SVMC Shares Calling Stories #4

Your Call . . . Your Journey . . . Your Education

Greetings Sisters and Brothers:

There is Good News in this New Year! The church is primed for a renewed passion and vision for calling persons to set-apart ministerial leadership. A new, creative initiative supported by the Office of Ministry is the emphasis for promoting “Calling the Called” events throughout the denomination. This initiative was introduced at the Greensboro Annual Conference last July. Additional information will be forthcoming and distributed through the district offices. Plans are underway for two major events this coming fall. Stay alert for further information!

Within the SVMC area, the Resource and Development Committee of the Governing Board has initiated an effort to promote this “Calling” emphasis. Persons from each of the five districts have been invited to share their “Calling” journey through the writing of short essays regarding their “call to ministry” journey. Begun in the fall of 2019, and for the remainder of 2020, we will be highlighting “calling” stories of individuals who will share their unique perspectives on our theme: Your Call…Your Journey…Your Education.

Beverly Skopic contributes this fourth essay. Beverly is a 2019 graduate of the ACTS program with Susquehanna Valley Ministry Center. She was ordained in 2018 and currently serves two congregations: Rockhill Church of the Brethren, and Mt. Union Presbyterian Church.

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As a child, I would find myself sitting by myself talking with God. It didn’t matter if it was a good day or a bad day. I thought all people did this – I didn’t think I was different. Several years following high school, I was cleaning my parent’s attic and found my high school journal. Reading it, I realized at least a third of the entries were about God. I now got the sense my personal relationship with God was what God wanted of us, but it wasn’t what most people experienced.

Still, I didn’t think more about it. I continued to serve in many capacities, i.e., choir member, board member, co-founder and director of the church’s nursery school, and I made visitations to nursing homes three out of four weeks. This continued for years.

Advance forward: The pastor left; five of us took turns as lay speakers. My church has called many to be pastors, and I believe it is the loving and encouraging environment they provide. God did bless me with public speaking skills, and He fulfilled me and guided me with each message.

I kept thinking: is God calling me? I wanted confirmation – something like God talking to me through the burning bush 😊 What I received was an undeniable inferno within my heart. My head would doubt and God would send me an answer or a word of encouragement or some other confirmation UNTIL one day I experienced something so profound that I could not or would not deny Him again. I decided to OBEY.

I called our district minister, and he encouraged me to take the ACTs class. No matter where God was calling me, I knew I wanted (and needed) the text education as well as the discussions along with the ministry formation (boots-on-the-ground) discussions and experiences. I am so grateful for that experience.

Soon, my work experience deteriorated. God’s timing was perfect; I had just met the requirements for early retirement; God met my financial needs! The week I turned in my retirement notice, I was called to a church. God provided me with the experiences within my employment for thirty-eight years, and then (in His time), He closed that door and opened another one. In November 2018, I was ordained.

The support, education, encouragement, and experience provided by SVMC was crucial. God is using your ministry to equip some of those He called. Me.

I can’t remember a time when I have been more content or happy.

SVMC's mission is to equip leaders for ministry in a regionally based, Christ centered, culturally relevant context in ways that bear witness to the beliefs, heritages and practices of the Church of the Brethren.

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