Helping Kids Take One Step Closer to God

In 2022 Rev. Kayla Maedche stood on the stage before the parishioners of Journey Church Assembly of God in Minot, North Dakota.

As the youth minister for the past seven years, Rev. Maedche, '13, gave a history lesson on the ancient Greek city of Pergamum and its record of paganism and how the Pergamum church lost its way.

She stood at the lectern occasionally looking down at her notes. She was comfortable, secure. It was more of a conversation than a lecture. Throughout the talk she sprinkled humorous personal anecdotes all with the intention of bringing home the idea of clarity of hope.

“I don’t know what your mountain or your struggle is today,” Rev. Maedche said. “I don’t know what situation threatens to weaken your faith or to diminish or shift the focus of your faith. But let me encourage you. Don’t let your focus settle on the enormous mountain that maybe before you. Because I don’t want you to miss the hope that God is infinitely even more enormous. Don’t give up hope in the one who is our ultimate hope.”

But the transformation of the experienced, compassionate and confident public speaker didn’t begin so easily for the Bismarck, North Dakota native.

In prayer each day and in moments of reflection, she opened her heart and let God speak to her. Where that would lead her, she didn’t know.

She left that up to God’s guidance.

It all began when she toured the campus in high school and was comforted by how friendly the people were. “I remember leaving and saying to my mom and dad I ‘m going to UMary.”

Being Christian, but not sharing the Catholic faith, was not an issue for the broad-minded student. “I just I kind of stepped into it saying Lord I know that I'm supposed to be here, and I know that I'm not Catholic, but I respect that they choose to be Catholic and whatever they ask of me like I will participate. People weren't trying to tear my faith down as I learned here, but that we could learn together and pray for each other. I knew that my school and the environment of the school loved Jesus and recognizes Jesus as Lord. That's what mattered to me.”

In her junior year she went on her first mission trip with Bismarck Evangel Assembly of God Church in 2012 traveling to a small Alaskan town north of the Artic Circle. The community of Kotzebue, which is without sunlight between the months of October and March, was inflicted with depression, alcoholism and a suicide rate well above the national average.

Anxious and excited about the mission and unaware of her hidden talent to connect with the youth, a nervous and insecure Rev. Maedche was willing to learn and be supportive.

“Before, I was terrified to work with children,” Rev. Maedche said. “I thought ‘I’m going to hide in the corner during this time’ because I thought the kids really didn’t like me.’ I liked them, but I didn’t have the special skills it takes to work with them and when we got up there God completely flipped that on me.”

The experience revealed how she could take her passion for teaching and use it to spread God’s work around the world.

“We just went to love on the people up there and shared Jesus,” Rev. Maedche said. “I just loved those children so much. Working with the youth was great and was so much fun too, but my heart broke for those kids.”

The mission trip propelled Rev.Maedche to become more involved with the children and youth ministry program at Evangel Church. During her senior year she student taught at Shiloh Christian School.

On her second mission trip, Rev. Maedche traveled to Chile where she was able to teach Bible study to the children.

“It was neat because I finally got to use everything that I had learned with my degree in a practical application,” Rev. Maedche said. “So, we're there and the Lord spoke to me. There was a Bible verse that he pointed me to, and it literally just hit me in the face. It was from Psalm 57:8 and it just says simply ‘I will awaken the dawn’. And I’m looking at that going ‘Lord what does the dawn look like?’. Well, ‘It's a new day, it's new life.’ I'm like oh my gosh the Lord is calling me to impact children.”

After graduating summa cum laude, she applied to several schools as a social studies teacher.

“I started applying to schools with different history jobs and the door kept closing. I couldn't figure out why. I had a great resume. Why am I not getting a job as a teacher? I had great references.”

When God closes a door, he opens a window.

Weeks went by. Then came a phone call from the youth pastor at Bismarck Evangel Church. “He called me and said ‘hey you've been on my mind I want you to be my intern. I want to teach you everything I know about kids.’  I interned for nine months, and the pastor ended up leaving because he was needed at another church.”

She was eventually hired as the church’s director of youth ministry, but self-doubt remained.

“I remember him (God) speaking to me very clearly and said Kayla you don't have to prove to anybody that you know what you're doing. You just have to trust me. And that's been my life model in ministry; just leading and teaching kids ever since then. So, the church ended up hiring me and I was there full time and got ordained as a pastor.”

After more than two years in Bismarck, Rev. Maecdhe joined the staff at Journey Church Assembly of God in Minot to reestablish the youth ministry curriculum and create discipleship leadership program for 5th-8th grade youngsters.

“Someone needs to champion them,” Rev. Maedche said. “I’m helping kids take one step closer to God.”

Over the next decade, Rev.Maedche went on 12 more mission trips traveling the world to work with children in such locales as Chile, Spain, Kenya, and Kolkata, India (formerly Calcutta), Austria, and Dominican Republic. The missions would include street evangelism, youth Bible school and construction projects. On her Kenya mission Rev. Maedche helped organize a kids ministry conference and instruct church leaders how to develop youth ministry for their churches.

Her overseas mission work has made a lasting impression.

“I came home from the (Spain) trip, and I started praying. ‘God is this what you want me to do? You showed me these things for a reason.’ I don't believe that it was just like this whim thing. I don't believe that it was my imagination because of how these things (came about).

I began to pray and ask ‘Is it now? Is this where you want me?’ So, when I had that answer and felt like it was a confirmed yes, then I began to have conversations with my pastor and said I feel like I'm being led into missions.”

These days Rev. Maedche has downsized her life and returned to Bismarck, living back home with her parents as she prepares for her life overseas.

“I know that faith is bigger than what I see, what I feel,” Rev. Maedche said.  “I know that God's going to provide for me in ways that I can't provide for myself. If I'm willing to trust him and it takes the burden off. I'm just saying, ‘God here I am I just want to serve’. And so, whatever you want to do is with my hands, I'm here. That's giving me confidence just to say I know who I am in Christ and that's all that matters. I still feel unequipped a lot and that's kept me humble.”

As she waits for her next mission trip, Rev. Maedche is a volunteer chaplain with the North Dakota wing of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). While in Minot she earned her private pilot’s license and became aware of the CAP cadet program. The cadets, ages 12-21, participate in a 16-step program introducing them to aerospace education, leadership training and moral leadership.

“I'm finding myself in this teacher mode, it feels right,” Rev. Maedche said. “I get to minister to these cadets they may never know that I'm ministering to them, but I get to do this for them. It’s a good way for me to share my faith in a secular environment and to be a positive influence in students. It's an honor.”