My story of faith and my story of NextGen ministry are inseparable.
I came to know Jesus at sixteen. Three months later, while at summer camp, I sensed a clear call to serve the next generation through youth ministry. I didn’t have language for vocation yet, but I knew I was being invited to give my life to helping young people encounter Jesus the way I had.
That calling didn’t fade as I grew older. It deepened as I grew up.
LEARNING FAITH BY SERVING
At seventeen, I was asked to help run the church nursery. It wasn’t glamorous work, but it mattered. From there, I was invited into more spaces where faith was being formed quietly and faithfully, kids church, Vacation Bible School, teaching a K–3rd grade Sunday school class. I also served as a student leader in youth ministry.
Those early years taught me that ministry doesn’t begin on a stage. It begins with showing up, being trusted with small things, and learning how faith is nurtured over time.
As I was leading students, students helped form me.
GROWING WITH THE NEXT GENERATION
I served wherever I was needed. I volunteered as an adult leader in youth ministry. I started pre-teen ministry from scratch at 19. Over the years, I served in part-time and full-time roles in youth ministry, learning what it means to walk alongside teenagers through questions, doubt, joy, grief, and growth.
Through every role, one truth became clearer: following Jesus is not something we hand to young people fully formed. It is something we invite them into by living it honestly in front of them.
NextGen ministry shaped how I read Scripture, how I pray, how I understand the church, and how I trust God with work that unfolds slowly.
HOW THIS FORMATION SHAPED MY MINISTRY
Because my faith was nurtured through proximity and service, I approach NextGen ministry with patience and humility. I’ve learned that consistency matters more than charisma, that belonging often comes before belief, and that formation rarely follows a straight line.
I’ve also learned that children and teenagers are not the church of the future. They are part of the Body of the church now, deserving of presence, care, and shared life.
These convictions weren’t learned in theory. They were learned over years of walking with young people while learning to follow Jesus myself.
CONTEXT AND COMMUNITY
I live and serve in Pittsburgh, where my ministry continues to be shaped within real community.
My current work is practiced in connection with homechurch, a hybrid house church network that practices the way of Jesus together in community. Being rooted in this kind of community continues to refine how I understand discipleship and faith formation across generations.
This context keeps my ministry grounded and accountable, reminding me that formation happens best when faith is lived together.
WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE NOW
Today, this calling continues to take shape in simple, ordinary ways.
My ministry is practiced within community, including my involvement with homechurch, but it also extends into the rhythms of everyday life. Shared life, for me, isn’t confined to ministry settings. It’s lived around tables and in living rooms.
Twice a month, we open our home to friends for dinner. We eat together, play games, talk about life, laugh, and sometimes sit with hard things. There’s no agenda. No lesson plan. Just people choosing to be present with one another.
There are also a lot of kids at these nights. Like… more kids than chairs. The kind of gathering where the decibel level climbs quickly, food disappears at an alarming rate, and at least three kids are barefoot, sticky, and absolutely thriving.
And honestly, I wouldn’t trade it.
These evenings remind me why NextGen ministry matters so deeply. Young people don’t learn faith only through structured spaces. They learn it by watching how adults relate to one another, how we listen, how we welcome, how we make room, how we stay when things are awkward, loud, or unfinished.
This is the kind of life I want the next generation to see — faith that shows up, makes space, and isn’t afraid of a little chaos at the table.
STILL BEING FORMED
I don’t tell this story as someone who has arrived.
I tell it as someone who is still learning what it means to follow Jesus faithfully, to listen well, and to stay present in work that often feels slow and unseen. The same kind of ministry that birthed my faith continues to shape me still.
This page exists not to catalog roles, but to name the path that led me here, a path marked by obedience, service, and shared life with the next generation.