LTSP

New Students, Fall 2001

God spoke to his heart

Richard "Dick" Yost first felt a call to the ordained ministry when he was a teen attending the Roman Catholic Church. After a number of discussions with his parish priest, he decided to concentrate on his undergraduate work, and if he still felt the call afterward, he decided he would pursue that path. Soon after the last of these discussions he began dating the woman who is now his wife. Entering the priesthood was no longer an option. He continued as an active member of his parish, but something was missing from his life because he and the rest of his family attended two different churches on Sundays. He soon became an active member of St. Michael's Lutheran Church, in Camillus, NY, and once again began to feel the call to ministry. "After many months of trying to make the decision on my own, I turned to God," Dick said, "and it didn't take long for an answer to come." Every reason he had for not answering God's call, he said, and every doubt he had about his shortcomings began to vanish "and it was replaced by a tremendous sense of warmth and inner piece." He made an informal visit to LTSP with his wife in the summer of 1999 while visiting relatives. "I knew from the outset it is where I belonged," he said. He decided to leave a successful career as a Verizon telecommunications executive to enroll at the Seminary. "One day you realize all those questions and feelings of doubt are gone," he said. "That's when you know God has spoken to your heart and given you the answer to his call."