On behalf of Global Focus Month at Union University, Stephen Kennedy, executive director of Indigenous Outreach International in Jackson, Tennessee, spoke at chapel on Friday, Sept. 7 about how God changed all his plans for the better and how to trust God even in the most uncertain times.
Unlike most college freshman, Stephen Kennedy went into his freshman year at Union University with a “no nonsense” attitude. He was at school for education and education only- not for the college parties, not for the friends and not even for the women. He was only focused on obtaining his degree.
Sitting in his Intro to Bible Study class, this mindset soon changed when he first laid eyes on the “most beautiful girl he’d ever seen” and knew he was going to marry her. Kennedy said, from then on, he knew God had a different plan for his life than his initial freshman mindset.
Kennedy and his wife both graduated from Union and moved to Ethiopia to pursue Christ and His mission for their family, and he now works for Indigenous Outreach International, a ministry that supports over 70 ministers from various areas while they live in foreign countries serving as missionaries.
During what seemed like a routine visit home, Indigenous Outreach International asked Kennedy and his wife to move back to America to take a director position. During this time, Kennedy’s mother-in-law was also diagnosed with a brain tumor, so the two reluctantly moved back to the states. Kennedy said he struggled with the identity of being “homeless,” living in his mother-in-law’s basement.
However, all of these things reminded him to trust in God’s plan because His way is the perfect way.
“In the kindness and providence of God, He took my plans and turned them upside down, and I am thankful for that,” Kennedy said. “If He begins messing with your plans, trust Him- He’s good. He has taken some of my expectations and crushed them, but it has always, always been for the best.”
Kennedy said one thing is consistent: follow Jesus.
“Kennedy’s message was a very timely message,” said Corinne Olund, a senior public relations major. “It’s especially good for college students to be reminded that their ultimate call is not to a major or a career or to a spouse. It’s to Christ.”
As college students, Kennedy recognized it can be confusing trying to discern our futures, but, ultimately, that decision is not ours; it is His. Jesus’s call is the only one we should follow, and at times, we may all struggle with finding ourselves, but Kennedy reminded us that we can always find our identity in Christ and Christ alone.
“The call of Jesus is first and foremost to Himself,” Kennedy said. “My goal is not for all of you to move across the world to become a missionary, but, on the other hand, to encourage each of you to passionately pursue Christ and be conformed to His image.”