In the ministry, pastors are encouraged to be sure they are in the position they want to be by age 55 because it is unlikely they will be called to a church after that age.
But for 55-year-old Bryan Lakey, he is making his first move instead of his last at that age.
Lakey assumed the pastorate at Southside Baptist Church in Decatur in June after a 17-year business career and about a decade of serving as staff member of churches in Texas and Florida. This is his first time to step into a senior pastor role.
Although Lakey suspected he was being called to the ministry at an early age, almost 20 years elapsed before he fully explored, then yielded to the call.
During those years, he had a successful career as an executive for an oil company, struggling off and on over the years with the question of going into the ministry.
At the age of 40, Lakey says, he attended his wife’s high school reunion. While there, he had a conversation with a longtime acquaintance that caused him to focus sharply on his calling and eventually alter the course of his life.
“We were both talking about what life was going to have for us from here on out, and we agreed that if we were ever going to change, this was the time to do it, because time was passing,” he said.
The conversation came after several episodes in which Lakey suspected that the Lord wanted him in the ministry.
“When I was about 21, I was getting out of college, and God really placed the question of being in the ministry on my heart.”
A planned meeting with his pastor failed to take place, and Lakey did not pursue the idea further.
“About five years later, the question came around again. I was married by then, and my wife and I sat down and talked to the pastor. We had a good counseling session.”
Soon after this conversation, the Lakeys were transferred to another state and the question of his call was once again left unanswered.
“Time rocked on, we lived overseas for a while, then got transferred back to my hometown of Beaumont, Texas. We got into a church with some people who were really serious about their faith, and here came that question again.”
This time, Lakey and his wife would not let it go. “We determined that we would get hold of that question and not let go until we had a clear answer. The answer was that we needed to go into the ministry.”
The conversation at the high school reunion came at just the right time to provide the impetus he needed, and he soon resigned his job and enrolled at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
In his first staff position, he served in a business capacity. Although he worked in that position for five years, he knew he still was not where God wanted him to be.
“During that five years, God continued to stir what I think was kind of a holy dissatisfaction. I was still trying to figure out what He would have me do. I began to want to do other things. I began to want to minister to people, I wanted to baptize — in fact, I told them I wanted to do everything.”
Through the experience there and in two other churches, Lakey feels God was preparing him for his current position.
“I can look back and see God blessing and preparing me. I guess I’m a slow learner — these young guys go to seminary, then go on and get a church and get on with their ministry,” Lakey said. “It’s taken God about 14 years to get me ready.”
Lakey is confident that, after those years of preparation, he is where God wants him to be. He doesn’t regret the years of preparation but sees them as blessings.
“I can look back over my life, at least in the major points, and see that I did find God’s will, and He has blessed in that. He did a work in my life.”
Because of the course his life has taken, Lakey is often approached by those who have questions about being called into the ministry, especially in midlife.
Although he feels strongly that none of his experiences have been wasted, he has advice for others encountering the same struggle.
“I can’t answer their question about whether God is calling them, obviously,” Lakey said. “I can tell them about what happened to me, but what I say to them is, ‘Get hold of the question with a determination, and don’t let go until you have the absolute answer.’”
New Southside, Decatur, pastor finds calling at 55
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