Boy, 11, Leads Church As Ordained Minister

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Just last month, Ezekiel Stoddard, 11, of Temple Hills, Md., was ordained as a minister in his family's independent Pentecostal church, where his parents are also pastors.

Stoddard said he was motivated to become a minister after God spoke to him in a dream and told him to read Psalm 23. "God gave me that particular scripture because a lot of people, they try to draw you away from the lord, trying to get you on the wrong path," he said.

"People come to you, they ask you questions about why you should act like a child and not a minister," the young minister said. "I do things like a child, but still I am a minister. I am an evangelical."

Stoddard was ordained in a congregation-wide ceremony on May 6, with his parents leading the service.

His mother, Pastor Adrienne Smith, says her son preaches the 11 a.m. service with the other preachers at the Fullness of Time Church, a small but growing congregation in Capitol Heights, Md.

He has also preached at churches around the Maryland region. "He can go to the bible and pull a text and prepare a sermon. That's in his heart," she says. "That's how he feels about the ministry, about Jesus, about the community." Smith says she is confident in her son's abilities to lead a congregation, regardless of his age.

"He's had time to study, he knows a lot of scripture, he knows the 10 Commandments, the stories. He does childlike things, but when it comes to the word of God, he studies, he prepares."

Minister Ezekiel, nicknamed "Zeek" by his family, said that he doesn't feel like there should be an age limit to how old a minister needs to be before becoming ordained. "A lot of people think of me being a kid, that my parents are forcing me to minister the gospel," he said. "But the first time I did a sermon, I was 7 or 8."

"There's a seriousness about Minister Ezekiel," his mother said. "He knows it's not about him. It's about ministry. Wherever he goes, they say, 'That's the little preacher there.'" Stoddard is homeschooled by his mother, along with three other siblings. His mother says he spends at least three to four hours a day studying the Bible.

He names basketball, tennis, and going to the movies among his hobbies outside the church. He and his brother also have a landscaping business.
He said he plans on being a minister his entire life.

The cases of children becoming ordained as ministers is unusual, said Richard Balmer, professor of American religious history at Dartmouth college and an Episcopal priest.

"It's usually a novelty sort of thing," he said. "What happens in evangelical circles is that a congregation has the power to ordain anyone that it wants really. So if they take a liking to this guy and they think that he is talented and gifted and worthy, then that person can be ordained."

Balmer said the idea of ordaining a child is unusual because the ministry is viewed as a professional calling. "Just as you don't have 11-year-old lawyers, or 11-year-old positions, there's a general sense that you need a certain maturity in order to function effectively in that role," he said.

"There have been child preachers through the decades, and more than one of them has grown up to be quite embittered by the experience and turned away from the faith," said Balmer. "I think that's a cautionary tale to anyone who wants to rush in and be ordained."
 
Wow. This child will be in my prayers. As I read this I couldnt believe an 11 year old was speaking that way. God bless him to continue his journey with God and not stray.
 
I am highly disturbed by this.

Too many people are being labled ministers etc these days. (We are all ministers of reconciliation but Im talking about the "church position" of a minister). Ministering to people is SERIOUS and calls for putting away childish things...being mature etc. I believe this baby can be mature for HIS AGE but not mature enough to lead adults. We have to be seriously refined by God before we are fit to Lead others and one major way that God does this is through trials. They teach us patience, bring out good character (if we let them) and give us experience. This baby ain't seen nothing yet. He hasnt even hit puberty!

I believe that his passion for God should be taken seriously and nurtured but that he not be given a mantal that he is not fit for. And yes I am basing this on his age alone. Let him lead the younger children in ministry but being over a church? Naw son. And I agree with the person in the article that said there is a reason we dont let children do certain things/jobs. I dont care how much of a child prodigy you are...you are not about to operate on me!

I think there are too many people these days who are calling themselves something they are not...or are having positions when they have not been tried by fire (and approved). Just because you can sing doesnt mean you are spiritually fit to lead praise & worship...just because you are eloquent doesnt mean you should speak over the people...just because you have the gift of prophecy does not mean that you should sit in the office of a prophet! There are so many people being lead astray by false doctrines/teachers...and you can have a legitmate calling but be out of time/order.

I will keep this baby in my prayers.
 
CoilyFields said:
I am highly disturbed by this.

Too many people are being labled ministers etc these days. (We are all ministers of reconciliation but Im talking about the "church position" of a minister). Ministering to people is SERIOUS and calls for putting away childish things...being mature etc. I believe this baby can be mature for HIS AGE but not mature enough to lead adults. We have to be seriously refined by God before we are fit to Lead others and one major way that God does this is through trials. They teach us patience, bring out good character (if we let them) and give us experience. This baby ain't seen nothing yet. He hasnt even hit puberty!

I believe that his passion for God should be taken seriously and nurtured but that he not be given a mantal that he is not fit for. And yes I am basing this on his age alone. Let him lead the younger children in ministry but being over a church? Naw son. And I agree with the person in the article that said there is a reason we dont let children do certain things/jobs. I dont care how much of a child prodigy you are...you are not about to operate on me!

I think there are too many people these days who are calling themselves something they are not...or are having positions when they have not been tried by fire (and approved). Just because you can sing doesnt mean you are spiritually fit to lead praise & worship...just because you are eloquent doesnt mean you should speak over the people...just because you have the gift of prophecy does not mean that you should sit in the office of a prophet! There are so many people being lead astray by false doctrines/teachers...and you can have a legitmate calling but be out of time/order.

I will keep this baby in my prayers.

I was thinking the same thing. I was saved as a child and knew the Word better than many adults but I was not ready when temptation hit me. I strayed hard and it took many years to get back. Plus if he is being home schooled he has no idea what the world is really like. We are told to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. Wisdom requires growth and experience. He is still so young. Lets not forget that even the Lord Jesus didn't start his ministry until he was an adult and had been tempted. Jesus is the ultiimate example and someone should have reminded these people of this. I happen to know a couple right now with a 10 year old and they are letting him go speak at churches..
 
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I was thinking the same thing. I was saved as a child and knew the Word better than many adults but I was not ready when temptation hit me. I strayed hard and it took many years to get back. Plus if he is being home schooled he has no idea what the world is really like. We are told to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. Wisdom requires growth and experience. He is still so young. Lets not forget that even the Lord Jesus didn't start his ministry until he was an adult and had been tempted. Jesus is the ultiimate example and someone should have reminded these people of this. I happen to know a couple right now with a 10 year old and they are letting him go speak at churches..

This is very true. Gifting and maturity do not necessarily go together and it can be very easy to confuse the two.
 
Maybe the maturity bit is taken care of by him deferring to those other ministers of age? Jesus also taught in the synagogue as a child, of authority. Yet, he deferred to his parents. He also had teachers but He was able to teach them. As long as he's got authority above him which is lead by maturity, I don't seen too much of a problem if he's been called (for those sects). In other religions, there are also children of great spirituality. I think they all are recognized for what they possess but that they likewise defer to a greater, more mature authority in protection.
 
Maybe the maturity bit is taken care of by him deferring to those other ministers of age? Jesus also taught in the synagogue as a child, of authority. Yet, he deferred to his parents. He also had teachers but He was able to teach them. As long as he's got authority above him which is lead by maturity, I don't seen too much of a problem if he's been called (for those sects). In other religions, there are also children of great spirituality. I think they all are recognized for what they possess but that they likewise defer to a greater, more mature authority in protection.

Hmm...I don't think Jesus was teaching. It says he was found in the temple among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Those listening to Him were very impressed with His understanding. But He was not acting in or put into a position of authority over them.

Later, as an adult, the religious leaders were impressed that He taught with authority because He had never studied with them, but it wasn't an age thing.

I don't have an issue with the child, as God speaks clearly to children and age has nothing to do with whether God has called you. But there still is a distinction between the gifts and calling that God places within a person and when one is set up in an office to lead God's people. And I think it's good to recognize that.
 
Hmm...I don't think Jesus was teaching. It says he was found in the temple among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Those listening to Him were very impressed with His understanding. But He was not acting in or put into a position of authority over them.

Later, as an adult, the religious leaders were impressed that He taught with authority because He had never studied with them, but it wasn't an age thing.

I don't have an issue with the child, as God speaks clearly to children and age has nothing to do with whether God has called you. But there still is a distinction between the gifts and calling that God places within a person and when one is set up in an office to lead God's people. And I think it's good to recognize that.


Depends upon how you see it.

http://www.shema.com/commentaries/Mark/Mark_1-21-45.php


Becoming bar mitzvah would have made him a "man" ... but he was still young. I'm not sure if his first sermon was at age 15 or not...but he must have read from the Torah often. As protestants don't follow that successive tradition, you have little ones such as this with a message to give. Isn't this little kid under authority, though? Is it the teaching or that he's called a minister that is troubling?
 
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