Open Hands for What’s Next: Jordan West on Following God’s Unexpected Path

So you said something there that is kind of a divergent thing from your previous history.

And what I mean by that is emergency management, missional involvement, missional engagement, go to seminary, college ministry.

So what was the trigger or when did God begin to orchestrate your sense of calling, refining maybe your calling or redirecting it from a missional missionary experience from a local, maybe a local church experience to college ministry?

Absolutely.

The earliest times I can remember the Lord starting to direct my heart towards ministry, it involved students.

And I had the privilege of working in youth ministry alongside my youth pastor when I was in the youth group for about seven years through college and grad school and even after grad school as well.

So the Lord had really, there was really two branches that the Lord was growing deeply in me, and it was student ministry and missions.

And I think those combine incredibly.

And I know that the Lord worked in my life in ways that I will be eternally grateful for in my college years.

I think those are truly the most transformative years of your life in probably every way, but specifically spiritually for a lot of people.

It's really where the rubber hits the road of, um, is Jesus going to be a part of my life or is my life going to belong to Jesus? And, uh, he's going to be the center of everything that I do.

And I was challenged with that while I was in college.

And, um, so just like I said, gradually over time, the Lord refined that path to where college ministry became college students really became my passion in terms of that is the age group that I love and want to pour into and point to Jesus and point to you go tell people about Jesus here in your world, in your family, in your work and across the globe.