Program Helps Teenagers Focus on Ministry Careers
Thirty-five students from around the country are attending the four-week seminar at Calvin College.
By Gary W. Morrison - The Grand Rapids Press 7/31/99
"God is so thick in the atmosphere here, you can cut it with a knife," Laura Hoksbergen recently told a group of teens visiting Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids.
Hoksbergen, 17, of Grand Rapids, spoke as part of the Face Your Future program designed to help young people affirm a career in ministry.
She said she was confident all 36 participants - from all over North America - eventually would serve in some type of church ministry.
"I've wanted to be a minister since I was 5," she said. "I've been involved in missionary work with my church, and the program really helps me to focus on what I want to do."
The four-week program, which ends this weekend, includes classroom studies and an eight-day visit to Israel, where students visited biblical landmarks.
It is funded by a $452,000 Lilly Endowment grant, which will allow the seminary to continue the program for three years, said Rev. Dan Devadatta, the seminary's recruitment director.
"We hope after the grant expires to raise enough money to continue the program on our own," Devadatta said. "We feel that strong about it."
Lilly grants - totaling more than $2 million - have been given to 22 seminaries in North America, Devadatta said. They are intended to help schools develop programs to attract teens into ministry, spokeswoman Gretchen Wolfram said.
"Of all the students we had to chose from, we were able to get the cream of the crop," Devadatta said. "From the faculty's perspective we've been very impressed with the interest level of the students and their capacity to learn."
All 202 seminaries in North America that are accredited by the Association of Theological Schools were invited to apply for a grant, Wolfram said.
For Ben Fredriksen, 17, of Gallup, NM, the program has "opened his eyes" to the work of a church pastor. He now is considering a career in ministry.
"In my church, I am part of a youth group, and participate in teaching Sunday School," Frederiksen said. "Until this program, I never realized how much work is involved for a minister. I've gained a new respect for the minister of my church."
He said that he hopes to become a missionary doctor overseas.
"My faith directs me to help people," Fredriksen said. "I have friends who are non-Christian, and I see their lives going downhill, and I want to help them because of my faith. In this program, I see God working through us."
The program also is showing Meagan Luhrs, 18, of Pella, IA, her options in serving God. "I see that I can also serve a ministry in the inner-city or do cross-cultural mission work," said Luhrs, who is involved in her church youth group and praise team. "I like the way my Christian faith has shaped my motives in life."
John Bolt, professor of systematic theology and a program instructor, echoed the students' thinking. "They are exuberant."
It amazes Hoksbergen, the teen speaker, how much God works through program participants. To get that many young people together to openly talk about their faith is unusual, she said.
"We have an amazing amount of trust amongst each other and a willingness and desire for spiritual growth," Hoksbergen said. "We're here to learn and have God show us the next step. Hopefully, we're ready to take it."