A New Minister and a Hopeful Glimpse of the Future
At the North American Christian Convention, Mark A. Taylor meets Tyrone Benson, a recent St. Louis Christian College graduate beginning his first ministry at Pontoon Beach Christian Church. Benson’s journey offers an encouraging picture of how Christian colleges, local churches, and gatherings of ministry leaders can help prepare and support a new generation of ministers.
- Tyrone Benson began his first ministry after graduating from St. Louis Christian College.
- The North American Christian Convention planned to recognize new ministry graduates during its closing session.
- Benson’s story highlights the impact of ministry education and opportunities to connect and encourage emerging leaders.
By Mark A. Taylor
Meet Tyrone Benson, minister with the Pontoon Beach (Illinois) Christian Church, not far from St. Louis Missouri. Tyrone graduated from St. Louis Christian College this spring, and this is his first ministry. This is his first North American Christian Convention too. He’s at the event in Orlando, Florida, this year because of convention president Rick Rusaw’s idea to honor new ministry graduates at a special service during the convention’s closing session Friday morning. Tyrone is one of several dozen such ministers who will be singled out then.
Meet Tyrone Benson
I can’t imagine a candidate more deserving of our encouragement. Tyrone is articulate, enthusiastic, and eager. He told me about an urban Vacation Bible School he wrote and led earlier this year. He had stopped me in the hallway because he recognized me from seeing my picture in Christian Standard. Since Tyrone doesn’t exactly fit our stereotype of the typical Christian Standard reader, I was intrigued.
Not only does he read Christian Standard, he wants to write for it, and I’m hoping someday he will.
Tyrone came to faith in Christ when he as a 15-year-old in St. Louis. As he approached his senior year in high school, teachers and advisors were encouraging him to go to college, but money was a problem. A Presbyterian minister he knew told him about the free tuition program at St. Louis Christian College; Tyrone inquired and was admitted.
“I didn’t know anything about the Restoration Movement before I enrolled there,” he says. He had never attended a North American Christian Convention before either.
Encouragement for a New Generation of Ministers
Here’s a young man to give us faith in the future and to remind us how ministries among us are making a difference and lifting up the church’s mission. Because a college supported by Christian churches offers tuition to urban students who may not be from Christian churches, at least one fellow with promise is committed to a life of ministry. And, at least for now, his service is among those churches. Because the North American Christian Convention continues its ministry to connect and encourage and equip leaders in Christian churches, Tyrone will be helped down a path of service in a way that would not have been possible without the convention.
After visiting several minutes with Tyrone, I couldn’t help but wonder how many other stories like his could be found in the hallways of this convention’s meeting place. And I was glad, very glad, to be a part of this get-together again this year.
Author: Mark A. Taylor
Mark A. Taylor, who served as Christian Standard editor from 2003 to 2017, retired in June 2017 after almost 41 years with Standard Publishing (Christian Standard Media).
