Meet Mike Willmer, Pastoral Intern
Mike Willmer had been attending and serving at Harvest Bible Church (now known as Parkside Church, Green Campus) when he started to feel a call to pastoral ministry. “It kind of feels like a stomach ache,” jokes Mike when asked to describe that call. On a more serious note, Mike further explains that “there is a sense in which you feel like the purpose of God in your life is for vocational pastoral ministry and that sense is so strong that the prospect of other goals seems almost vain.” As the newest member of Parkside’s pastoral team, Mike is just four months into a year-long exploration of whether becoming a pastor is the right path for him.
Off The Hook
If you trace Mike’s journey thus far, it’s not hard to see why he feels called to ministry. After Mike came to faith in his college years, numerous service opportunities began cropping up in front of him. Mike first volunteered as an adult leader with the youth ministry at Harvest, which included opportunities to teach and encourage kids. Along the way, Mike was often tapped to fill in for adult Sunday school teachers or wherever he was needed. In the summer of 2008, faced with the prospect of losing their youth pastor to graduate school, Harvest asked Mike to serve as their part-time, interim youth minister. During that time, he was invited to address Bainbridge’s high school group, Student Impact, which led to an actual call (as opposed to a spiritual one) from Pastor Scott Kennedy who asked Mike about his future and whether pastoral ministry was a part of it. “Everything started to converge,” notes Mike. “I was just finishing my bachelor’s degree having transferred from Kent State to Moody Bible Institute, and I had an option to be bought out from my full-time job with Summit County [as a real estate appraiser]. As I was starting to consider seminary and what my next steps were going to be, the conversations about becoming a pastor started to pick up.”
Assessing the Call to Ministry
If you believe the statistics provided by the Barna Group, a research and resource organization focused on the intersection of faith and culture, 1,500 pastors leave their ministry assignments every month for a variety of reasons, ranging from conflict to burnout to moral failure. In view of such a high turnover rate, prudence calls for assessing a subjective call to ministry with the objective observations of the church leadership to help determine if one’s call is authentic. “I feel open to pursue ministry and to learn from the pastors at Parkside to see if this desire is really where God wants me,” says Mike. Thus far, Mike has had the opportunity to work with several of Parkside’s pastors, travel to Mexico as a member of a short-term, dental missions team, and to teach and preach at Parkside Church, Bainbridge Campus.
A Shared Call
Mike has been happily married to Kelly for two and a half years, although they’ve known each other for a long time. They met as teenagers at a Bob Evans restaurant where Mike was a bus boy and Kelly was a hostess. They dated, but the timing wasn’t right, so they broke up. Both Mike and Kelly experienced a tumultuous time in college that made them ask questions about spirituality. They came to faith separately and, several years later, eventually found themselves attending the same church. Fast-forward to today, and Mike and Kelly are a happily married couple. “I’m really happy to see Mike doing what he loves,” remarks Kelly. “It’s been really exciting and we’ve enjoyed experiencing the Bainbridge campus and seeing how things work. The Green campus is still developing, so it’s helpful to see things that are more established,” says Kelly. She also notes that while the size of Bainbridge’s campus can seem intimidating at first, she is grateful for the compassion and encouragement she has received from the congregation and the other pastors’ wives.
At Home with the Willmers
There isn’t a lot of free time for the Willmers right now. In addition to his work at the church, Mike is earning a master’s degree at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Kelly works full time as an accountant. When they do get to share some time together, Mike and Kelly are self-professed home-bodies. They enjoy catching up on episodes of ABC’s Lost, going out to eat with friends, playing video games and watching movies. Mike loves Batman while Kelly is a big fan of the Rocky movies.
What’s Next?
For the next year, the Willmers will be taking in all that they can and enjoying the ride. Mike will be seen throughout the church assisting the pastors, learning about the different facets of pastoral ministry, and I’m sure any dry cleaning you see Mike carrying belongs to Kelly.
Text and photos by Julie Hahn
