Ariel McKinney
The Lord has graciously pursued me for as long as I can remember. He made me a “PK” and placed me in a family full of pastors, preachers, evangelists and worship leaders. As a result, I came to know of Him at a very young age. I served regularly in children’s ministry and worship from the time that I was 5 and I took on leadership roles in those ministries by the age of 12. Most of the time I enjoyed serving and somehow, He had miraculously turned my heart toward Him in my younger years.
However, by my second semester of college at Texas A&M University, I found myself living a lifestyle of sin. I continued to serve in church and in a Christian organization on campus but in those days, I was drawn more to worldly mindsets than Him. I knew He was good, but the desires of my heart seemed better. I had fallen so deep into idolatry and addiction that I felt like I was stuck in quicksand. Over time, God removed the veil from my eyes and three years later, the Lord allowed me to see Him more clearly and called me to Himself.
After graduating from college in 2016, I went on to work as an investigator for Child Protective Services for three and a half years. The Lord was quite kind to me in that season and it was a sweet time in my life. In 2018, I felt led to start seminary at Houston Theological Seminary (Houston Baptist University), where I received my Masters in Theological Studies in May of 2020. Shortly after, the Lord called me here to Stonegate, and what a gift this church has been to me!
My hope for Stonegate is that we would continue to be a place where people can be known by each other and still be loved, discipled and well cared for. I pray that we are never comfortable in our sin, but are quick to repent and be reconciled to both God and one another.