Pastoral Calling

God called me to be a missionary when I was 14 years old. Since then, He has called me to Extreme Nazarene, Argentina, and Brazil. In all those changes, He always called me to be a missionary, not a pastor. I never had any desire to be a pastor, and I love being a missionary. People often ask me if I am a pastor, and it just feels good to be able to say “nope!” I love showing them that all Christians can know the Bible and boldly tell others about Jesus. It’s not just for pastors.

I'm including some of my favorite
preaching pictures, just because

After finishing my time planting a church in Cordoba, Argentina, I moved to Brasilia, Brazil to open a missionary training center to plant more churches. Shortly after arriving in Brazil, I returned to Cordoba for a two week visit. This was in October 2017. One afternoon, I was sitting in the church with Pastora Jaci, with whom I had worked for two years while I was in Argentina, and an Argentine woman. Pra Jaci was counseling her, preaching to her, praying for her, things I had watched her do and had done alongside her for two years. But there was a moment while I was watching her that I suddenly felt a strong desire and thought “I want to be that.” It was strange. It was a desire I had never had before. It wasn’t my desire, but at the same time it absolutely was. It was God giving me the desires of His heart.

This left hand motion is essential
to my preaching style. 

I kept praying and seeking God, but from that moment on I had a quiet certainty that **someday** I would be a pastor. I returned to Brazil and the chaos of preparing a living space and training materials for the brand new Anapolis missionary team. Over the passing weeks and months, the quiet certainty grew louder and the desire to become a pastor grew stronger. I hadn’t told anyone about what I was feeling and hearing from God. At the time, I was living with and training the missionary team in a church in Planaltina, a suburb of Brasilia. The apartment building we were living in also housed the Planaltina church and the pastoral family. The pastor there, Pr Marcos, recognized early on that I was in way over my head, and he formed a habit of checking in on me from time to time. I decided he was a safe, anonymous, trustworthy person to confess my calling to without any pressure. By anonymous I just mean I figured he would only be in my life for a couple more months (wrong). We talked about my calling and possible routes to take. He explained the licensing process and his experience.

Dark lipstick and nail polish
seem to be important too. 

I thought that might be it, a conversation to get it out of my head, maybe saying it out loud would scare me enough to stop thinking about it. But a few weeks later, I was researching online course of study programs just to see, just to see how long the process could take, and how much it would cost. The answer was too long and too much. For now. But **someday**, maybe in a year or two, I could start taking classes. I finally just surrendered it to God. There was no more researching to be done. I prayed, “Lord, I don’t have the time or the money to do this right now, but I accept Your call. When the time is right, just let me know. I will pursue Your call to be a pastor.”

I got to translate for Pr Marcos when a group of
Ardeo Global administrators visited our church in Anapolis

Two days later, I got a facebook message from the NMI president of my church in Lewiston. Even though my mission was fully funded, she had money budgeted for me from the NMI council. Enough money to pay for my first year of online course of study classes through NNU. Staring at her message, God whispered I’ve given you the money. I’ll give you the time. It’s time to start now.

I started my first class in May 2018. Pr Marcos and his family joined our missionary team and moved with us to Anapolis. He and his wife Ericleia have been the most wonderful mentors and friends during this process.

I get to dance with Pra Ericleia during worship at every service. 

About a year ago, God started showing me that my time with Ardeo Global (Extreme Nazarene) was ending. I prayed and sought counsel for a long time. Ultimately, God let me know that He simply didn’t have a new calling for me. He had called me to Brazil. He had called me to pastoral ministry, at least the education and preparation phase for now. I need to continue in those callings.

Again with the left hand. 

Obviously Covid upended my original plans. My contract with Ardeo officially ends April 27, but I will probably be finishing up finances and documentation through May. I’m currently home in Lewiston with my parents. Once things are more stabilized, I’ll move back to Anapolis. One of the Brazilian missionaries from our team, Aline, is also with her family right now and planning on moving back to Anapolis sometime this summer. We are super excited to rent an apartment together once we are both there (you should see our pinterest board). I will be studying full-time, continuing NNU’s online program. I’m almost halfway through the classes and should finish in late 2022. I will continue serving at the Anapolis Church of the Nazarene. Since I’ve now planted two churches, that is I’ve participated in the first two years of two church plants, I’m eager to learn and discover and participate in the next two years of our church plant’s growth.

I started this blog entry saying that I love being able to tell people I'm not a pastor. I love making them think about what they could and should be doing to spread the gospel even without be a pastor. But, I won't be able to say that anymore. I am hugely honored and excited to have received my district pastoral license last weekend. I don't know what all God has planned, but I know this next season of my life is going to be a good one. Thank you for your continued support and prayers!!

Thanks for reading!