Have you ever had your plans all set? You knew where you were going and how you would get there. You knew who was going along for the ride. Your road was straight, no turns ahead. Stephen Pritchett was traveling that road. He was about to graduate with a degree in business from Mississippi State, he was engaged to his childhood sweetheart and he had been working, while going to college, with a company that was sure to hire him for management training as soon as he graduated. The only unknown—where the company would send him for his first assignment as a trainee?

The career that had seemed a sure thing—didn’t happen. Stephen found out, just as his plans were supposed to come together, that God had a different plan for his life. The problem: He had no idea what it was. “For I know the plans I have for you, ‘declares the Lord,’plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

He graduated, got married, got a job, and tried to figure out where his plan went wrong. “My mom is a prayer warrior,” said Stephen. One day she asked: “Have you ever considered that God might be calling you into the ministry?” When she asked that, he started considering how God had used him in ministry during his growing-up years. He had helped to lead worship and he’d worked with the youth in his church. As a member of his youth group, he was always the guy people came to when they needed someone to listen or help them to work through a problem.

Thinking these things over and praying for direction led Stephen to realize that God was indeed leading him into full-time ministry. So he and his wife, Kim, moved to Louisiana to attend New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS). While there he determined that God was preparing him for a ministry of marriage and individual counseling. He knew that few churches had counselors on staff, but he also wanted to be a part of local church ministry, so he trusted that God would continue to lead him and prepare a place.

After graduating from NOBTS with a Master of Divinity (with a focus in Christian Counseling) degree in 1996, Stephen worked as a counselor for a counseling group in Columbus, MS, his hometown. Seven months later, a local church, Emmanuel Baptist, called and wanted to bring him on staff to serve as their Worship Pastor—although worship wasn’t his area of training, it was an area in which he had served often. He expressed his desire to continue in counseling. They came back and offered him the opportunity to serve as Pastor of Worship and Counseling. He was at Emmanuel for the next nine years, also serving as the church school’s guidance counselor. Wearing so many hats kept Pastor Pritchett busy, but, he said, “I felt like I was doing about fifty things half-way.” He still hoped there would be a place where he could devote himself to his primary ministry calling, counseling.

As a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors, he received a magazine that often included notices of new counseling opportunities. Once, he read an advertisement for a position—Pastor of Counseling. He contacted Pastor Walter Ross of Colonial Care Ministries and asked a few questions—he decided to send a resume. When he didn’t hear anything back for a couple of weeks, he forgot all about the opening. Then, a year and a half later, when Colonial had the opportunity to move forward with hiring a Pastor of Counseling, Pastor Pritchett got an unexpected call. His son, Parker, had just been born and changing positions really wasn’t on his radar. But, God had a plan, and in 2006 Pastor Pritchett moved with his family to Cary to serve full time in Care Ministries as Assistant Pastor of Counseling.

“To be here [at Colonial] is amazing. It’s both challenging and rewarding to see the Holy Spirit change people’s lives,” said Pastor Pritchett. At Colonial, Pastor Pritchett has had the opportunity to focus on marriage and individual counseling. He also oversees care groups and has worked to train group facilitators in an informal setting where they have the opportunity to learn about biblical counseling and talk through possible case scenarios. Together with Pastor Ross, Pastor Pritchett also visits those associated with Colonial when they are in the hospital.

Attending to the needs of so many could be overwhelming, if done in one’s own strength. “God is teaching me patience as he allows me to participate in the transformation of lives,” said Pastor Pritchett. He said sometimes it can be hard when he wants so much for people to experience healing quickly. “[The eroding of a difficulty] can seem like water dripping on a rock…I want to throw a bucket on it. It’s usually then that God reminds me how often I’m on the receiving end of His patience!” Pastor Pritchett concluded, “In counseling ministry, I don’t feel worthy of having the privilege of ‘speaking into the lives of others,’ but I stand on God’s unfailing Word.”

Pastor Pritchett and his wife, Kim, live in Garner. They have two children, Madison, 7, and Parker, 4, whose favorite activity is walking in the woods behind their home.