Hope Ledbetter…Proclaiming the Gospel with Her Life

   It is unusual for a person to feel called by God to enter the ministry at a young age. Most people sense this later, often much later in their lives. However for Hope Ledbetter, a summer intern at First United Methodist Church of Birmingham, Michigan, the call to ministry came when she was a sophomore in high school.

   The foundation for Hope’s faith was established as an infant by her parents, who made sure that she was baptized and included in the life of their home church. When her older sister was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of three, people from their church prayed for them, brought meals and supported them through the ordeal. Although Hope was only a year old at the time, this had a great impact on the whole family. The heartfelt prayers of many were answered as her sister was healed from the disease.

   According to Hope, “Though I do not remember these days, I can confidently say that I was shaped in these moments as I learned what it meant to be encircled by the love of Christ.” “I was blessed by an incredible community of people that constantly pointed me towards what it looks like to be a follower of Christ.”

    As a child, she wondered how the sermons her pastor preached came to him and if God was somehow speaking through his words. Perhaps seeds were being planted in her heart and mind that would eventually lead to Hope’s desire to enter into the ministry, a desire that was confirmed during her second year of high school. During a personal testimony given by a woman pastor who shared how God had led her into the ministry, Hope felt God speaking that this was to be her calling as well. It was a very emotional experience, influencing future decisions and the direction her life would take.

  “Parents of high school students in our 4,000 member church sought me out to ask for my guidance when I was only a high school student myself. When the pastors of my home church realized that they needed someone to preach at their newest, fastest growing service, they called me!” For her senior project, Hope worked with the director of a leadership training camp sponsored by her church, assisting in writing the curriculum as well as helping direct the camp.

   After graduating from high school, she entered the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill where she became involved in Christ United Methodist Church and also the UNC Wesley Campus Ministry. Encouraged by her campus minister, she had the opportunity to preach to the congregation there. Afterward, the minister wrote her a note saying that “she knew that I was someone who was deeply called to proclaim the gospel with her life.”

   In 2013, she spent time at an orphanage and school in Uganda with a group of students from the university, working on the maintenance of buildings as well as training some of the Ugandan teachers.  To add to her many varied experiences, as part of the Masters of Divinity program at Duke University, Hope is learning more about pastoral care and the basics of church administration this summer through her internship at FUMCB. 

   “Despite the numerous moments of affirmation and clarity, I would be lying if I told you that there were not moments that I wished I were not called to ministry…There have been moments that I wished that God called me to a vocation that is easier on the heart...”

   But there is nothing that makes her feel “more alive” than ministry to others. To Hope “...it is the only thing that matters.” May we be as sensitive and obedient in hearing and responding when God is leading us in a certain direction. Thanks Hope for proclaiming Him with your life!

   “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen."  Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV