Big dreams, openness to God’s calling guide student

Posted: 5/12/06

Called to ministry

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

ABILENE—Crystal Leake occasionally flips through magazines looking for pictures of log cabins. She cuts out images that especially call to her—just as she seeks to follow God’s calling.

It is the first-year Logsdon Seminary student’s way of dreaming.

One day, she hopes she and her husband, Carl, can start an encampment where pastors can stay in log cabins at little or no charge to rest, relax and reflect.

The magazine photos help her imagine what the camp could look like—what it would be like.

But even the best images cannot capture her passion or God’s vision. They can’t, because she believes God’s vision for her life—whatever it might be—surpasses anything she can imagine.

Leake admits she may never build the camp, but she can live with that. She knows she is called to ministry. It’s up to God to lead her to exactly where that ministry is.

“God will put you where he wants you when he wants you,” she said.

Right now, she believes God wants her in Abilene, where Leake and her husband co-direct the Eunice Chambliss Hospitality House, an effort supported by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. There, she ministers to families of inmates who come to see their incarcerated loved ones.

Her ministry focuses on relationships. She meets families and becomes their friend. She shows them she cares about their needs. Recently, a girl made a profession of faith at the hospitality house and was baptized a few weeks later.

“Evangelism happens a lot of different ways, but the big way it happens in my life is relational,” Leake said. “It happens through friendships.”

She finds those friendships outside the hospitality house as well.

She is willing to strike up a conversation with anyone God puts in her path. She shares her faith as God prompts her. That’s what makes her faith exciting.

“A Christian walk is an adventure,” she said. “It’s never boring, and you never know what’s around the corner.”

Leake has a lot of corners to turn ahead of her. She believes God could direct her in a number of different directions. She looks forward to where God’s calling may take her—even if it isn’t starting a retreat facility for pastors.

“Dream big,” she said. “Write down your dreams. Work toward your dreams. But at the same time, be ready for God to work in your dreams.”