{"id":5878,"date":"2014-12-15T14:05:27","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T19:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?p=5878"},"modified":"2015-08-11T08:35:18","modified_gmt":"2015-08-11T12:35:18","slug":"trey-garners-journey-to-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/trey-garners-journey-to-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Trey Garner’s Journey to Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following article by\u00a0Stacy Clardie<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>is the third in a series<\/a> that\u00a0shares our Pastors’ testimonies of how the Lord led them to serve at Faith Church.<\/em><\/p>\n

Trey Garner isn\u2019t exactly sure why, but kids have always responded to him.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a \u201cweird connection,\u201d he says, how they tend to listen when he speaks.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s because of his hearty laugh and commanding, booming voice.<\/p>\n

The latter helped Garner move into the role of leading Faith\u2019s music and worship ministry in 2003.<\/p>\n

But, while he was in seminary, a better fit for the worship ministry emerged and Garner found his perfect fit: Children\u2019s ministries.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where he\u2019s snugly stuck since 2005, initially as an intern before being elected to the pastorial staff in 2007. Garner oversees Sunday morning and Wednesday evening children\u2019s ministries, from newborns to fifth-graders. It\u2019s quite the load, with children\u2019s ministries being the largest serving ministry within Faith. There are 535 service positions, including the nursery. So simply making sure those spots are full is a big job, but it\u2019s also crucial to make sure those filling it are capable and have the tools provided to do what they need to do well.<\/p>\n

Garner has made sure that\u2019s the case.<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s keen on doing it himself, too.<\/p>\n

Garner\u2019s primary focus on Sunday mornings is leading the first- and second-grade classes in music and teaching the third, fourth and fifth graders.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an especially sweet time.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t tell anybody else this \u2014 I think our children\u2019s ministries are the most important ministry in our church,\u201d Garner said with a smile. \u201cNow, others are going to disagree with me about that. You look at the statistics, they tell you that two-thirds of all people who trust Christ do so by the age of 18. The Barna Group also found that people\u2019s religious beliefs change very little after the age of 12. That\u2019s the group I\u2019m working with, so the idea of reaching kids\u2019 hearts with truth is what drives me every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garner has seen plenty of aha moments, watching as the children finally get it. <\/i><\/p>\n

Often during his lessons, he\u2019ll have time when he simply asks the kids what they\u2019re wondering about or what questions they have. He calls it, \u201cAsk the Pastor.\u201d<\/p>\n

And those can sometimes be the most revealing and revelatory moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did this in one third-grade class, and one of the kids asked, he said, \u2018What do you do when you know the Bible says one thing, but you don\u2019t want to do it?\u2019 I love the honesty of that,\u201d Garner said. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the things I absolutely love about teaching kids \u2014 you don\u2019t have to dig a lot to get to the things they\u2019re wondering about, the things they\u2019re wrestling through. Their sin is pretty near the surface. I loved being able to interact with them on that question.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love seeing the light bulbs go off when they get a concept for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through his own children \u2014 wife Deb and he have 5-year-old Noah and 3-year-old Lauren \u2014 Garner consistently is seeing the fruit of great service in the ministry.<\/p>\n

There are times when the kids come home from church and say they\u2019ve been taught the same things the parents have been talking about.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like Praise the Lord for these people in strengthening our hand to help us get through to the hearts of our kids,\u201d Garner said. \u201cI love it when kids get excited about Jesus. That\u2019s a really special thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garner, though, was one of the rare cases from his quoted statistics: Someone who found Christ after adolescence. He was saved in 1995 while attending college at Texas State University. He began attending Faith in 1999 and that\u2019s when God started changing the desires of his heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started really thirsting after God\u2019s Word and the opportunity to minister God\u2019s Word to others. So my intention during my last year at Purdue was to finish up my degree and then to head off to seminary,\u201d Garner said.<\/p>\n

Pastors Steve Viars and Brent Aucoin, though, wanted Garner to come on staff at Faith as an intern for a year first, so they could evaluate his character and giftedness, to see if ministry was a path Garner should pursue.<\/p>\n

So Garner did, in 2001, and after that year of evaluation, he began taking seminary classes while staying at Faith as an intern. He finished his degree in 2007 and was elected to the staff as a pastor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following article by\u00a0Stacy Clardie\u00a0is the third in a series that\u00a0shares our Pastors’ testimonies of how the Lord led them to serve at Faith Church. Trey Garner isn\u2019t exactly sure why, but kids have always responded to him. It\u2019s a \u201cweird connection,\u201d he says, how they tend to listen when he speaks. Maybe it\u2019s because… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":5879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[22159],"yoast_head":"\nTrey Garner's Journey to Faith - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/trey-garners-journey-to-faith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trey Garner's Journey to Faith - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The following article by\u00a0Stacy Clardie\u00a0is the third in a series that\u00a0shares our Pastors’ testimonies of how the Lord led them to serve at Faith Church. 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