Who is the one person (or possibly handful of people) who drew you to a relationship with the Lord?

Can you name them? How often do you think of them? For me, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about the precious family that showed up in my life and covered me in God’s love and grace. Had they not opened their home and hearts to me, I doubt I would have had the opportunity to share the love of Jesus with nearly 1,000 children each week as Director of Children’s Ministries at HPUMC.

I thought it was just another babysitting gig. I was a broke college student in Austin, away from home, living alone, and still searching for something that was missing in my life. I was surrounded by loving family and friends back home, and yet there was a void that I didn’t know how to fill.

I began to babysit for the Powell family who had two young children at the time. They kept me quite busy on a steady schedule for which I was very thankful. From day one they treated me just like family. I had never met anyone quite so generous and kind! When I had some issues with my apartment later that year, the Powells very generously offered me a room in their home.

I was completely blown away.

Who would want a crazy college kid living with them? Who would want that kind of invasion of privacy? Who would do this? Why would they do this? After getting over the disbelief of this incredibly unselfish and generous offer, I reluctantly accepted and moved out of my apartment. For the next two and a half years, I was immersed in this family’s daily life while living in their home.

Up until this point in my life, I did not know God. My only experiences with “church people” had left me wanting anything but God. I was quite content to power through life by my own strength, my own resources, and do things my own way. But, thankfully, in his goodness, he parked me right in the middle of a Christ centered home, where he was about to work on my heart. Looking back now with different eyes, I see what God was doing. I believe that God does some of his most incredible work through the family, and he placed this lonely college kid right in the middle of one that would forever change my life.

Over the next few years, I had a birds-eye view into a family who woke up each day to serve the Lord and shepherd their children unto Him. I watched how they handled life’s most heartbreaking moments. I watched how they handled a bounty of blessings. While I understood there was an open invitation to join them at church anytime, they never pushed their faith on me. They simply lived their faith each day, and over time, I began to see the God I never knew through them. I knew that He was pursuing my heart through this experience and through this faithful family.

God did a mighty work in me during that time. While I was in Austin, God was at work back in Dallas with my own family, who began attending HPUMC. Having never attended church throughout my childhood, my parents decided they had been away from the church for far too long. Soon thereafter, our entire family joined HPUMC.

I was baptized at the age of 21 alongside my father and younger sister.

I doubt that the Powell family had any strategic plan to disciple me while I was under their roof; however, the way they lived their life impressed upon me what a relationship with the Lord looks like. They were not perfect by any means, but they showed up in both big and small ways in my life because of their love of God and others. My time in their home drastically changed the trajectory of my walk with the Lord, and I will forever be grateful for their obedience in opening up their home to that college kid long ago. Twenty years later, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about the Powell family and what they taught me.

So who’s your “one”?

When I posed this question to several members of our staff, they spoke of families, Sunday school teachers, professors, and other adults who intentionally poured into them and encouraged them over the years. Consider who’s your “one” or “some”.

Let us all take the time to share our gratitude for those who have invested in us and shaped our faith along the way.

While in many cases it may not be feasible to find or re-connect with these significant people in our lives, we do have the opportunity every day to be someone else’s “one”.

For every child, youth, and college student that we are able to invest in at HPUMC, the impact of Christ’s love in the world is exponentially greater. By intentionally investing in a few, we have the power to impact not just one life, but many.

Our children, youth, and students need people like you, outside of their parents, who will show up in their lives. You don’t have to open up your home like the Powell family did for me, just open up your heart and let God do the rest.

Go be someone’s “one”.

Not sure where to start? Here are just a few ways that you can show up in the lives of our children, youth, and students at HPUMC:

Children’s Ministry: Small Group Leaders (Two Year Olds through 5th Grade)

Confirmation: Small Group Leaders (6th Grade)

Youth Ministry: Life Group Leaders (Middle School and High School)

College Ministry: Host Families