Trey Sharp was ordained to the ministry at Hutchinson Church in Hutchinson, Kansas, on Sabbath, Jan. 12.
Austin Sharp, Sharp’s brother, presented Sharp’s background, while Ron Carlson, conference president, gave the message and ordination prayer. Virgil Covel, ministerial director, read the ordination charge and Carlson presented Sharp with his ordination certificate.
God’s guiding
Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Sharp grew up in an Adventist family. He and his brother enjoyed the blessings of loving parents, Adventist education and summer youth camp. After high school Sharp went to Union College and graduated with a BS in business administration in 2004.
During and after college, Sharp worked at Adventist summer camps, which is where his interest in ministry was first awakened. But his route to pastoral ministry first took him through teaching. He taught and coached sports in several Adventist academies, then earned a master’s degree in education from Andrews University in 2010.
Following his time at Andrews, Sharp was called to work in the Texas Conference as a full-time youth pastor. While it wasn’t where he thought he was headed, he accepted the challenge and discovered that his interest in ministry was most fully realized in the pastoral role. After three years the Texas Conference sent him back to Andrews University to earn his Master of Divinity degree, which he graduated with in 2016.
After graduation, he was surprised to find God wasn’t sending him back to Texas. Instead God opened the way for him to serve as pastor of the Hutchinson and McPherson district in Kansas. His ministry role was later expanded to include the Great Bend Church as well.
During his time in Texas, Sharp met his wife, Cherryl, an international student in the MBA program at Southwestern Adventist University. Their common interest in business was a great beginning to their relationship.
After dating long distance for several years, Sharp and Cherryl were married in Surabaya, Indonesia, in February 2018. They spent much of their honeymoon on a tour of the Holy Land with the pastors of the Kansas-Nebraska Conference.
Pastor Sharp loves his family and friends who have supported him in his journey of faith. He thanks God every day for the blessing of knowing Jesus. He is passionate about sharing the love of Jesus with others through relationships, worship and the study of God’s word. He looks forward to a life of expanding ministry and learning more about multicultural missions.
