My Calling

My name is Kyle Stiemsma. I am 17 years old, and I am a senior this year. I will be graduating in about two months. I am the youngest of three guys in my family. My mother is an Adventist, but my father is not. My family is pretty much new Adventists. I love preaching and want to make some sort of career out of it. Next year I plan to go to an Adventist university, even though I’m not sure which one. I do know that I want to major in theology. I love studying God and religion. I have wanted to go into the ministry since I was 7 years old. At that age, I believed God had called me to do great things in the world through Him. When I entered my early high school years, I became quite rebellious and all of a sudden it wasn’t cool to tell people that I wanted to be a pastor when I grew up. At the end of my sophomore year my associate pastor invited me to preach a couple of the Truth for Today sermons at my church (Glendale S.D.A. Church) in a local evangelistic series put on entirely by youth speakers. I thought it might be fun so I agreed. When we first practiced, I was a terrible speaker, but by the time I got up in front of the pulpit, I felt the Holy Spirit move and it was like God said, “Kyle, this is what you were meant to do.” Immediately I realized I needed a change in my life. So I didn’t know why, but I felt that I needed to leave my school and start over in an Adventist school. I had been in public school all my life. To this day, I still have no idea what happened, but for some reason, I felt so compelled to leave behind my friends, my school, and my old way of life. I had no outside pressures to do this, and I thought about it a lot, and every time I found that it would be better to stay in the school I was at. But I had absolutely no peace anywhere in my mind until I went and signed the papers to go to Glenview Adventist Academy. From there God worked progressively through my life and has made me into the person I am today.

This is my second international campaign. In October of 2006, I had the privilege of taking my brother and preaching in India. Unfortunately, my meetings were cut short due to some Muslim and Hindu threats, so I never got to preach a full series. India was an amazing experience, but there was so much going on, I didn’t get to really focus on my preaching. I felt that I was more effective with the children than with the adults. The Dominican Republic has been all about the preaching, and I have loved every minute of it. Preaching is just what I feel called to do. Here in the Dominican Republic, I have had a lot of great things happen to me throughout this trip. My most memorable experience was when, in the middle of one of my sermons a demon-possessed looking lady came in and sat on the first row. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with her, but I tried not to judge, and I just kept preaching. Pretty soon, I noticed all of the male deacons and elders from my church one by one move up to the front row, on all sides. Now I knew something bad was going to happen, but I just kept preaching, when soon enough the lady jumps out of her seat and heads toward my translator quickly and viciously, but praise God because the deacons and elders were ready and got her before she could do anything. She started screaming and going crazy, so they brought her outside where I could see her swinging the gate and slamming it and just going absolutely berserk. It was crazy, but once she left, I just kept on preaching like it never happened and nobody really seemed to pay much attention.

The Dominican Republic has been an amazing experience and I am so happy I got to go. I have made new friends, learned many new things, and have had many great experiences. The most amazing thing about these trips is seeing the Great Controversy played out right before your very eyes. You can see God winning, and the Devil losing. It is just amazing!

I am so thankful to the Quiet Hour who sponsored us and paid for our airfare. Senior year comes with a lot of expenses and I don’t think I would have been able to go without their support. Thank you Quiet Hour! And another big thank you to the Arizona Conference who has started up the YES!(Youth Evangelism Scholarship) Scholarship fund and is giving us all a $1500 scholarship for spreading the everlasting gospel. This will help me immensely in my next 4 years of college. Thank you to my wonderful, constantly supportive parents. Finally, thank you to ShareHim for organizing this trip in the first place. I just hope that I can keep the fire in my heart going and let God lead my life.


Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight”