Committed to the Kingdom

| 2016-12-01 00:00:00 -0500

Through over two decades in ministry, the Schuberts have followed God’s call to various campus and ministry locations, experiencing His faithfulness through various seasons.

The Schubert family has faithfully served in ministry with Reliant for 25 years. Moving through the life stages of single, married, and having children, they’ve seen the faithfulness of the Lord to provide for their every need. Jenni Olowo, our field editor, took some time to learn what has made this ministry life sustainable for their family.

When did you and Collette go on staff? When did you get married?

I went on staff in the summer of 1992 after working for a couple of years after I graduated from college. I loved the impact the campus ministry at Penn State had on my life and knew I wanted to have an impact on the lives of others. I considered going on staff right out of college but wanted to first pursue something more in my degree. I continued to do campus ministry on evenings and weekends during the years that I worked a secular job. The limited time I was able to give to the campus ministry really showed me the benefit of being on full-time staff. There were also roles my pastor was doing that I knew I was more gifted in, so I desired to serve and take on some responsibilities to free him up to do more of his effective ministry.

Collette went on staff the summer of 1992 at Penn State. She came to know the Lord just before graduating college and worked a few years as well. We got married in January 1999, and we had been friends for those seven years on staff plus a few years before through the church. I like to call it our “Jacob and Rachel” story — we worked for seven years before falling in love and getting married.

Where are all the different places you’ve served and in what capacity?

Penn State was our first ministry location. I did a lot of administrative work and supporting the church there, as well as some personal discipleship. I began to grow and learn in different capacities as the church was expanding. Our second campus was Purdue. We were only there for six months until we moved to Michigan State University. Collette and I were a part of a church replant of the campus ministry. At small campus churches, everyone is doing everything, so I was involved again a lot in personal discipleship and administration. At that time I also had responsibilities within the Collegiate Leadership Training program (LT), which has always been a big part of my ministry responsibilities and life.

We then moved on to Ball State, where I had very similar roles but with increasing responsibility and skill sets. I found that I was getting better and better at these roles and was honing in on what works best at those campuses and for myself as an individual. I also realized what I was not as good at and didn’t focus on those areas as much anymore.

After a few years, we moved to Orlando, and I served in the Reliant office as national LT administrator. As some changes were made, I became the national events administrator. I was responsible for all the national events at the time. After living there for a few years, we moved back to Michigan State University, where we are now. I have been in a campus role for 8½ years. I also serve as Adirondack LT co-director.

When did children come into the picture, and how did that affect Collette’s roles?

While were were serving at Ball State, our oldest daughter was born, and we adopted her into our family. That was in 2003; Collette and I were 11 years into ministry and four years into marriage. Our other two daughters were welcomed into our family while we lived in Orlando: one through in-vitro fertilization and one by complete surprise!

Collette went part time once we got married in anticipation of starting a family and went further part time after our first daughter came along. She stayed in ministry in a part-time capacity for six years and then left ministry in a vocational way.

How has being a full-time missionary affected your family?

Having college students around all the time has positively impacted our girls; they’ve developed relationships with some who seem to be like older brothers to them. It has enriched their experience in life. Our oldest daughter has also benefitted from having women engaged in her life as well. We see that with college students, we are doing a lot of reparenting because of broken situations that they come from. As we hear their stories, we’ve made adjustments to how we parent our kids as well. I have figured out through 25 years of ministry how God has wired me and who I am in ministry, growing in the skills that I specifically can do.

Do you find it sustainable to be support-based with a family of five?

Well, we have made it through 25 years as support-based missionaries!

During our first move from Penn State (we were there for 3½ years) to Michigan State University, we had a great concern that many people partnered with us specifically because we served at Penn State. We wondered if they would continue to partner on our behalf. The reality was that very few people dropped off our team during our move. Our partners who were excited about Penn State had grown in their vision for reaching college students in general. In all of our moves, we’ve seen very few partners drop off as a result of changing campus locations.

We view ministry as a great opportunity to build relationships and a sense of trust with our partners. Right now I’m on a period of sabbatical, taking a break from all ministry work. I’ve communicated that to my partners going into it. Instead of seeing people dropping off, I’ve seen an increase in the amount of support. I have partners who have been with us for the entire 25 years. There is a faithful foundation of teammates that walk the journey with us and believe in what we are doing and trust us as missionaries. Collette has homeschooled the girls and hasn’t worked an income job for 11 years, and yet the Lord has met all our needs.

What is a piece of advice you’d give a new, young staff member just starting who has dreams of having a family and staying in ministry?

You and your spouse need to be convinced of what you want to do. You need to have perseverance, choosing when things look really difficult and you want to walk away to say you had a good reason to become a missionary and you’re going to stick throughs tough times. You will need to lean on those around you and remember the hard times do pass. God is our provider and sustainer. Be willing to take the risks and step out and trust God to provide and see how He does that. That’s what you have to do to go into ministry in the first place. Trust God with that area of your life; He is trustworthy.