Here I was twelve years old, and I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me in the church. I heard these words, “Joe, I have called you to preach.” I accepted that, but then I had a Vacation Bible School experience where I had a scripture to quote on a Sunday night. At the Sunday night Vacation Bible School, I stood up in front of all of those people and forgot my scripture. I just smiled and walked off the stage. I was saying to myself, “I can't preach. I can't preach. I can't preach.” So from the age of twelve to twenty-two, my life spiral backed down.
Here I am, a twenty-two-year-old young man, but I thought I heard a call to preach when I was younger. In a Sunday night service, I felt God speak to me, “Take a week off work. Go up in the mountains and fast and pray.” On the fifth day of fasting, I said, “God if you are real, I want you to speak to me out of this pocket dictionary.” I took the dictionary and let the pages go. I don't know where I was between A and Z. Then I just put my finger in that dictionary, and my finger landed right under the word preach, out of all the words in that small pocket dictionary. On the sixth day, I let the pages go again, and my finger landed right under the word ministry.
I've been a pastor most of my life. I’ve served as a pastor in Hawaii. I’ve traveled as an evangelist in New Zealand. I now know how real God is. He has proven himself to me over and over again.
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