By the time Jonny reached 18, he began to really doubt his calling to the ministry.  He was approaching graduation and felt he couldn’t go to college because of he had been in classes for those with learning disabilities.  He feared he was not smart enough to get the required degree to be a youth pastor. Yet while in doubt, at the same time, the fire for God was slowly coming back.

On the day of graduation, as Jonny walked across the stage to get his diploma, his phone started ringing.  Quickly, he told the caller on the other end of the line that he would need to call them back.  He waited to return the call until graduation was over and he had taken pictures with his family and his girlfriend.

The caller had been one of the youth pastors at camp.  When Jonny returned the call, he was surprised to hear the caller ask him if he wanted to go to Pace, Florida and become his youth intern. At that moment, all his fire and desire for the Lord came back to him full force. But Jonny still had self doubt and was afraid, so he told him no.

Ronnie Calvert., the youth pastor from Florida, did not give up on Jonny.  He continued to call and eventually Jonny accepted the position. At age 19, Jonny packed up his things and moved into Ronnie’s home in Florida.  Ronnie became Jonny’s mentor.  For the first time, Jonny had a true father figure in his life.  Ronnie taught him discipline, taught him how to be a man and took him fishing like a dad. 

For one year Jonny stayed with Ronnie and learned how to be a youth pastor.  Jonny shared his story and watched as others came to Christ. Kids confided in Jonny that they too had been sexually abused and he was able to help them through their process of healing. He used this time to study scripture and learn.

Eventually Ronnie told Jonny it was time for him to go out on his own.  He was ready to be a youth pastor.  So Jonny went back to Theodore and took his first position as a youth pastor at a church near his high school.  Unfortunately, Jonny was  working for free because the church didn’t have a budget for youth ministry.

 At the age of 20, Jonny was feeding 120 youth, ministering to gang members and drug dealers and was making a difference by sharing his story. Lives were changing and God was working with these kids as well as some of their parents.  One parent in particular was a drug addict and when he heard Jonny’s story, he checked himself into rehab. As he relapsed back into addiction, Jonny continued to pray over him until the chains of addiction were finally broken. The man has been clean now for 4 years.

Then Jonny received another call from Ronnie.  He told Jonny that it was time for him to move on to a church with a budget for youth ministry and that the United Methodist Church in Orange Beach was hiring.

 Jonny went to the church’s website and read the requirements for the position. There were three requirements; minimum age of 25; Bachelors Degree in some form of Theology; and at least five years in youth ministry.  He realized he did not meet a single requirement, so he decided to not apply for the job. 

Again, Ronnie would not give up on Jonny,  urging him to apply for the position.  So finally Jonny applied.  He received a call from the church and was told that they read his testimony and his resume, but could not hire him at that time because he did not meet the minimum requirements for the job. Then, two hours later, the pastor called him back.  He explained to Jonny that one of the elders of the church took his resume out of the trash and said that he didn’t know why, but God was leading him to Jonny and they wanted an interview.

Jonny  interviewed by phone. At the end  the pastor explained  there were 20 other applicants who met the requirements that would be considered as well.  Jonny again was reminded by God that He can do great things! The church called again for Jonny to come in for a second interview in person. Scared to death, Jonny stood before a panel of men, played his guitar, gave his testimony and explained his passion for youth.

Jonny returned home and waited to see if he would receive another call.  Then the phone rang. Jonny was one of 10 applicants being considered for the position.  Then another call saying it was him and five others, then him and two.  After his final interview, one of the elders took him outside and told him that unfortunately he was going to have to go back home and pack his bags because he had been chosen for the position.  Jonny was so overwhelmed that God had shown him such acceptance, love and purpose, he dropped everything he was holding on the ground and fell to his knees.

Jonny learned that he had been chosen over the more qualified person because of his passion and that church elders knew he would reach kids at all costs. He spent the next year doing just that.

While at the church, Jonny accepted too many responsibilities and began to get a little burned out. About a year later, he put in his resignation and got a job at Coca Cola. Jonny had a couple of things he wanted to pursue: one was to finish college and the other was to focus on his Christian rock band. 

During this time, Jonny and his girlfriend had decided to get married. She went off to college where she ended up in a relationship with someone else.  He broke off the engagement and was so angry because he thought he needed her to fill the void still in his life. The void his family never filled.

Although God was doing so much good in his life, Jonny felt there was still something missing. Jonny quickly entered into a rebound relationship where within three months, he was engaged again. In his mind, Jonny felt that as long as he had a girlfriend, he was somebody. He would always have someone he could call on and someone who would love him. But the engagement quickly ended.

After the break-up, Jonny ran into a friend of his named Jeremy.  Jeremy told Jonny that he had just finished his Six Month Promise.  Curious, Jonny asked about the promise. Jeremy explained that he promised God that for six months he would not date or pursue anyone. Instead, he would focus all that energy toward God. 

Jonny decided that he needed to do that as well. So, for six months Jonny waited, prayed and fasted. He would say to God, “I’m going to trust you.” At the end of the six months, Jonny thought  the girl he was waiting for, the perfect girl for him, would be waiting. But, she wasn’t. He would see girls, but with the help of people in his life, he was able to not make the same mistakes he had made before. For over a year and a half Jonny waited for the right girl. 

During this time, Jonny was still playing in the band and had written a song called “Worth The Wait”. He felt God put it on his heart to share his story of being engaged twice before he would do the song.  Although Jonny hated telling the story, because it made him feel ashamed, he did it anyway.

 Unknown to Jonny, his sound guys sister, Stephanie, had been at every practice and every concert.  Eventually she and Jonny became friends. For two years, Jonny and Stephanie were good friends, but he never viewed her as a girlfriend.

However, for her, the first time she saw Jonny, she knew immediately that he would become her husband. During these two years, not one time did Stephanie flirt with Jonny or give any hints of the way she felt. 

Unlike Jonny, Stephanie had been waiting for 20 years, without even a single kiss from a boy, for God to send her a spouse.  Each time Jonny sang “Worth The Wait”, Stephanie knew it was her, but she was so faithful to God, that she waited for Him to show Jonny that she was the one. 

While Stephanie was waiting, Jonny was in the process of allowing God to repair his heart to a place where he realized that God was sufficient and all he needed. That he didn’t need a girl to make him happy and that God could fill that void.

Once his heart was repaired and ready for a relationship again, Jonny began to pray. He jokingly said to God, “if you don’t send me a girl...I’m going to have to go to E-Harmony.com. I’m done.”  It was in that moment, that Jonny felt as if God said, good, now I can start... I can be the love of your life again.  Then Jonny saw a mental picture of Stephanie in his mind.

Jonny sort-of laughed and thought to himself that this couldn’t be right. So he called his friend Will, who was also in the band, and told him what he had seen in prayer.  Will laughed too, because he had never witnessed Stephanie show Jonny any special attention, flirt with him or anything.

Jonny was now worried that if he approached her and he was wrong, then everything would become very awkward.  But at work, he decided to text her and ask if she would be willing to hang out with him.  Her response was yes. What Jonny did not know was that while he was debating on what to do, Stephanie was pacing the floor praying for God to show Jonny that she was the one for him.

Jonny decided to take Stephanie to the path he had been walking for six months while praying for God to send him the right girl. So while they are walking the path, Jonny was nervous, shaking and thinking, “wow...this could be my wife!” So he asked Stephanie: “So, do you pray for me?” Smiling from ear to ear, she answered yes. So he followed with: “Do you pray a lot for me?” Again, she said yes. Jonny then turns and looked at Stephanie and asked her if she had been waiting for him and she said yes. As they embrace each other, through tears and laughter, Stephanie explained to Jonny that she had been waiting on him all her life.

He and Stephanie had only been dating one week when Jonny got a call from Phillip Anthony at Christian Life Orange Beach asking him and his band to come play for their youth group.  Jonny and his band accepted the invitation and went to perform for the youth.  Todd Forrest, the Pastor of Christian Life Foley, saw them perform and explained to Jonny he had been praying for a worship pastor and asked him if he would come back a few times to lead the worship.

While visiting with Todd, Jonny learned that they don’t have a church yet and they would be meeting at the YMCA in Foley.  So Jonny accepted and for about six months he lead worship.  Jonny loved what he was doing, but Todd recognized that Jonny had a heart for youth ministry. Todd explained to Jonny that he was transitioning from a youth pastor to a lead pastor and that his current youth pastor position would be opening at Christian Life Orange Beach.

As exciting as this was, Jonny was nervous because he had worked as a youth pastor just a few miles down the road from Christian Life Orange Beach when he was at Orange Beach United Methodist. He was afraid it would be awkward returning as a youth pastor in the same community.  The pastor at CL Orange Beach asked him to come and preach to the youth a few times to see how he liked it. 

Jonny knew the first day that God was calling him to minister in this community.  As a courtesy, he called his former pastor at the Methodist Church and told him about what was going on. Jonny offered to return  if they wanted him. He was informed that they would love to have Jonny back, but they needed someone with all the credentials they had originally been searching for because they needed that person to be an Associate Pastor as well. So Jonny took the position of Youth Pastor at Christian Life Orange Beach.

Stephanie, who had waited for two years for Jonny, now had to wait again. He and Stephanie held a long distance relationship during the two years Jonny served as Youth Pastor in Orange Beach. They both agreed they would wait until Stephanie graduated from college and then they would get married. Then everything changed when Jonny got the call that Stephanie had been accepted to medical school.  At that moment, Jonny knew he was going back to the Mobile area.

Jonny set a goal to be in Mobile in one month’s time, however, three huge things had to happen before he could return.  First, he was in a rental lease with six months left on the agreement and he would have to come up with $2500 to break the lease.  Second, he had to find a place to live in Mobile and third, he had to find a new job.

Jonny knew God was control of the situation when he received a call from his property management company asking him if his roommate would be interested in a job.  They explained that if his roommate took the job, both he and Jonny would be released from the lease. In addition, the management company would pay his roommate the same wages he was making at his current job. 

Then, out of the blue, Jonny’s grandmother called and told him that if he ever needed a place to stay, she had a trailer he could live in - rent free!  She had no idea that Jonny was considering coming back to the Mobile area, so Jonny again was shown how awesome God is when he submitted his life to Him.

Finally, since these other two things had happened, Jonny decided to start looking for a job in Mobile.  Jonny walked into Ruby Tuesdays and standing in front of him was the General Manager. He explained he was looking for a job.  The manager asked him if he had any experience in a restaurant before.  He had none. She then asked if he had any managerial experience because they were needing to hire a manager. Again, he had none. 

Once again, he was faced with not having the necessary credentials for the position he was applying for. But the General Manager looked across the table at Jonny and told him that she didn’t know why, since he wasn’t exactly qualified, but she felt he was the right person for the job!

God showed Jonny over and over, that although there were times He seemed far away, He wasn’t.  God was taking each broken piece of Jonny’s life and gathering them together so He could mold him into the man he is today. 

Currently, Jonny is living in Mobile awaiting his and Stephanie’s upcoming wedding  and working at Ruby Tuesdays.  He receives calls from local schools when kids are facing hardships such as cutting, suicidal thoughts, abuse and other struggles.   He feels blessed that he has the opportunity to minister to these kids.

Jonny’s parents now regularly attend church.  Through God’s grace, his mother has overcome her bitterness and depression, his dad no longer drinks.

God has truly taken Jonny’s mess and made it a message.