Where Are They Now?
Welcome to the Best Practices for Adventist Ministry podcast. I’m Dave Gemmell. Tell me, is a call to ministry static, or can it change? After about four decades of ministry, I've come to believe that a call to ministry is fluid. Perhaps I can compare it to the river that flows behind my house. I can take a picture near my house, or I can move miles upstream and take another picture or move miles downstream and take more pictures and every picture will look different. And yet it’s the same river. That's kind of like what a call to ministry is. Even though it looks different in different times of our ministry, it’s the same calling.
About six years ago for a feature for the CALLED convention, I interviewed pastors about their call to ministry; snapshots. We're going to play some of those today. But we're also going to move a half a dozen years downstream and take other pictures as we update those calls to ministry.
Here’s the guests on this month’s show in order of appearance:
Act One: Jamie Pombo
I had the privilege of interviewing Jamie for the 2015 CALLED Pastors Convention where he shared the story of his call to ministry. When his life was at its lowest point, it was about to change.
“My dad had a gun in his room. And the gun was empty, but I knew where the bullets were. And so, at that time I remember wanting to end my life because there was just no worth whatsoever. And I thought I was doing the world a favor if I could just cease to exist. And I remember putting the gun right to my right to my temple. And that that was the first time that I really heard a voice. It said don't do it. I love you.”
You can watch the short version of the interview here, or the full length interview here.
It's been about a half a dozen years since I first had that interview with Jamie. A lot has happened in this world and in Jaime's life since then. I catch up with him on a zoom call while he is taking care of his four week old second born son. He shares how COVID have created some challenging times for all including himself as his father recently succumbed to the infection. Yet he remains resilient thanks to his faith in God, his family, and the help of professional therapy.
“Its never fun to go through all of those things. But life is fun, and life is not so fun at times. Yet you still keep going forward.”
Jamie Pombo serves as an Associate Pastor at Port Charlotte Seventh-day Adventist Church. He is married to Michelle and together they are raising two sons. You can find out all about his ministry at the Port Charlotte website.
Act Two: Pranitha Fielder
Pastor Pranitha also shared the story of her call to ministry to me for the 2015 CALLED Convention. She revealed one of the biggest obstacles to her calling:
“I distinctly remember once someone called me on the phone who I hadn't seen since I was five years old, and they called me and they were angry and they said, what do you think you're doing? Who do you think you are that you think you can be a pastor? You know the next time I see you, I'm going to pull you in front of everyone and tell you about yourself. It's painful.”
You can watch the short version of her interview here, or the full length interview here.
Since the last time we talked, Pranitha’s call to ministry is getting more intense with her growing passion for supporting the growing number of Adventist women clergy. She says :
“I love just being able to work on conferences for female clergy and hearing stories of women who feel called to ministry and are trying to live it out but just don't have the support and encouragement. So I think the way I feel it the call deeper is trying to be a support and encouragement to women anywhere who feel this call and are trying to live it out.”
Pranitha serves at the Sligo Seventh-day Adventist Church as Pastor for Discipleship and Congregational Care. She has been within the Sligo community for over two decades. It was here that she first received her call to ministry. For more information about her ministry go to the Sligo Seventh-day Adventist Church website.
Act Three: Marvin Wray
When I interviewed Marvin for the CALLED convention he told about a very unusual place where he would go to contemplate his call to ministry:
“After church I would take the little stipend that they paid me and I would go down to the Tavern and drink the rest of Sunday away and So many times during those dark years of my life. I actually used to sit on the bar stool and would think. I really wanted to be a minister. I really was supposed to be a minister.”
You can watch the short version of the interview here, or the full length interview here.
Since my last interview with Marvin he has retired but continues to serve as an interim pastor
“If you still enjoy preaching but don't want to handle all of the administrative stuff anymore and if you have an opportunity to be an interim pastor, you should do that. My goal is to go into churches and just create a spiritual revival so that they're ready to run with the new guy when he gets there or the new gal.”
Currently Marvin serves as the interim Lead Pastor of the Chico Adventist Church. To find out more about his ministry to the Chico Adventist Church website.
-Dave Gemmell, Host of Adventist Ministry Podcast
