Renee Sims

Renee Sims heard the voice as clear as if a person stood next to her."You're going to be a pastor," she remembered God saying one morning in 1999."What?Who would hire me?"she shot back.For more than three weeks, Sims had been praying for God to show her His plan for her life.This was not the answer she'd expected or wanted to accept.Sims served as associate music minister and collegiate choir director at the Mount Carmel Seventh-day Adventist Church in Syracuse, New York.Her lay work in the local church led to a music ministry workshop at a conference-wide workers' meeting.She was invited to write an article, which was published in the Sabbath School Leadership magazine.But a friend, at the urging of God, warned her she wasn't using her gifts the way He intended.Upset that someone would have the audacity to tell her that, Sims began to pray.It seemed the fruit of three weeks of praying, however, was the loss of her job as an endoscopy nurse in a Syracuse hospital.Her vigil before God continued, and the answer she received shocked her.Would God really call her, a divorced, single mother of three-not to mention a woman-to this type of service?
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Despite her fears, or the daunting statistics, Sims decided to follow God's leading anyway, believing He'd open up an opportunity for full-time ministry somewhere.At 40, Sims is one of these women.She's currently working on a master of divinity degree through the school's InMinistry Center.The center combines distance learning and on-campus classes.His MessengerSims first enrolled at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, in 2000.She knew she needed more than an associate's degree in nursing to pursue a career in full-time ministry.Sims said God told her to ask Northeastern Conference officials to sponsor her as a theology student there.She wouldn't, and later said, "I missed an opportunity."Still, God provided admission to Andrews.He even reaffirmed her call two weeks before she left for Michigan.
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Sims said Penn knew she'd been working on a sermon for months.
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On Sabbath morning, Sims walked onto the rostrum with both the devotional thought and the prepared sermon.Tears fell during intercessory prayer, as she pleaded with God and decided to obey His will.The wooden podium dwarfed her five-foot frame as she began to reveal how God moved in her life.As she spoke, the Holy Spirit touched the heart of a visitor in the audience.The young man approached her after the service and sobbed into her shoulder.He told her God knew he needed to hear that message.As Sims hugged him, the Lord spoke again: "You see?You could have messed this up. . . . You are just the messenger."Sims continued to grow as a messenger for God as an undergraduate in the Theology Department at Andrews.She put her classroom knowledge to work at the Berrien Springs All Nations Seventh-day Adventist Church, where she found a willing mentor in (then) pastor, Walter Douglas.He allowed Sims to preach and create programs, including youth ministries events.There she became an ordained elder and learned more about church administration.The move to Berrien Springs also proved positive for her two older sons.
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Strongly feeling God's leading, Sims prayed and worked for nine months trying to find a way to take her children with her.Instead, God told her to trust Him-and His plans for her family.She first learned about mission opportunities in South Korea at the 2001 Lake Region Conference camp meeting.There she met Kenneth Yoo, then director of the Seventh-day Adventist Language Institutes.She filled out an information form and told him she'd be interested in going as a teacher in six years or so.
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"He called and e-mailed, and I would ignore him," Sims said.Again, God used her friends and prayer partners to nudge her toward His plan.They encouraged her to submit to God's plan and seek His guidance on where He wanted her to be.And in 2002, it seemed she ran into posters calling for volunteers to work in South Korea all over Andrews' campus.The posters began to impress her, Sims remembers."Jesus wants you in Korea," they seemed to shout pointedly at her.The text became three-dimensional, zooming off the page in 45-sized font, she said.
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In October 2003, months after earning her bachelor's degree in religion, Sims left for South Korea alone.Her sons stayed with family members.It angered her that God would ask her to leave her sons, especially when she saw missionaries with their families there.But God had lessons to teach her about ministry in South Korea.Sims honed her abilities as a teacher, instructing students of various skill levels in conversational English.Through those classes, she built friendships that enabled her to teach others about Christ."You've got to be friends with people first," she said.The relationships led people to listen to words about God from Sims, simply a teacher, and to attend church services.This lesson in relating to others was invaluable, and a perfect complement to Sims's next task in Korea.On-the-job TrainingSims assisted the pastoral team at an English-speaking church for seven weeks in South Korea.She participated in a variety of Bible studies and outreach activities.She even traveled to India to work with a tent evangelism series.The experience taught her to work among a variety of cultures and ethnic backgrounds, a lesson she'd started to learn on the Andrews University campus.The depth of her involvement during her time in Korea further honed these abilities.Sims decided against spending another year in Korea and returned to her hometown of Buffalo, New York, in October 2004, to reunite with her sons.She began working as a hospice nurse there.In 2006 she moved back to Syracuse to be closer to her youngest son.Sims now ministers to the physical and spiritual needs of hospice patients in the Syracuse area.She serves as an elder at the Mount Carmel church when not traveling to preach, and preaches at upstate New York churches in the Northeastern and New York conferences.
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Hrovat invited Sims to be the main speaker for the earliteens during the 2005 New York Conference camp meeting.
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Then and today, Sims refers to the prophet Amos's words for encouragement: "I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of the sycamore-fig trees.But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel'" (Amos 7:14, 15)."Amos said, ‘Look, I didn't ask for this,'" Sims said.She didn't either."I was minding my own business in Syracuse, directing my choir, and He came a-callin'," Sims explained.The responsibility of teaching people about God en masse and the administrative duties of a pastor are enough to turn people away from the position, she believes."If you're looking for this job of your own free will, you are crazy!"Sims said.Even so, Sims is secure in her calling.She believes her work as a hospice nurse will one day be replaced by full-time ministry."Now, when I speak the Word of God, I can't see me doing anything else," Sims said.