On my 32nd birthday, I found myself sitting in the auditorium of the McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia, preparing to begin my first semester as a full-time seminary student. After getting married, having two children and working as an occupational therapist for nine years, I determined that God was calling me into vocational ministry. Unlike many other students, I had not just finished an undergraduate program. Unlike many other students, I immediately left my classes to pick up children from school. Unlike many other students, I came to seminary with no particular sense of direction for my future in ministry. After years of doing all I could to fit in, I realized that I had decided to do something out of the box.
I actually first realized this some months before when we told friends and family that we would be moving to Atlanta so that I could attend seminary. Although I received much encouragement, I also received concern (“gosh, I hope everything works out”) and astonishment (“I wish I had the courage to do what you all are doing”). It was clear that my adulthood call to ministry placed me in a category of people who were brave, but also a little out of the ordinary.
After completing seminary and a pastoral residency at Peachtree Baptist Church, I once again discerned that God was leading in a somewhat unconventional direction. On July 1, 2010, I became the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Florida’s first strategic church planter. I have returned to my hometown of Jacksonville to start a new faith community in the area. As if being a second career seminary student/mom was not enough, now I find myself in the mysterious work of planting a new faith community. As if being a woman in ministry was not distinguishing enough, now I find myself embarking on the risky work of exploring new ways to “be” the church.
In a recent conversation, a friend looked me in the eye and said, “you really like to do things the hard way, don’t you?” That remark has remained in the forefront of my mind. Am I just stubborn? Do I just like a challenge? Is there an easier and better way to live out my calling? These are the questions I can’t help but ask myself as I face the challenges that are a result of the path I have chosen. Certainly, there is an easier way, and although I will face difficulty, failure and rejection, I am confident that each of our particular paths are not traveled in vein. Even when the road seems dimly lit and the path seems less traveled, may you and I have the courage to embrace our unique ministries.
Susan Rogers is a church planter with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Florida, living in Jacksonville. Follow her journey on her blog: http://susanharrisrogers.blogspot.com/2010/09/truth-of-matter.html.