One Step at a Time: Discovering Who I Am and Where I Am Going

From Microbiology and Sales to Ministry, Education and Theological Formation

There are seasons in life when we seem to know exactly where we are going. There are other seasons when we can only see the next step.

Much of my journey has belonged to the second category.

Twenty-seven years ago, while I was in my final year studying microbiology at the Federal University of Technology Owerri, I had an encounter that I have never forgotten. I still remember where I was.

I would describe the experience as a vision, but what stands out to me today is not that it gave me a detailed map of my future. Rather, it confirmed something I had already been sensing for some time: my future path might not ultimately lie in the discipline I was studying.

I had begun to realize that my passions were not really in microbiology.

Yet I still had a year to complete.

So I completed it.

There was also the compulsory National Youth Service ahead of me.

So I completed that too.

I did not have the entire road mapped out. I simply learned to take one step at a time.

When Your Course of Study Is Not Your Calling

Looking back, perhaps the signs were already there.

During my university years, I had served in leadership positions in my department, in the Nigerian

Fellowship of Evangelical Students (NIFES), and in the Students' Union Government.

I found myself increasingly drawn to people, communication, leadership, service and Christian ministry.

Microbiology had given me an academic discipline, but it did not seem to be where my deepest interests and abilities were taking me.

At the time, however, I did not have a neat explanation for what was happening.

I simply knew that I needed to keep moving.

After my National Youth Service, I had a strong urge to return to school—this time to a Bible school. At the same time, I needed a job.

Then something happened that I have always regarded as more than mere coincidence.

I came across a Bible school.

I had already been sensing the need to return to school, and suddenly I encountered an opportunity that seemed to fit that emerging desire. I did not have every answer, but I recognized what appeared to be the next step.

So I took it.

At the same time, I needed employment. Since I had little passion for pursuing microbiology professionally, my job search increasingly focused on opportunities where I could use some of my other abilities, particularly communication and interpersonal skills.

That led me into sales.

And, interestingly, I did quite well.

Within about three years, I had risen to the position of Trade Marketing Manager.

From the outside, it might have looked as though I had found my career path.

But something else was happening.

While working in sales, I was also attending Bible school.

My professional career was progressing, but my theological formation was progressing alongside it.

Eventually, I earned a bachelor's degree in theology around the same period that I became a Trade Marketing Manager.

Then another opportunity appeared: postgraduate study in Religious Studies at Ekiti State University.

This time, I had a significant choice to make.

I could continue along the path that was already becoming successful in sales, or I could pursue the growing conviction that theological education and ministry were part of where my life was heading.

I chose Religious Studies.

And that decision became one of the major turning points in my journey.

The Journey Became Clearer One Step at a Time

From that point, my journey into ministry and education began to take shape.

I moved into education, first as a classroom teacher, then as a subject teacher and eventually as a college principal.

Later, another opportunity came to serve as a mission associate.

I accepted it.

After about three years, another opportunity brought me back into education—this time in a chaplaincy role.

I served there for about four years.

Then came another transition into church administration.

And from there came the opportunity I now have to serve in theological education as a lecturer in a seminary.

When I look back across all these seasons, the journey can appear complicated.

Microbiology.

Sales.

Theology.

Education.

Mission.

Chaplaincy.

Church administration.

Theological education.

But perhaps it is not as disconnected as it first appears.

Each season contributed something.

Microbiology taught me discipline and careful observation.

Sales developed communication, relationship-building and an understanding of people.

Education deepened my interest in teaching and developing others.

Mission exposed me to service beyond familiar boundaries.

Chaplaincy taught me something about presence, care and walking alongside people.

Church administration taught me about organization, responsibility and the practical realities of serving people and institutions.

Theological education now brings together many of those strands.

Perhaps the journey was not about abandoning one thing after another.

Perhaps it was about being formed through different experiences for whatever comes next.

I Still Don't Know the Whole Story

There is something else I have learned.

We often want calling to come with a complete blueprint.

We want to know:

Where am I going?

How will I get there?

What will happen next?

What will the final destination look like?

But my experience has rarely worked that way.

It has been one step at a time.

One opportunity.

One decision.

One transition.

One season.

Then another.

And even now, I cannot claim to know the entire destination.

I simply know that I am being moved towards something.

That realization has changed the way I understand calling.

Calling is not always about receiving a complete explanation of the future.

Sometimes it is about having enough light for the next step.

And That Brings Me to John

This is one reason the Gospel of John has become such a meaningful lens for thinking about leadership and life.

John's Gospel repeatedly draws our attention to the identity, mission and relationship of Jesus.

Jesus knows who He is.

He knows whose He is.

He knows what He has been sent to do.

And yet His leadership is not expressed through self-promotion.

It is expressed through service.

Through relationships.

Through teaching.

Through empowering others.

Through love.

And ultimately through leaving something that would continue beyond His earthly ministry.

That is the journey I want to explore in the series that follows:

Leading Like Jesus: Leadership Lessons from the Gospel of John.

But before we talk about how Jesus led, perhaps we should begin with a more fundamental question:

Who are we?

Because leadership does not begin with a position.

It begins with identity.

And that will be our next conversation.

A Question to Carry

Perhaps you are also somewhere between where you have been and where you believe you are going.

You may not have the complete picture.

You may even wonder why some parts of your journey seem unrelated.

But what if the question is not, "Do I understand the whole journey?"

What if the question is:

"What is the next faithful step?"

Sometimes, that is enough.

A Prayer

Lord, help me to trust You with the parts of my journey I do not yet understand. Give me wisdom to recognize the opportunities and responsibilities before me, courage to take the next faithful step, and patience not to demand tomorrow's answers today. May every season of my life contribute to the person You are forming me to become. Amen.

This post is part of the Leading Like Jesus series. Read the complete series on the Faith & Life page.