As a young adult minister, I encourage others to find and pursue what is meaningful in their lives. Now in writing this, I am hearing those words come back to me as I think of my ministries. They are meaningful because I love the great desires of young adults and enjoy journeying with them to discover where those God – given desires lead, especially when the destination is a surprise!

In fact, it is a surprise to me that I have been called to young adult ministry. After spending 23 years in elementary education as a teacher, counselor and principal, my community asked me in 2001 to be the vocation director for our province. In that ministry I find great inspiration in hearing the stories of how God works in others.

As vocation minister I discovered that many young adult women and men were searching for a deeper relationship with God and with others in a faith community. That discovery led me to widen the scope of our young adult ministry to include retreats, service opportunities, spiritual mentoring, professional support, faith formation, social events and intentional community experiences.