Finding your God-given purpose may not be easy, but it is worth it.

So says Pastor Terence Stovell, the leader of Better Covenant Christian Fellowship, who admitted it took him nearly 15 years and a number of career changes before settling into his role in the church.

“My career journey started at age 17, when I went to Bermuda College to study bookkeeping,” said Mr Stovell, a guest speaker at the upcoming 2019 Empowerment Conference entitled ‘God is My Source’, happening next weekend. “I’ll never forget it, I went to the first class and it wasn’t long before I realised it wasn’t for me.

“At that time everyone was pursuing business-related careers because of the boom in the banking and insurance sectors, but after leaving college I decided to go straight into the workforce and worked at the telephone company for eight years.

“After that, I realised I was called to work with people, so I became a prison officer and the motivation behind that was to help the guys who were incarcerated. I was there for a couple of years until I decided to become a firefighter and then eventually went back to school at age 32 to become a pastor.”

Mr Stovell will take the podium at Heritage Worship Centre in Hamilton next Saturday to minister on the topic of ‘Steams of Income — Living Under an Open Heaven’. His session at the 2019 Empowerment Conference, hosted by Saphire Faith International Ministries, will educate people on why it doesn’t always matter so much how much money or wealth you have, but rather why you have it and what you do with it.

“The late Dr Miles Munroe wrote a great deal about man’s divine purpose and he made this statement that ‘Everything in life has a purpose, but not every purpose is known. And where purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable’,” Mr Stovell explained. “At next weekend’s conference I will be talking about how we can live a life of true purpose and find our calling.”

The son of a pastor, Mr Stovell grew up attending church and was raised with “strong Christian principles”. As a teen, he remembers loving to hear the word of God preached — which in hindsight was a clear early indication that he was called to be in full-time ministry.

“My father would always say ‘you’re going to be the preacher of the family’. I guess he saw something of himself in me. It was something I recognised as well, but it took me some time to actually follow through with it,” he said. “It was scary leaving a full time job to go to school to become a pastor. I had a wife and two children, and while I was confident in my direction that didn’t take away from the nerves involved in the process.”

He came back to Bermuda in 1995; a year later he started Better Covenant Christian Fellowship.

Mr Stovell’s advice to anyone looking to find their calling or the true meaning to their life is to develop an up-to-date relationship and fellowship with God. They should also consider what their natural desire and affinity is towards. “Think of the thing you don’t have to work at or force your way, the thing you do naturally. When you dream, what is it you think of organically? That often leads you to discover your purpose.”

The 2019 Empowerment Conference includes two free church services happening on Friday, August 23 at 7.30pm and Sunday, August 25 at 6.30pm featuring international guest speaker Dr Kenneth Robinson (Pastor of DreamLife Worship Centre in Maryland).

Next Saturday, there will also be economic empowerment sessions from Mr Stovell and several other guest speakers, happening from 9.30am until 3pm. Representatives from Bermuda Economic Development Corporation will be present to share about information and resources available to entrepreneurs on the Island. The Saturday line-up will be the only paid portion of the event.

• For tickets and pricing information, visit www.ptix.com. An early-bird ticket special, $99 including lunch, is happening from now until Tuesday.