Second year M.Div. student Stephanie Backus wants people to know that God will never leave nor forsake us, even if we leave or forsake God. She knows this from experience. Her call to ministry has sometimes felt like playing the children\u2019s game of \u201chot or cold\u201d and searching in the dark for the unknown thing that was missing.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy story is a story about how God doesn\u2019t ever leave,\u201d she says. \u201cMy earliest memory of being called to be a disciple was when I was four or five. I looked up in the choir loft and saw Jesus. I can still see him in that moment as vividly now as I could then.\u201d<\/p>\n
From this early moment of awakening, Stephanie says she was very active in the church where she grew up in Missouri, from singing in the choir as early as third grade and participating in a Chrysalis weekend at age 16. Chrysalis, a United Methodist ministry of spiritual formation for teenagers, became something she stayed involved with through the rest of high school, and through which she initially sensed her call to ministry.<\/p>\n
She began to pursue that call, but after a traumatic event in college began to run away from church and ministry to pursue a career in journalism. \u201cI was so angry,\u201d she says. \u201cI couldn’t understand how God could let this happen to someone or would have this happen to someone being called into ministry. And I didn’t have anyone shepherding me and guiding me in my faith to help me process it, so I ran. I ran for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Stephanie\u2019s journalism career took off, and later when she and her family moved to Pittsburgh, she always sensed something was lacking. Thinking what she missed was community, Stephanie began attending Faith UMC in Fox Chapel. There, she became involved in children\u2019s ministry, the vision team, and as a liturgist in worship. Reconnecting with God was great, but something was still missing. She was getting closer, but still grasping at air.<\/p>\n
Then, in May 2021, Stephanie finally grabbed hold of what she\u2019d been searching for. As one of her pastors read from Isaiah 6 about the prophet being called to serve God, then shared his own story of being called to ordained ministry, Stephanie realized that God had never stopped calling her to ministry. She had just stopped noticing.<\/p>\n
But others at the church had<\/em> noticed. As soon as she revealed to people that she felt called to ordained ministry, affirmation of that call was universal and enthusiastic. So Stephanie enrolled at PTS in fall 2021, where she quickly became an excellent student and valued member of the Seminary\u2019s worship team.<\/p>\n \u201cAt every step of the way, anything I put in the path, any boulder that I put there, God has removed. I thought, \u2018I’m still going to work full time, and probably go to school part time.\u2019 And here I am in my second year, full time at PTS and working full time. I thought, \u2018Okay, I can’t do this if I don’t get any scholarship money.\u2019 But that first year I got a scholarship from PTS, and this year I got a scholarship from the United Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry on top of that. All of the artificial stones that I threw in front of me, God was like, \u2018Do you really think that I can’t move that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Her employer and family have been gracious in allowing her the space to juggle school and work, and the class schedules have allowed it. Even with starting as a part-time student, Stephanie is on track to graduate in May 2024. Asked about her plans following graduation, Stephanie is confident that God is calling her into pulpit ministry. But she also loves academic research and has not ruled out continuing in a doctorate program in New Testament studies.<\/p>\n Wherever her call leads, she intends to make sure everyone feels welcomed and included by God. She says, \u201cFor many people, church trauma is their trauma. In my heart, I\u2019ve always been a healer. I feel that and want to make it better. I can\u2019t make people\u2019s experiences go away, but what I can do is demonstrate Christ\u2019s hospitality and make sure everyone who is there has a place at the table.\u201d<\/p>\n More than anything, Stephanie wants to be the type of spiritual leader she never had. When others are experiencing trauma or its aftermath, she feels called to guide and shepherd them to the warmth and healing that only Christ can provide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Second year M.Div. student Stephanie Backus wants people to know that God will never leave nor forsake us, even if we leave or forsake God. She knows this from experience. Her call to ministry has sometimes felt like playing the children\u2019s game of \u201chot or cold\u201d and searching in the dark for the unknown thing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[398],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-14842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-of-pts"],"yoast_head":"\r\nWhat’s Next?<\/h3>\n