Read and Listen to Testimonies

People from the seminary community share the Scripture passages, songs and quotes that have ministered to them in their processes of discernment.

• Prof. Pieter Tuit, Professor of Missions (show | hide)
  

  

  Tuit heading out on a bike tour of Grand Rapids

  Psalm 91:11
  "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways."

  My grandmother gave me this passage when I made the first big move of many-when I emigrated from the Netherlands to Canada. It continued to be a significant reminder of God's presence as my calls took me on more big moves: from the United States to Australia, Australia to Indonesia, Indonesia to the Philippines, and the Philippines to Calvin Seminary.

  Matthew 6:33
  "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

  As missionaries serving in different countries, my wife and I were asked to make sacrifices, especially in terms of family and children. We moved to different continents, leaving our family. Our ministry assignments also meant boarding school for our children. We did it in faith, trusting that God would be faithful to the promise we see in Matthew 6. As I look back, I can testify that God has been faithful, especially to our children who are now living themselves in three different countries and are involved in the work of missions.

  
  

• Tiffany Ashton, MA in Worship Student (show | hide)
  

  

  Tiffany Ashton at a Discerning Your Call event

  Psalm 46:10
  "Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

  The magnificent Lord of all creation whispered two seemingly simple words to me, "Be Still." In ‘being still’, I put God in control of my future. Then I asked, "Lord, What do you want me to do?" His response, "Be still and know." "Know?" It was at the sound of the word 'know' that I suddenly had a realization. You see, I first had to learn to be still, before I could truly learn to hear from God. When I again turned to God for something to do, he responded, "Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the Earth." I cried out , "Show me were to go. Give me guidance and direction." His response... "seminary." After I overcame myself, God was able to set my feet on his path. Something I definitely could not have done if I hadn't learned to be still.

  Tiffany wrote the song on the right (mp3) in the midst of her calling experience.

  
  

• Aaron Greydanus and Sarah Meekhof, MDiv Students (show | hide)
  

  

  Sarah Meekhof

  [Listen] (real) 1 Samuel 3 The Call of Samuel

  (Read by Allen-Kleine Deters, MDiv Student)

  [Listen] (real) Sarah Meekhof

  1. "I had always hoped for a really dramatic calling story...but that is not exactly how it happened."
  2. "My story has come threw different circumstances, people, trials and failures in ministry."
  3. "My call began early. I grew up on a dairy farm, and age of seven I had preached my first sermon to a heard of Holsteins."
  4. "My heart didn't want to believe that God could use me in his kingdom."
  5. "I found out that an elder at my church was in the hospital.I realized this same man had visited me in the hospital many years ago."
  6. "Together we prayed. Something happened in that prayer, a transfer occurred that I had never intended. Just as Eli was preparing Samuel to take the torch of ministry, he passed the torch."
  7. "I said, "Here I am Lord, send me."

  [Listen] (real) Aaron Greydanus

  1. "I love to farm, I love to be on the farm and grew up in a farming community.one day I went out into the field and I was so frustrated and so angry and I said, "God, what do you want from me?"
  2. "I sought out people in my life who would be the Eli's of my life..."
  3. "I left a house. I left my family. I was never going to go to college; I was never going to move from Montana."
  4. "My experience wasn't like Samuels, hearing an audible voice. I praise God that he put people in my life that could help me decipher and learn."
  5. "I praise God that he has been faithful and brought me through."

• Prof. Kathy Smith, Director of Continuing Education and Director of the Making Connections Initiative (show | hide)
  

  

  Smith teaching a course in church polity

  Philippians 1:6
  "...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

  This verse is also a song that was somewhat popular around the time that I was discerning the call. I had been a Coffee Break Bible Study leader for 14 years in my church, and I gradually discovered that my love of the Scriptures and the discussions was also becoming a desire to study and proclaim the Word in new ways. But I was afraid to do that--to follow that call to ministry. This verse gave me confidence that in fact it was not mine to do, but God's work in me that would be carried on to completion. I found a lot of comfort in the idea that I was answering God's call, not manufacturing something to answer my own desires and wants.

  Song: "Here I Am, Lord"

  When I first started to think that perhaps God was calling me to vocational ministry, this song was popular, and I was so convicted each time I sang it. Those experiences helped me to realize that the conviction I felt when I sang "Here I Am, Lord" was the prompting of the Holy Spirit creating both a restlessness in my spirit and a desire to follow God in ways I never expected but was beginning to realize.

  
  

• Sarah Steen Schreiber, MDiv Student (show | hide)
  

  

  Steen Schreiber with her husband, Ryan, who is also a student in the MDiv program

  Jeremiah 6:16a
  This is what the LORD says:
  

  "Stand at the crossroads and look;
  ask for the ancient paths,
  ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
  and you will find rest for your souls."

  I came upon this verse while traveling the paths of Paul in Turkey with the Facing Your Future program. As I read it, I was reminded that I was at the crossroads of Christianity-the ancient paths that the first Christians walked. I looked around at the mountains, the great distance between cities, and I realized what great lengths the ancient Christians, like Paul, were willing to go to for the sake of the gospel. This led me to ask myself and continue to ask myself, "What am I willing to do for the sake of the gospel?"

  John Calvin (modified)

  This is the knowledge that you ought to have of yourself:

  First, you should consider for what purpose you were created and endowed with no mean gifts. By this knowledge you should arouse yourself to meditation upon divine worship and the future life. Secondly, you should weigh your own abilities-or rather, lack of abilities. When you perceive this lack, you should lie prostrate in extreme confusion, so to speak, reduced to naught.

  The first consideration tends to make you recognize the nature of your duty; the second, the extent of your ability to carry it out.

  People in my life have affirmed my gifts for the ministry. This quote captures the fact all of my gifts are to be used for God's purpose-he has given me no mean gifts. At the same time, I am also reminded to weigh my own abilities or lack of abilities. When I pretend my gifts are mine, they are useless. If God does not work through me, I have nothing to offer to the church.

  
  

• Greg Janke, Director of Admissions (show | hide)
  

  

  Janke meets with a group of seminary students

  Joshua 1:6-9
  "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

  2 Corinthians 12:9a
  But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you."

  For a long time, I had a lot of resistance to God's call. A lot of the resistance for me centered on the fact that I didn't think I was equipped or sufficient or capable to be in the ministry. God kept bringing Joshua 1 to my attention in many different ways. In this passage, God gives Joshua the task of leading the people, and says to him, "Don't worry about it, I will be with you. It seems overwhelming but I'll never leave you or forsake you." God used this Scripture passage in my life to reassure me.

  The Corinthians passage was also significant for me as I was struggling with sense of not being adequate. That was my thorn in a sense, but God kept saying to me, "Don't worry about it. My grace is all you need; I will take care of you." At that point, I finally surrendered to and embraced God's call to ministry.

  
  

• Andrew Zomerman, MDiv Student (show | hide)
  

  

  Andrew Zomerman

  "I think the Lord gets a kick out of it when you try to tell him what to do... I've learned (albeit somewhat slowly) that you can't tell the Lord what to do; The Lord will, in his time, reveal to you what he wants you to do."

  My journey in a way began back when I was in eighth grade, when a teacher told me I should be a pastor. At the time, I laughed it off, and continued over the years to laugh it off when others said similar things. Years later as I was helping and serving in a church I found that I truly loved and enjoyed working and serving in the church. A visiting pastor saw my gifts and suggested that I apply for a youth pastor position that he knew about. After much prayer and inner turmoil I applied and was offered and accepted the position. While I was serving as a youth director, my gifts were constantly affirmed, and people pushed me to see if there were more things the Lord wanted me to do with regards to ministry. It was at this point that a pastor friend gave me a valuable piece of advice:

  If people around you are telling you that you should consider ministry, and you can easily dismiss it and you don't give it a second thought. No problem. The Lord may have other plans for you. But be warned if there ever comes a time where you can't just dismiss it outright, then you'd better start praying about it and discerning if the Lord is using the people around you to call you to ministry.

  That point came in my life, when I could no longer dismiss the affirmation of my gifts and the calling the Lord was placing on my heart. To honor and explore this call, my church suggested I go to Calvin seminary and take a few courses over the summer for further training.

  When I came to Calvin Seminary and took a few courses I felt very affirmed in my studies. At the end of the summer I continued to talk to people I trusted, spent a lot of time in prayer, and after much prayer I came to the conclusion that I should explore this calling that others saw and that I felt and come to Calvin Seminary to explore the possibility that the lord was calling me to study for the ministry.

  At this point I know the Lord has called me to this, but where he wants me to go from here I don't know. But I'm okay with not knowing.