Growing up as a Pastor’s Kid “PK”, you normally fall into one of two stereotypes:
The first is that because you grew up in church with a pastor as a parent, you have everything figured out. Your spiritual health is perfect, you have an amazing relationship with Jesus, and you have total confidence that the Lord has a plan for you and it will include some sort of ministry.
The second person you may grow into be because you were a PK is someone who has totally turned their back on the church. You made the choice as soon as you could to have no part of church, community, ministry, or anything to do with God. You know exactly who you don’t want to be.
But what happens when you don’t really fit either of those? Here’s Jonathan’s story…
It was the last Sunday of January 2016, and Devon and I were sitting in church. I have no clue what the sermon was on, but I do know that the Lord was working on my heart. I realized that there were some things I had been struggling with that were negatively affecting our marriage, and I knew I wanted them to change. Before I knew it, the sermon was over and there was the standard invitation time that I had heard thousands of times. But this time, I felt the Holy Spirit was nudging me towards the “more” that I knew life could be. Without a word to anyone, I quietly slipped my hand up acknowledging that I too had asked Jesus to be the Lord of my life.
Since then, so many things in my daily life have changed. I have become more compassionate with those around me. I’ve realized how much of the Bible I didn’t know (but just assumed I did), and I now enjoy reading, learning, and studying His Word. I now know that the Lord has a specific plan for my life, for our life. And while I don’t know what that looks like indefinitely, I know that the Lord has very clearly told us to go on this adventure with the World Race. The verses in Romans 10 feel like they’ve been spoken directly to me:
“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 14-15
If you would have told me even 2 years ago that we would be quitting our jobs, we would be packing up our house, and that we would be leaving our families for almost an entire year, I would have never believed you. These last few years have been such a learning and growing process in figuring out who I am. More than being a non-stereotypical PK, I am a chosen child of God who is on a mission to share His love around the world.
