Trinity Lutheran Seminary offers a summer "Sampler" for high school students exploring ministry and vocation. From the "Sampler" through college and service in Africa, our author sees God's plan unfolding for her.

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

God's plans for me began as a member of a small congregation in Northwest Ohio where I was blessed to be supported in my call by many adult parishioners. I was invited into the church community and given opportunities to share my gifts as well as to receive the gifts of those who mentored and shared their faith with me. The community both encouraged my faith and celebrated with me through confirmation and faith formation.

The congregation financed my attendance at the 1997 National Lutheran Youth Gathering in New Orleans, Louisiana, where my eyes were opened to the excitement and passion found in the church. I left Ohio with only three others to be greeted by thousands. One image has been ingrained in my mind: While walking to the Superdome for worship, I turned around at one point and saw thousands of youth overflowing the street and filling the area. I couldn't believe there were so many youth passionate and excited about being Lutheran and joining together for fellowship, worship, and service. I sang, danced, marched, worked, ate, served, played, and prayed in community with a church filled with youth who accepted, welcomed, and let me share my own faith and gifts.

Testing Out Seminary
God was present as I began to similarly feel the excitement about my own call and the possibility of serving in the church. My enthusiasm for church and ministry continued as my pastor, Marc Miller, told me of a program designed specifically for high school students interested in learning about the possibilities for ministry. The three-week-long Summer Seminary Sampler at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, is geared for youth in grades 10-12, with a staff of counselors from the seminary and Pastor Ruth Fortis organizing and sharing her time and talents with the program.

As at the Youth Gathering, I worshiped, served, played, and prayed with other students who were discerning and learning about vocation and ministry. How easy it was to share my feelings about God and church along with my questions and doubts. I was immersed in God's love as I joined in fellowship with high school students discovering the power and presence of God in our lives. Daily I was in awe of the depth of our discussions and faith struggles. I was affirmed in my own faith and worship practices as similarly-minded youth gathered and joined together to worship and experience new life in Christ.

The Summer Seminary Sampler program introduced me to the wide variety of possibilities for serving God in the world. As I was hearing from church members and mentors that I should think about a call to ordained ministry, and as I was pushing those words aside, I learned of the diversity of experiences available in the church. Whether visiting an ELCA camp, serving at a soup kitchen, working for Habitat for Humanity, hearing about life as a chaplain, learning about campus ministry, taking classes led by seminary professors, or visiting diverse churches in the Columbus area, God's plan for me and God's call in my life expanded.

College and Peace Corps
God's call then led to four years at Wittenberg University. I visited Wittenberg's campus as part of the Summer Seminary Sampler program, but little did I know at that time how influential the chapel, campus ministry program, and faculty would be in further discerning my vocation. For four years I found a home at Weaver Chapel with the chapel groups and campus ministers, Pastors Andy and Rachel Tune. Through late-night discussions, retreats, Bible studies, service opportunities, worship, prayer, and fellowship, Wittenberg University and the campus ministry program allowed my faith to soar and my own identity as a child of God to be nourished and encouraged. The words of the Director of Church Relations, Bob White, continue to encourage me in my quest for living out God's vocation in my life. Bob would remind all students to find their passion at college and to use that passion in service to the world.

That passion and commitment to service led me to join the Peace Corps for two years in The Gambia, West Africa. Throughout my time with Gambians, I experienced God's presence in the faces of the children. I experienced God's presence while reading with them, through laughter, at mealtimes, in sunsets, dancing, fetching water, pounding meal for food, and in nights lying out under the moon.

I sometimes imagined myself like the woman at the well from John's Gospel. I too was a stranger, a foreigner. I wore different clothes, spoke differently, and had different customs and traditions. I too went to the well to fetch water for bathing, cleaning, cooking, and drinking. I joined in the community of women at the well and was a part of their community.

Like the woman at the well who meets Jesus and shares the good news with her community, I continue to pray that I enter into relationships, my work, worship, and my community with that same fire and passion for the Lord. Like the woman at the well, I have been touched and given new life and grace in Christ.

My vocation centers in Christ's message and God's plan for my life. God has graced me with the waters of baptism. I hear Jesus' words to me: "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14).

I hear those words and relish the living water of Christ shared with me through friends, family, seminary programs, college, Peace Corps service, and seminary education. I drink the water and will continue sharing the good news of my vocation and blessings found in God.

Kimberly Knowle is a second-year student at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio, enrolled in the Master of Divinity program.