. It so happened there was a small church in Evansville, Indiana called Mount Pleasant Church of God. At Mount Pleasant Church of God, I was finally able to apply all I had been learning. Unlike my service at Trinity United Methodist, I excelled as a minister of the Gospel at Mount Pleasant Church of God. What started as a six-month internship turned into my first ministerial appointment as a pastor. After my internship was up I had begun the ordination process with the Church of God Reformation Movement, Anderson, Indiana. With this and the success God brought us in ministry over those six months, the church decided to make me the Associate Pastor; overseeing family ministries in the church. This provided me a great opportunity to work under our pastor Bruce Applegate and our state ministries as we began to engage in a church revitalization effort.
One thing became clear to me during this time. As much good my formal education at Oakland City University had done for me, it was far from complete. I was constantly facing new challenges in ministry showing me there was something still lacking. This lacking drove me to further my education by starting my Masters in Divinity. I started my Masters in Divinity as soon as I was able with Chapman Seminary, and it seemed as if the Bible was opened again for the first time to me. I was able to learn and gain so much insight on the Word of God, as well as, the practical nature of ministry. I learned how to not only teach a lesson from the Bible but how to teach theology. I learned how to communicate doctrine in very practical ways.
I became the minister I am today because of this experience and education. The ability to do this alongside my position at Mount Pleasant Church of God was a complete blessing. Not only was I learning new and revolutionary ways to do ministry, but I was also able to attempt them, learn from them, and discover my philosophy of ministry. Having a philosophy of ministry was a foreign concept to me. Seminary taught me the importance of this.
During my studies at Chapman Seminary, the time came for us to take the next step of our families journey in ministry together. We felt the call and were led to take on our first church, with me being the senior pastor. It was a scary step but it was one we knew God was calling us to make. I served at Sullivan Church of God for a total of five years. It was an amazing experience, and it was full of God’s direction and blessing. I was able to apply everything I had learned and experienced over the years of ministry and ministry training. I was also able to see the impact it made on the church, and how God used my experience and training to transform a once dying church to a thriving light to its community and world.
After I had finished my studies at Chapman Seminary, I felt more prepared for ministry than ever before; I felt capable; I felt equipped. This was not just a feeling I had either. I was able. However, I understood the calling I had received required not just a Masters degree; not even just a Doctorate. It required I lifelong commitment to education, training, and searching. It required me to commit myself to always be in the student’s chair. Always being willing to submit myself to teachers, mentors, and pastors. Always being willing to grow, learn, and experience. This way I would always be the minister God had called me to be.
I spent a lot of time in the past four years under the teaching of various mentors and pastoral coaches. I have attended conference after conference. I have continued to pursue my hunger to develop as a minister of the Gospel, and now as my family is about to close the door to one chapter, we are ready to begin the next. I have felt for some time it is time to begin my doctoral studies. In fact, I was planning to begin in the spring of 2018, but I was diagnosed with brain cancer in late 2017. Over the past 18 months, I have been in treatment and recovery. It was physically and mentally draining; it was the hardest thing I have ever experienced. Even though my body still feels the pains of the past, my mind and spirit are finally ready for this long-anticipated step in my journey.
It has been a long time coming, and as this journey began at Oakland City University, I can not conceive a better place for this journey to continue than with Oakland City University at Chapman Seminary.