In 1998, Scott Ferguson wasn’t supposed to be at FOLLOW, a Wesleyan youth conference. His family couldn’t afford the trip, and attending felt out of reach. But his youth pastor stepped in and told him, “If you’ll prioritize this, we’ll find a way to send you.” Scott decided to serve anywhere the youth group needed him, and his church pulled together and helped support his trip to FOLLOW. A few weeks after expressing interest in going, he climbed into a car full of students headed to Cincinnati, unaware that the trip would change his life forever.
“I have so many vivid memories of that event,” Scott said. “There were usual youth group pranks, I remember my youth pastor joking with me … and then it all came together in this moment where the Spirit called me to ministry. I was glued to my seat, and the next thing I knew, I was walking forward, saying ‘Yes.’” When he returned to his seat, his youth pastor hugged him and whispered, “I’ve known this since the day I met you.”
That night everything changed. Scott had once dreamed of becoming an architect and driving a Porsche. But God intersected his life and “instead,” he says with a smile, “I became a pastor. And I definitely don’t drive a Porsche.”
Scott didn’t grow up in church. The first time he ever attended was in eighth grade, after his mom finally gave in to a co-worker’s persistent invitation. “It felt random at the time,” he said, “but it’s why I believe in the power of evangelism. That one invitation changed my whole life.”
A year and a half later, he sensed God’s call at FOLLOW. As a first-generation Christian, he had no framework for knowing what that meant. “None of it made sense to me yet. But I knew I had to say yes.”
That “yes” didn’t immediately turn into visible ministry. Through high school, Scott was wrapped up in drumline and academics. After his youth pastor transitioned into another role, Scott drifted for a while. It wasn’t until a friend invited him to visit Indiana Wesleyan University that he found himself taking real steps toward living into the call. He applied just weeks before move-in day, thanks in part to Roger Alcock, who happened to give him a campus tour on his day off. “Roger wasn’t even supposed to be there,” Scott remembers. “But he said yes to giving a tour and saw something in me that led him to advocate for me to get in, even though I didn’t have the grades for it. God’s fingerprints were all over it.”
Years later, Scott spent nearly two decades in youth ministry, carrying his FOLLOW story with him and inviting students not just to consider a call to ministry, but to try it on: to practice ministering and living alongside the church, and see how it fit.
He and his wife opened their home every weekend for students to hang out and build community. Scott created space for students to preach, lead worship and serve Sunday mornings at Youth Church. “Out of just a couple of graduating classes, eight or nine students went into ministry,” said Scott. “Some are pastors, some are worship leaders, some are children’s directors. They told us later, ‘We just wanted to live the kind of life we saw in our church: a life given away to serve others.’”
Like most pastors, Scott’s journey hasn’t been an uninterrupted ascent; it’s included seasons of heartbreak, grief and loss. As COVID shifted Scott’s schedule, he had some time to process: to grieve his dad’s passing and to spend time at home with his daughter that helped him heal. “Grief and loss have been such a part of my story,” he shared. “But God has reshaped me through them. I wouldn’t have the tools I do now if it weren’t for those hard seasons.”
Withstanding those hard seasons has been (in no small part) possible because of the commitment Scott made in 1998 to serve the church, and the subsequent support, encouragement and challenge that came from congregations who loved him toward healthy ministry.
As FOLLOW 2026 approaches, Scott’s story reminds us of what can happen when students carve out time to purposefully listen for the Spirit. “FOLLOW has been that space for me and for countless others,” he said. “It’s where God calls, equips and sends. I don’t know that I’d be a pastor without FOLLOW.”
For more stories of hope and holiness, visit wesleyan.org/news.
Make plans to join us December 28-31, 2026, in Cincinnati, Ohio, for FOLLOW Conference ‘26 as Next Gen Wesleyans gather to encounter and experience Jesus and share his love with others.
Rev. Ethan Linder is the pastor of discipleship at College Wesleyan Church in Marion, Indiana, and contributing editor at The Wesleyan Church’s Education and Clergy Development Division.
