PINEVILLE, Ky. (KT) – Donovan Humbert was wrestling internally about what he was supposed to do with his life.
Humbert was 26 and married with three children under 3 years old. He had a high-paying job. Life was supposed to be good. But he was wrestling with God.
He had questions. He had been baptized when he was 12 at a non-denominational church and had grown up Catholic.
“I thought being baptized saved me, but I knew the Lord had something he wanted to do through me,” Humbert said. “I just didn’t know what.”
He was a chimneysweep and living around where seminary students were coming through. He ran into Bro. Harrison, who he said “threw these different things on me, from Tulip to Calvinism. From that point I really wanted to know if I could wholeheartedly say if I died, would I see the Lord? I went and got into the Bible and then came across a video from Gospel Clarity. He connected with me. He had a Buddhist single mother, a rough childhood. He preached with reverence and brought me to tears actually.”
From that point on, Humbert said he began seeing the scriptures differently.
“Being in John after the feeding of the 5,000, where he asked the Lord, ‘Where would you have me to go?’ After I had seen that quote in the scripture, a man who was Jewish at the time fall before the Lord and trusted Him completely, I couldn’t say no. That night I got down on my knees and asked, ‘What would you have me to do? I’m still wrestling but I know I’m following him now.”
About five years ago, Humbert began attending Crestwood Baptist Church and Pastor Barry Jeffries saw a young man who was being called into the ministry. The struggle was real. Humbert confided in his pastor.
“I asked him, ‘How do you know for sure this is what the Lord is calling you to do?’” Humbert said. “He said the only thing I could tell you is that it was the only way I could fill a hole in my heart, the only thing that could satisfy it.”
The Humberts were in a Life Group that the pastor and his wife taught. Donovan began reaching out to him in texts and emails. “I felt like the Lord was dealing with him, calling him into ministry,” Jefferies said. “I wasn’t surprised by that. Like a lot of others, they try to convince themselves that’s not what God is doing. We wanted to be available to them in an extended way. He has a very inquisitive mind and he’s very evangelistic. He wants people to know Christ. Donovan has a hunger for the word. It was time for him to step out in faith.”
Pastor Jefferies and his wife met with Humbert and his wife and talked more. The pastor told him he had two options – The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary or Clear Creek Baptist Bible College which would mean uprooting his life and career.
“When he said it to me that way, it took me until I got home,” Humbert said. “I prayed and looked more through scripture and checking out the colleges. I had decided to apply online and visited the campus (at Clear Creek). I told God, ‘You make it work. I’m there.’’’
Jefferies is a graduate of Clear Creek and his daughter, son-in-law and 1-year-old grandchild is on campus. He is on the board of trustees at the college. “We love Clear Creek and when Donovan and Darby (his wife) were praying, we wanted them to visit Clear Creek. Once you get on that campus, it’s one of the most special places in the world.”
Humbert found that to be true with the first glimpse of the campus being simply breathtaking. The wrestling was over. They were home and with tuition and room and board paid with the help of a Kentucky Baptist Convention Calling Out the Called Scholarship. He’s working in the school’s technology department and his thirst for scripture has only become stronger.
“Until I truly received the Holy Spirit, I wasn’t ready to act,” he said. “I left a six-figure salary for this. Money doesn’t buy anything. The hardest thing was when I told her about all this, she was ready to go. She was going to miss her dogs but once we found a home for them, she was ready. We do have three kids – 3, 18 months and 6 months. It’s a blessing, it really is. Never a dull moment.”
The real blessing for Humbert, who is a sophomore, is feasting daily on God’s word in a picturesque setting at Clear Creek Baptist Bible College.
“I love it,” he said. “A lot of people said it’s God’s Country and I believe it,” he said. “I really love the fact that everyone believes in God down here.”
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