First Year in the Pastorate

(Stephen and classmate Kristian Chelstrom after their graduation ceremony.)

Stephen knew he had a special calling for pastoral ministry since his senior year of high school. After earning his undergraduate degree from Iowa State University, he was eager and excited to jump right into Moody Theological Seminary’s Master of Divinity program to start preparing for ministry. As his seminary education was coming to a close, Stephen was preparing for marriage and he and his fiancé had no idea where they would end up in ministry as they started their life together. Stephen knew his preference was to serve a smaller congregation, and he used some of Moody’s career development resources to apply for various open positions at churches that matched his preferences. Very quickly, Stephen received a response from a small congregation called Mount Pleasant Bible Church in rural Michigan.

After a brief phone interview with some members of the church’s search committee, they wanted to meet Stephen face-to-face in Chicago. They also mentioned that the church knew somebody else from Moody who knew him and would be facilitating the meeting. Stephen couldn’t imagine who from Moody could possibly have close ties to this small church in rural Michigan and also know who he was. It turns out the mutual acquaintance was Dr. John Jelinek, the vice president and academic dean of the seminary. Dr. Jelinek and his wife, Linda, attended Mount Pleasant as teenagers and had developed many lifelong relationships there. In fact, Dr. Jelinek was saved through the ministry of this congregation!

An Extra Section of Greek 

Dr. Jelinek’s responsibilities usually prevent him from teaching in person, but Stephen had the unusual opportunity to have him as a professor for an advanced Greek exegesis class that was added last-minute by the administration due to a group of students collectively requesting another section. “I wasn’t even planning on taking that particular class, but I told a friend I would because he needed more student interest for the class to happen so he could graduate on time.” says Stephen. “It was in the class that I really got to know Dr. Jelinek.”

After meeting some of the elders and deacons, Stephen was invited to visit the church in person to meet the congregation and preach a couple sermons. Shortly after his visit, he received a call saying that Mount Pleasant conducted a vote on whether Stephen would be called to serve as the senior pastor, and the results were 35 for and 0 against.  

“As a faculty member at MTS, one never knows how God will use a class taught or a relationship developed with a student to bring about His blessing. At MTS, faculty get to know students well, and that can be a real advantage when it comes to recommending them to ministries such as local pastorates.” said Dr. Jelinek.

“I was really surprised at the level of respect I received right from the start being a fresh young seminary grad. I didn’t realize how much Dr. Jelinek’s recommendation and being associated with Moody’s name and reputation would mean for me.” says Stephen.

 
(Stephen preaching at Mount Pleasant.)

First Year on the Job

“This has been the best situation a new pastor could ask for” says Stephen about his first year with Mount Pleasant. The previous pastor stepped down two years earlier and the church only had interim preachers and elders filling in. These circumstances caused some to leave the church during those transitional years, but those who stayed were individuals who were specifically dedicated to Mount Pleasant and were eager and ready to be led. Stephen is also surrounded by an eldership team comprised of men at least twice his age. “This has been a great place for me to learn and develop in a supportive environment. My fellow elders have a deep respect for me and are eager to follow my lead, which is very humbling. They’re pastors at heart, so we function as a team, which means everything doesn’t fall on me as a solo leader; I need their perspective, wisdom, and experience.”

Stephen made sure to communicate to the congregation that he would use his first year in the pastorate to learn and observe. Nothing else. “Mount Pleasant is 135 years old. God was leading before I got here, and he’ll lead when I’m gone.” Stephen wanted to make sure he was falling in line with God’s direction for the church, and not force the church into his. “I’m not a very fast-paced person. So taking this whole year to learn and observe felt right to me.”   

Lessons From Moody 

When asked what lessons from Moody has helped him the most, Stephen replied, “Pretty much everything!” The contributions of each individual professor have helped shape him into the person he is today. One influential class was Dr. Bill Thrasher’s Spiritual Formation class. After that class, Stephen spent two hours a week praying in the balcony of Torrey-Gray auditorium during a gap in his class schedule. This discipline greatly impacted Stephen’s spiritual life, and now he begins each day with an hour in prayer. “I couldn’t do this [pastoral ministry] without prayer. I need it, and the people in my congregation need it.”

Also, the discipline of preparing sermons and papers for classes has helped him develop the needed resolve to diligently study the scriptures so that his congregation has Bible-centric, meaty teaching each week. Cultivating a discipline of intently studying the Bible and praying keeps his heart sensitive to God’s direction for his life and ministry.  

 
(Stephen receiving his hood from Dr. Daniel Green during the 2012 graduation ceremony.)

Stephen’s Ministry Now

“Ministry doesn’t come out of what you know, it comes out of who you are.” Stephen truly believes that one’s character is the key to a long-term, sustainable, and fruitful ministry. His biggest advice is to study hard and be disciplined, but to ultimately realize that being transparent before oneself and God is what makes ministry happen.

Now, his first year has passed and Stephen has a good grasp of the people in his congregation and the community he is now apart of. He is now working with Mount Pleasant on vision-casting, answering the question “What do we want to be?”

The story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 (Matthew 14:13–21) is one Scripture that Stephen strongly relates to during this time in his life, “I regularly feel like the disciples—the best I can come up with is five loaves and two fish, but the Lord takes that meager meal and uses it to nourish His people.”

Looking back at all the small circumstances that came together at just the right time for this pastorate to work out, Stephen sees the clear hand of God preparing him when he wasn’t even aware of it.

Dr. Jelinek is thrilled to have Stephen serving at his former church home, “It is a blessing to participate in the life of a small church because the ministry in such places is never small in the eyes of God.  Stephen cultivated an already deep walk with God while at MTS and was thus ideally formed by God to the needs of the saints at Mount Pleasant.  I have visited Stephen’s ministry there in Wales, Michigan and I am encouraged by what God is doing through him.”

 
 (Stephen performing a baptism in Lake Huron in August 2015.)

Jonathan Goldthwaite
Social Media Coordinator 
Moody Alumni Association