I am Ryan Morris, and I have served in Kids’ Ministry for the past 24 years. I am married to Sarah and have two kids, Elizabeth and Hudson. This is the story of how God called me to Kids’ Ministry.
Kids Ministry has been a passion of mine for many years. I didn’t start that way, though. I didn’t know Kids’ Ministry existed when I felt my call to ministry.
My call to ministry came when I was a senior in high school in a small town in Western Kentucky. I had been involved in church my whole life and became a Christian at a young age. God used my youth pastor and a leader in a para-church ministry called Youth for Christ to lead me into ministry. My church recognized my calling and allowed me to serve in different ways through VBS. I knew ministry was what I wanted to do, but I didn’t know where the Lord was leading me. The church I was raised in was considered large for our county. My church of 300 people had three full-time pastors. These positions were Pastor, Minister of Youth, and Minister of Music. I assumed that is what every church has, and those were my only options. I was not gifted with a good singing voice and wasn’t sure I could get up and preach every week. I figured that meant that God was calling me into youth ministry. I set out after high school to be a Minister to Youth.
When I left for college, I realized my church wasn’t as big as I thought. I joined a church averaging 3000 people in worship. It was the largest church I had ever seen. Since I was called to youth ministry, I did what I thought I should do. I joined the church immediately and then contacted the youth minister to volunteer to serve in youth. I was there for my first year of college and never heard back from the youth minister. I attempted to email, call, and even tried to set up meetings. I was never given the opportunity to serve. I figured they just didn’t need any more volunteers. (I realize that is never true.)
As I left for the summer to head back home, I thought I would try again when I came back. I was back at my home church but kept in contact with my new church friends and our college pastor. As it came time for my second year of college, I came back to my college church. I was helping set up for our welcome-to-college cookout. This was an outreach to all the new students coming to our college, and we expected a large group at church for our outdoor luau. This is where the Lord revealed His plan that got me into kids’ ministry, and it was not what I expected at all.
What took us all day to set up was torn down in a matter of seconds as a storm came through around 2 AM that next morning. I got the call to arrive at church early to help set up, and everything was torn down. Instead of being asked to jump in and help put it all back together. I was asked to sub for another person helping in the 4th grade Sunday School class. I had never taught Sunday School to kids. I had led some devotions for youth but never kids. I walked into that classroom that day and can’t remember what I taught, but I remember those kids. After talking to the children’s director, she asked me to teach each week. I felt at home. I attempted to jump into the youth ministry several times but returned to a children’s classroom. I had found what God had called me to be. God had called me to ministry to serve the church as a Children’s Pastor. From that moment, I prepared to serve Him in this way. Through seminary, I volunteered at churches. After graduating and getting married, God allowed me to serve a church for eight years as the Kids’ Pastor outside of Columbus, Ohio. I have been serving a church as a Family Pastor for six years in Louisville, KY.
I look forward to writing about what God has taught and what God is doing in Kids Ministry. I write so someone can look at what I have learned in the past 20 years and learn from my successes and failures. I also write to keep growing myself.