Emily Scates Ordination

“It has been a long and winding journey of following Jesus and winding up where I am today. To be honest, pastor is not a title or role I ever saw coming or even desired. What happened was that the Lord began burdening my heart to share His Word in the Children’s Ministry. As I taught, the Spirit developed the gifts of teaching and preaching, and exhortation. As the Lord began to expand my role in ministry, the burden to point to Jesus expanded from children to the entirety of His Church.

As Jeremiah declared, ‘There is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot’ (Jer. 20:9). My desire is for people to look and see God! He is present, He is active, He is pursuing, He is here…and He loves you with a passion!

It took several years of wrestling with God before I surrendered to ordination; the more I fought, the more the fire in my bones burned. I now realize God has greater, bigger, and wilder plans for all of us. But it’s not until we sit underneath that old, rugged cross long enough that we finally understand there really are no other words that say thank you like, ‘Here I am Lord, send me.’ Do it and see what happens.”

Emily Scates, Pastor of Discipleship