Ordination

Our church, Lexington Avenue Baptist, recently ordained one of our own to the gospel ministry. She spent her adolescent years growing and learning from the caring ministers and members of this nurturing community of faith. She opened her life and her spirit to voice of God calling her into ministry. And she responded affirmatively and confidently to that call.

She is a God-gifted young person who possesses a compassion for those who are hurting and is able to convey the love of Christ through her ministry and her service. I am grateful that she was willing to hear and respond to God’s call upon her life.

I am also grateful to a church that nurtured that calling in her life. That’s part of the work and the mission of the church—to find ways to help others to hear God’s voice in the midst of their lives. That certainly happens in churches everywhere. It requires sometimes that people like you and me open our hearts and our lives in such a way that we can hear—but it can and does happen.

Ministry is about giving your life in service to God and to others. It can be draining and exhausting at times. There are days as a minister when you realize that the work of ministry is never really finished. There can also be days when you wonder if you have what it takes to be of service to others.

Yet ministry is at the same time very rewarding and fulfilling. It brings meaning and purpose to life. And ministry is a reminder that this, whatever this is, is never about you—it is always about God and what God is doing in and through you and others.

Katie Lay-Anderson is and will be a wonderful minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am honored that we had the chance to be part of what God is doing in and through her. Thanks be to God!