Into the Ministry

I was rudely awakened by my phone’s incessant ringing on a hot California afternoon in July of 2016. I had gotten off work at 6:00 that morning and was not about to have my precious snoozing interrupted. After declining the call and throwing my phone across the room, I rolled over and went back to sleep. Later, I checked my phone: “Missed call from Bryan Samms.”

My name is Aaron Chan, and I have had the privilege of knowing Bryan Samms since 2011. We first met when I was assigned as a piano player to the college music group he was going to lead that summer. Every summer, West Coast Baptist College sent out several groups made up of singers, a piano player, and a college representative to scores of churches in order to recruit students for Bible college. I was a freshman at the time, excited at the prospect of traveling the country, getting to play the piano, and listening to Bro. Samms’s preaching every night. I had such a good time that summer that I signed up for it again the following summer, and again the next. Each summer, I was always placed into the group that Bro. Samms led. We got to know each other well as a result.

I graduated from college in 2014, and immediately began another undergraduate program at Maranatha Baptist University. It was an online program, so I was able to stay in Lancaster (where West Coast Baptist College is located) and work at a hotel while completing my education. My life was quiet until October 2015.

That was when Bro. Samms first talked to me. I happened to be loafing around a college educational building talking with some of my friends who were still students when suddenly there he was. He broke into a smile and greeted me.

“Chan! How are you?”

“Great! You’ve been teaching this morning?”

“Yeah, it’s been a good semester so far.”

And then he cocked his head to one side and said, “Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Um…sure!”

As he led me outside the building, I couldn’t help but think, “Great, I can’t even stay out of trouble even when I’m not a student!”

But he didn’t pull me aside for a rebuke.

He excitedly began to explain to me that the Lord was leading him to pastor a church. The plan was to finish out the school year in May 2016 and then see where the Lord would lead him. He did not know where he would go, but he wanted me to begin praying about working for him at the church he would eventually pastor.

I was all in.

Fast forward to July 2016, right up to the point where I threw my phone to the other side of the room. I had been working the graveyard shift at the Red Roof Inn in Palmdale, California, and it was awful. Time and space do not permit me to tell about all the guests, smells, co-workers, employers, and I believe even demons that I had to deal with during my time of employment there. That was all about to end, though.

I picked up my phone and called him back. He began to share with me all that had happened in the last few months. The culmination of his story was that he had accepted a call to pastor a church in Jacksonville, Florida, and he wanted me to be a part of it. I don’t remember much of the conversation, but I do remember the offer he gave me: “You could stay in Lancaster, or, come on an adventure to Jacksonville. I don’t know what God is going to do here, but would you be willing to come see?”

I told him I needed to pray about it and talk to my parents, who live in the San Francisco Bay Area. My dad’s advice to me was that if this is what God was calling me to do, then I should do it. My sweet mother agreed, even though I knew she disliked that I would be so far from home. Prayer was my close companion.

There comes a point in every person’s life right before they make a big decision, and it’s the point where they wonder if the decision they’re making is right. I was at that point. I had a good job (as sorry as it was, it was a stable income), I had just finished my second undergraduate degree, and I had dreams of going to seminary. I had made many good friends in the six years I had lived in Lancaster, and I attended a fantastic church. Why would I go to Jacksonville? Why would I go literally across the entire country? Why would I go to a church whose only open position was that of a small Christian school elementary A.C.E. room monitor? I have two college degrees! I like talking to people that ask questions about theology and philosophical dilemmas, not fourth graders who want my opinion on whether blue shoelaces are cooler than red shoelaces. Why should I move there?

Bottom line? Because I could make a difference there.

Two days after I received his first call, I called Bro. Samms again. He answered hesitatingly.

“Hello?”

“Yeah, Bro. Samms?”

“Hey, Aaron, how’s it going?”

“Good. Hey, so I’ve been thinking about what you told me a couple days ago…”

“Yeah…?”

“I think I’m ready to go on an adventure.”

“Come on, brother!!”

Was I ever excited! I turned in my two weeks’ notice at the Red Roof Inn (and all God’s people said “Amen!”), informed my landlord of my plans to vacate, and began packing all my earthly belongings into six FedEx boxes to be shipped across the country.

That chapter of my life was over, and a new one was about to begin. I had a suspicion that this next one was going to be a lot more exciting than the previous.

And boy, was I right.