Atheist to Youth Ministry: God changes, God forgives, God resurrects!!!

My name is Donald Mason. I live in Texas in the United States. The dominant religion in America is Christianity but it is becoming more and more difficult to be a Christian in America as our society seems to be caving more and more to the wills of the devil and to the desires of our flesh.

I came to know God after a long and decisive battle with the concept of atheism, my life was getting difficult and my world seemed to be falling apart so I made a personal declaration that God could not exist because if He did then the world would not contain the evil that seems to consume it. However, after my father died from Graves’ disease and was resuscitated, everything changed in my eyes. My dad was no longer the same person, when he came back to life it was like looking at a new person. He told me that when he died, he heard the voice of God, who mercifully gave my dad another chance at living his life for God instead of living for the desires of the flesh. After hearing my dad’s testimony, I began to revisit the idea of God being real. I searched for proof that God is here and found that proof in my heart, when I felt the incomparable love that only God can give to us. I found Jesus and decided to try my hardest to live for Him. After finding Jesus, I began to see life in a whole new light, I saw the goodness of God in all of His creations, I saw what true love looked like and I felt the power of His mercy and His forgiveness.

My ministry dream is to help teenagers come to know God and see Him in all of His glory. I currently am a youth leader in my church and would love to be able to speak more into the lives of these kids that are struggling with hard family lives, addictions, and just the hardship of being a teenager in a cruel world. I also dream of being a medical missionary. I am currently studying in college to become a Pharmacist and would love to use that knowledge of medicine to help further the kingdom of God.
I identify with the title of Youth Leader the most, because I love my students in my youth group so much and because I really want to help more of our world’s youth come to know Christ.

My church has been very supportive of me in my calling to minister into the lives of others. My church truly believes in the Holy Spirit’s anointing of all believers to be able to work to further the kingdom of God on this earth.

A scholarship to Christian Leaders Institute would benefit me greatly in my ministry as it would allow me to study not only the Word of God but the background of the culture in the time of the Bible and how it relates to our current world situation. Knowing these things will give me the ability to use that knowledge to help the teenagers understand that God is with them and that He understands what they are going through. That He is sufficient and can help them in any area that they need help in, no matter how difficult the situation is or how much they think they have messed up.

I ask for prayer that God will have His way in my life and that I am able to lay down my own wants and desires to fulfill His will, even when my flesh cries out that I should go against what God wants. Pray that He anoints my words and my hands and everything that I do, and that the Spirit will move through me and through my works to speak life where there is death and speak love where there is heartbreak.