God given "sign"
I was a painfully shy, animal-loving child. I always wanted to be a veterinarian. But God had other plans for me.
I first gave my life to Christ at “Reach-Out” in 1991. The next year, I attended Youth Annual Conference for the first time, and learned about the work the church was doing around the conference and around the world. After YAC, I spoke at our youth Sunday service at Church of the Master in Akron, giving a report about that event. At the end of the service, an elderly woman said to me, “You’re going to be a preacher someday.” To this day, I don’t remember who it was that told me that, but I believed it!
God began to work on me after that, and I decided that I wanted to go into the ministry. I sprang this idea on my parents one day, and they were very supportive. My call was confirmed by my pastor at the time, George Lee. During high school, I doubted my call a bit.
During an Akron District youth retreat I finally decided to confront these doubts head-on. I asked God during the course of that retreat to give me a “sign,” to let me know if I was truly called to ministry. That night, I felt a Wesley-like warming of my heart, as I reflected on an image that came to my mind. In this image, I imagined Christ on the cross, and saw the love that he had for me. He looked right at me, and the look of affirmation was all I needed to know that this was for real. As that image faded away, my doubts faded with it. From there, I went to the Ministerial Recruitment Institute, Exploration ’92 and ’94, and became very involved in the district and conference youth ministries.
After high school, I went to Mount Union, Methodist Theological School in Ohio, and two years in the British Methodist Church. Eight years after declaring my candidacy, I was ordained at Annual Conference this year, and “Pastor George,” who first encouraged my call, was my assisting Elder on the stage!
God really did have other plans for my life, and I’m grateful for them.
Rev David E. MacDonald, Niles First, Mahoning Valley District
