24th September 2024

Jamie’s Leadership development journey

“Each step is kind of crazy, like, what am I doing here?”

This is how Jamie describes his journey into vocational ministry, a sentiment felt by many young leaders. He is now thriving as the Youth Pastor at Kilsyth South Baptist (KSBC) with an inspiring story to tell of the people, processes and opportunities God has used to guide him to that place.

As a child, Jamie’s own faith was nurtured at KSBC where he attended with his family. However, by the end of his high school years, he acknowledges he was not a passionate follower of Jesus or “living out faith outside of Sundays”. He scraped through his first year of Uni, studying Surveying, but was without a firm vision for his future or what he wanted to do with his life.

Meanwhile, KSBC Youth Pastor Jordan Stoyanoff was on the lookout to identify people who could potentially develop in ministry and seek out ways to help them flourish. Jordan recognised that identifying others would not only help him continue to grow as a leader but would also allow the ministry to be sustainable beyond him.

Jordan invited Jamie to join an internship at KSBC which included signing up for BUV’s EMERGE apprenticeship pathway and studying through Youth Dimension. Through these opportunities Jamie stretched his academic learning, grew in his capacity to share testimony and teaching, wrestled to develop a theology of ministry and was brought into communities of people aspiring to the same goal of growing in their leadership.

“My whole journey has been me not really seeing it in myself but other people seeing it in me.” As a result, Jamie has a heart to do the same in his own leadership. “To bring up other leaders and see potential in them they may not see in themselves.”

In 2023, Jordan sponsored Jamie into a youth internship at Syndal Baptist. Jordan believed a different ministry context requiring diverse skills would develop and sharpen Jamie. He also knew a broader network of people affirming his calling and supporting his leadership would “set him up for the long haul”.  Syndal Youth Pastor Way Lim sought to recognize Jamie’s strengths and weaknesses and tailor development opportunities accordingly. “This was a new culture where Jamie didn’t know any of the kids or families, it was more multicultural … he got lots of opportunities to hone his skills and stretch beyond his comfort zone.” Among the many great opportunities, Jamie appreciated learning systems and procedures in a larger church context, experiencing a different staff dynamic and growing his intercultural understanding.

At the beginning of 2024, changes were taking place at KSBC and an opening for the Youth Pastor role came up. Jamie was able to go through the application process and, as the successful candidate, return to his home church as Youth Pastor.

This is a story of several faithful leaders being involved in identifying, developing and maturing the calling and gifts they saw in a young person.

Jordan says, “Wherever God leads us is going to be the best place to be, even if it’s not always my preference. God’s plan will always be the best outcome. We just need to trust and listen to His voice.”

Way Lim says, “It’s what Kingdom and ministry should be! We’re all one church. We are here to equip leaders for the Kingdom (not just a specific role or context).”

Jamie says, “I’m keen to take what I’ve learned from my own experience and apply it to how I lead others. It all started with my relationship with God – everything flowed from there.”

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