Former youth pastor now head pastor of First Christian Church in Beardstown
By David Blanchette
C.J. Monroe has discovered that you don’t tell God “no.” “I have learned that after the second or third time of telling God ‘no’ that He says ‘challenge accepted’ and I end up doing it,” Monroe said. “So I’ve learned how to say, ‘God, I would prefer not to do that, but if it’s Your will, I’ll do it.”
The 36-year-old Monroe has been the pastor of First Christian Church in Beardstown since May 6, following four-and-a-half years as the middle school pastor at Jacksonville’s First Christian Church. Monroe’s life has taken numerous turns as God has given him unexpected answers to his requests.
Monroe’s father was in the U.S. Air Force for 26 years, and after C.J. was born in Rapid City, South Dakota, the family moved to a different part of the United States every three or four years. That made it difficult for Monroe as a kid since he had to make a new set of friends every couple of years.
“As a kid I remember telling God that I didn’t want to be in the military or the ministry because both professions involved moving around a lot,” Monroe said.
When his father retired in Lubbock, Texas, Monroe finally felt he could establish roots. He lived there for 14 years and attended high school in the community. Monroe was active in his church’s youth ministry but wanted to grow more in his faith journey, so his youth pastor challenged Monroe to lead a small youth group alongside a more experienced college student. Monroe did that for a few years until the church hired an additional youth pastor.
“The boys that I had been leading were starting to get into high school, and without telling me they talked with the youth pastor about how much I had challenged them and changed their faith journeys,” Monroe said. “He offered to hire me as a youth pastor intern and I said, ‘no, save that for somebody who actually wants to be in the ministry.’ And he said, ‘I don’t want somebody who wants to be in the ministry, I want somebody who has a heart for seeing youth changed.’”
At the time Monroe was attending college to become a high school chemistry teacher and supporting himself by working nights as a hotel auditor. He went to school during the day, worked at night and served as a youth pastor intern on the weekends. Monroe averaged about four hours of sleep per night for a year and a half except from Sunday afternoon through Monday, where “I would sleep, literally, almost 24 hours. I had zero extra time.”
During that time Monroe became inspired by a Bible passage in 1 Samuel where God called a young Samuel into the ministry.
“I went into the youth pastor and said, ‘this is really crazy but I feel like God is calling me to full-time ministry,’” Monroe said. “And he replied, ‘I already knew that. I told everybody else on staff that you were going to be in full-time ministry some day.’”
Monroe served his home church as a youth pastor intern and then a middle school associate pastor for five years before God called him to Washington, D.C. to help establish a church there and get its youth ministry started. The Waterfront Church, as it was called, didn’t have the money to pay Monroe’s salary so he had to fundraise to support himself.
“My original plan was to fundraise and work there for a year and decide what to do after that,” Monroe said. “But God ended up providing the funding for me to continue working there for three-and-a-half years until he called me to do something else.”
That something else was work as a Bible teacher at a private Christian middle school, and Monroe met his wife Kirsten during that time when his former pastor helped to set them up on a date. The couple soon talked of marriage, but Kirsten lived in Illinois and she and C.J. had to decide where they would live after the wedding.
“I prayed about it and was very sure that she was going to have to move to the east coast,” Monroe said. “But as soon as I started praying, I knew God was calling me to move to Illinois.”
The young couple moved to Illinois and C.J., who was without a job, got an interview at First Christian Church in Jacksonville. He spent the next four-and-a-half years as the church’s middle school pastor, and by that time had ministered to that age group for 15 years. Monroe wanted to move farther along in his ministry service and prayed to God for guidance.
Shane Allen, the lead pastor of Jacksonville’s First Christian Church, told Monroe about his father, Jamie Allen, who had been filling in as interim pastor at First Christian Church in Beardstown. Shane Allen suggested that Monroe would be a good fit as minister in the Beardstown church.
“Originally I said no, I didn’t want to move that close, that wasn’t the role for me,” Monroe said.
Soon thereafter Monroe officiated at a wedding in Jacksonville and one of the search committee members for the Beardstown church, Rich Eckert, happened to be there. Eckert liked what he saw at the wedding and asked if Monroe would consider applying for the Beardstown position.
Monroe’s first day as the minister of Beardstown’s First Christian Church was May 6.
Does it seem odd that every time Monroe told God no, that the reply was not what he expected?
“We find humor in that, but it is also humbling that God speaks directly to me and He reminds me on a daily basis that my plans are not my own,” Monroe said.
Monroe said he ministers to his congregation by providing what they need the most during these troubling times, authenticity and love. Whenever people have a question about how to respond to the world around them, Monroe asks the question: “What does the Bible say about that? And if they don’t know, I tell them let’s look it up and then we can talk more about it,” he said.
C.J. and Kirsten have a daughter, Lila, and P.J., a son. C.J. is interested in reading, video games and other things that tell a story because God communicates through stories.
“The Bible is written like a big story for us to engage with, and it’s a true story,” Monroe said. “It is fantastical but truth is often stranger than fiction.”
Monroe’s story is also unusual, and as he looks back on his life he marvels about how that story has unfolded.
“My vision was certainly never to leave Texas and go live in Washington, DC, then leave the east coast to live in Illinois,” Monroe said. “I have no idea what God has in store for us, but I have this crazy feeling that God is going to keep me in Illinois for quite a long time. I’ve been really good at going when He tells me to go, and now it’s faith in staying when He tells me to stay.”
