Hi my name is Peyton Houston and this is my second year working in student ministry. It all started when I was in 11th grade at Booneville highschool. My baseball coach, John Sandlin asked me to speak at the school’s FCA one week early in the first semester. One week turned into the majority of the school year, and by the end I was the student leader over FCA at Booneville. Senior year rolled around and we began to grow, and grow fast. We went from averaging 10 to averaging 50 plus by the time graduation came. I was learning to lead under supervision as well as invest in a younger student that would take over the following year after I left. I am proud to say that FCA has continued to grow and a new team of student leaders are over it. Last I heard they average 180-200 weekly. At this time I also began leading a small group on Sunday mornings at my home church, but only as a volunteer. I spoke at various churches, youth events, even filled in for a couple preachers my first year of college. Fast forward a few years to today and this is how God is currently using my ministry. I work part time at East Booneville Baptist Church in Boonevile, Mississippi. I felt like I needed to be in the ministry as a career, not just on a voluntary basis, the summer of 2018 and a job became available January 2019 at my home church and I applied. I felt this was a way of God confirming to me that this was the role which he wanted me to serve Him. God has blessed me in ways I never even imagined was possible. Most importantly we have seen souls saved for eternity and relationships with God begin to grow and flourish. Our attendance has gone up from 12-15 to 40 plus on Wednesday nights! It is so much fun having relationships with these students as well as serve God all at the same time. God has given me a great platform through basketball and now being one of the youth ministers at East Booneville. He has also blessed me in my personal life. I met the most beautiful girl inside and out, Ashley Moore, over the summer and her little girl, Briella. We are now engaged and have our wedding set for April 2021! I never imagined life could be this good! This is the overall summary of my life now and how I gradually worked myself into student ministry. I want to take this blog from various angles over this semester and break down my experiences in ministry to the smallest the details.

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.