As a missionary’s kid and then a pastor’s kid there were only two things in life that were consistent: my family and the church. Growing up the Church of God was my home, my safe place; it’s where I always came back to.
My family, on both sides, has been Church of God for generations. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, and my parents all served (and some still serve) in ministry in the Church of God. As a kid I remember coming to Anderson, IN every year for camp meeting. There was reliability in that which made me feel safe. I loved the people and how everyone knew each other, I loved Kids Place, I loved swimming every year in the natatorium with camp meeting friends (the kids of other Chogers).
I was in a Church of God church almost every Sunday from the time I was born until…well really until now. But I never felt pressured to stay in it. When I went to college I was free to make my own choices. In fact I was accepted and ready to go to Michigan State University when my family moved to Lansing. I decided that I couldn’t possibly “get away” in college with my mom in the same town and so I applied last minute to Anderson University.
Through my first two years of college I did some exploring; I went to almost every church in Anderson trying them out and figuring out what I really believed on my own. I sat through lovely Catholic masses, the stability of Lutheran liturgy, easy Methodist worship and even a Pentecostal service which made me nervous. I took religion classes and sometimes slept in on Sunday’s (!) and finally allowed myself to make decisions apart from my parents.
But what I discovered was that I actually believed in the Church of God. My heart actually fit with the open arms and the “We Believe.” Halfway through college, as I began to feel a call to ministry, I also become confident that if I was going to minister it was going to be in the Church of God.
After graduating from college I served as a youth pastor in Illinois at a Church of God church and having only been there a year I discovered that youth ministry was not my gift. While I loved the kids dearly, I was not suited for that kind of ministry and so I returned to Anderson to get more education at the School of Theology. It was during my time at the seminary that the solidity of my Church of God roots was finalized through conversations and the examples of my professors and the classes that I took.
It was during my seminary years that I met and married my husband, Brett. Brett also grew up in the Church of God, a product too of generations of Chogies. He grew up coming to camp meetings and playing on the AU campus. Brett got his BA from Anderson University and then moved across the valley to the SOT two years after I got there. We grew to love the church together through those years.
While in seminary, I heard stories of how hard it was for a woman to get into a Church of God and how other churches would take us. I discovered as I graduated and began to search for a place to serve that this was absolutely true, being told many times that I wasn’t what they were looking for (in some cases I was blatantly told: because you’re a woman). But my heart beat for the Church of God and Brett was (and has continued to be) tremendously supportive of my call and my convictions, so we continued to pursue positions until God’s movement led us to Harvest Point Church of God – where I have currently served for almost five years.
My story has been fairly textbook – I grew up in the Church of God, I went to a Church of God college, I went to a Church of God seminary and married a Church of God boy, I got ordained in the Church of God and am now I’m a Church of God pastor. It’s not to say my journey has not been well thought out, because it has, but I am Church of God through and through. My identity is joined to its people, its history, and its theology. I love God and I love the journey to which I have been called.
Even though Brett is not in vocational ministry, he is my partner in ministry and serves beside me in many capacities. We have participated as much as possible in our district, in the state of Ohio, and also in the national Church of God. But we have also participated in ecumenical groups in our city and county, in multi-faith conversations and in Parachurch ministries. We believe this is the Church of God thing to do (every blood washed one, right?). We do this because most fundamentally we want to see people come to know love and light and God.
Brett and I are committed to the Church of God. Why? Because we believe in what it stands for and the good it can do. We believe in the Godly unity which the Church of God proposes and we want to be a part of the movement that happens for the Kingdom as we journey besides others who believe the same thing. We have found those partners in the Church of God and so here we stay, ministering beside friends who have become family.