Listen to the Call

If you talk to most clergy long enough, you can usually pinpoint the moment when they first received a call to ministry. Nine times out of ten, it did not come straight from God. Instead, it came from a grandmother, a father, a sick sibling, a wounded bird. Sometimes the call came with spoken words such as, "You're good at this," or "I need your help badly." Other times, the words arose inside, such as, "This needs fixing and I think I know how." --Barbara Brown Taylor, "Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith"

I remember the first time I seriously considered going into ministry. I was in college and the pastor of my church was sharing a message about how we discern God's call for our life. He was sharing his own personal story of his call to ministry and I felt like his words were written just for me. In fact, I felt like he had his eyes on me the whole time he was preaching the sermon. Afterwards, I asked him for some time to talk and when we met he assured me he didn't write the sermon specifically for me but, perhaps, the Holy Spirit, was trying to tell me something.

Not too long after that I was on a beach retreat with a group of Jr. and Sr. High students. I was one of their youth group advisors and we were tent camping. Everyone was nestled snugly in their sleeping bags and the tent was filled with chatter. One by one the boys drifted off to sleep except for one. The two of us continued talking for quite some time and when we finally decided to call it a night the young man said to me, "You know, you'd make a great pastor."

I continued to hear the call from many others along the way including the congregations I served while I was in seminary. I never had a "burning bush" experience. It was always still, small voices along the way who nudged me in that direction.

I am certain that there are other LGBT Christians out there who have heard the call to go into some kind of ministry but have ignored the call because of their sexual identity. I wish I could say that it is easy being gay and being a pastor. It is not. However, if it is truly who you are called to be, God will find a way. Therefore, me advice is to listen to the call wherever it comes from. God wants to use you to shed light into the darkness of other people's lives.