Youth Ministry Call Journey

Youth Ministry Call Journey

My name is Sean Warren, and I have been on a youth ministry call journey. I am married with four children, ages 14 to 22 years. My wife and I have been living in the Denver, Colorado area for the past 9 years. We previously lived in the Chicago area, Los Angeles area and Olympia, WA, which is the region where I grew up.

I came to know Christ when I was 25, shortly after we had moved from Olympia to Los Angeles. We were not married yet and had our first child, age six months at the time we arrived in Los Angeles. Shortly after arriving, we went to my mother-in-law’s church and I received Christ. That moment changed everything for me. I grew up in an irreligious home. I immediately began praying and studying God’s word, and we quickly became involved in our church family.

Through the years, we worked in various levels of lay ministry, and also home-schooled our kids through most of their school years. We grew stronger in our faith and understanding of the scriptures and the ways of God along the way. I have always had a yearning to do more in ministry as has my wife Angela. In 2005, on my youth ministry call journey, we founded a ministry geared toward discipling school-age children in Illinois. We had an amazing time being involved together with our kids and made many great friendships.

On my youth ministry call journey, in 2008, we moved with two other families to Denver, Colorado to expand the ministry we had founded together. Unfortunately, and I believe in accordance with God’s plan for us, the ministry did not last. I had left my full-time job in technology for this move, trusting God was going to somehow make it work. The way He made it work did not include continuing in the ministry we came to Colorado for. However, in his faithfulness, I landed a great job back in technology here in Colorado, where I have now been working for nine years.

In the meantime, my wife has gone on to direct youth programs in a number of areas, and she has always had an eager and willing volunteer to help her in me. A constant for me has been that I love working with young people, both in the church and in my career.

With four kids and working to meet their needs, I seem to always put my ministry dream, which is to work in a larger capacity with young people and the arts, at bay. I’ve seen far too many ministry leaders put their ministry first at the expense of their families, and I have never wanted to do that. Christian Leaders Institute gives me the opportunity to pursue the knowledge and training I’ve always wanted to in a way that is flexible for me. And with little financial cost, I have no excuse but to go and get it done!

The teaching seems very practical, especially on how to apply walking with God and devotional time. I really like the steps and ideas there. Just working through the material is drawing me closer to God and I feel the Holy Spirit in it – the windy places!

We have called four different churches our home in Colorado since moving here and working in various ministries – the most recent being my wife’s ministry work. We’ve been at Colorado Community Church most recently. I look forward to getting more involved in the life of the church and finding a mentor for this program. That is my next major step to take.

I love the apprenticeship model! It seems the most organic and real way to teach and learn. It’s honestly the way I’ve learned most of what I know, so it makes sense and I have confidence in it. I’m glad CLI is here and embraces it!

Learn about local ecuministry ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.