The stories MWD pastors have about their call to ministry are wildly different from each other … except for one thing. Almost every story pastors have told me about their calling include something like, “And then there was this guy who pulled me aside and said…” I imagine most of the pastors reading this article can identify with this. Someone called you up to something higher.

This story is so common that it returns to us as an imperative. As someone was faithful to call me up, I ought to call up others.

I am very keen on the theology of work and that all vocations matter to God. I’m not suggesting the calling to ministry is “more spiritual” or more God pleasing than the calling to vocations of truck driving, teaching school, or preparing taxes. We need Christians in every facet of the workplace, and their work is inherently valuable to God as it contributes to human flourishing. But many of you also agree that the church doesn’t call up young people to vocational ministry as consistently as we used to. And yet that’s the most common thread to all of our stories of calling.

Here’s the challenge: Once a month, make some mention in your ministry context that the church needs elders, pastors, missionaries, and other workers. God may have designs for a young person to be an architect, but just as easily He could have designs for that person to work for a Christian organization. We can amplify God’s call on their lives by frequently mentioning that God may be doing just that in the life of a young person in your church right now.

Youth pastors, lead pastors, elders, Sunday school teachers, prayer warriors - whatever your role is in the church, would you consider it part of your church ministry to look for people God may have His designs on and help them see that He may have an unusual path for them? Most of our pastors are pastors because someone was faithful and bold to observe a young person and see a potential future.

From my first day in April 2021, we've made our prayer request no secret. We've been asking God to provide increased income for the MWD so that we can do two things: 1) Pay stipended employees from the general fund instead of the reserve funds, 2) Add a staff member to increase our capacity to serve the churches. God has answered both requests!

Stipend: Most of our part-time team members have had paid their stipends paid out of the reserve funds. That's not a good long-term solution, but the reserves have been healthy enough to get us this far. The giving in 2025 was the healthiest it's ever been, so we were able to present a 2026 budget that included paying these team members from the general fund. Praise God!

Staff member: Starting April 15, we added Geoff Safford to the district ministry team. He is now the full-time Director of Church Health. He will increase both the quality and quantity of ways we can help churches grow in their overall health and to multiply new congregations. Praise God!

Bonus: We also added David Santos (Camino de Vida) in January as the Director of All Peoples Ministries. He's part-time and will help churches reach people of different ethnic backgrounds, special needs ministries, and so on. Praise God!

We've been praying for this for 5 years. We've mentioned it at every Transform district conference. And now we get to thank God for providing abundantly!