Yes! You heard it. North American Youth Congress is just one week away. And NAYC 17 is chock full of anointed speakers and musicians who will be ministering in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in just a few short months. We’d like you to get to know them before they preach to you and lead you in worship.

Our next interview comes from pastor from O’Fallon, Illinois, Andrew Romine.

InsideOut: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three items would you want to have with you and why?
Andrew Romine: 1. My Bible. I never go without it, and I am going to need some hope and inspiration to survive—and something good to occupy my mind so I don’t go crazy.
2. A water filter. Do I need to explain why on this one?
3. One of those multi-tools. You know those things that are like twenty tools in one, but you never ever use because you already have the twenty tools individually.

IO: Please tell us your favorite joke.
AR: When I was growing up, I had a drug problem. My parents drug me to church, drug me to Sunday school, drug me to Bible study, drug me to prayer meeting, drug me to choir practice….(I’m still addicted to church!)

IO: What is the funniest moment you have had while preaching?
AR: In my first month of pastoring, I was recognizing our guests during a service and said, “Please forgive me, I’m still learning who is regular and who is irregular.” The audience erupted in laughter. If you don’t get that joke, your parents can explain it to you.

IO: Besides the Bible, what is your favorite book?
AR: I have a lot of books and a lot of favorites but one of my top choices is easy: The Greatest Thing in the World by a classic Henry Drummond. It is an incredible brief book on the love chapter found in I Corinthians 13. Until we get the subject of that little book in our hearts and minds, all other reading is in vain.

IO: How do you prepare to preach to thousands at North American Youth Congress?
AR: There are really two primary things to consider each time you minster: content and communication. The content is the matter of the Word of God the Spirit leads us to deliver; communication is how that content is effectively delivered to the hearer.

On the content side, it is the same way you prepare any other time you minister: read the Word, pray, pray some more, and then study thoroughly where the Spirit of God leads you.

On the communication side, the venue dynamics will be quite different from a smaller setting of a youth service. You need to have your material laid out and vetted for the large audience setting.

IO: Briefly share your testimony, especially from your life as a teen.
AR: I was extremely blessed to be a kid raised on the pew. But just like everyone else, I had to get a walk with God on my own. I had good friends and mentors in my family and in the church. I committed myself at a very young age. There is a blessing in making your mind up to live for God at a young age because I never struggled with some of the issues others struggled with who had not yet committed themselves. But I did have some big tests that came as a teenager, and it was by the grace of God and the fact that I kept myself submitted to spiritual authority that I made it through. Thank God for a pastor!

At age eighteen, while I was enrolled in Indiana Bible College, I quit my job at a machine shop to go work for my church. It has been an incredible adventure in ministry ever since!

IO: When and where did God call you to preach, and how did you answer you His call?
AR: Because of my drug problem (see joke above) as a young child, I always felt a pull to the ministry. I would dream of the day when I would be able to preach the gospel or play music for church. But I knew that would never happen until I gave my life to God. The day I received the infilling of the Holy Spirit and was baptized at eight years old, I told one of my school friends, “Now I can be what God wants me to be, a preacher.” But the “yes moment” came at fourteen in an all-night men’s prayer meeting at my home church. I again gave my life completely to the Lord, never to look back. I determined then that my entire life would be to serve and work in ministry in the kingdom of God.

IO: What advice do you have for someone feeling a call to ministry? What should their next steps be?
AR: Pray, worship, and read and study the Bible—when no one is watching and when everyone is watching. If you won’t do that, you don’t have the desire of God in your life.

Then you need to speak with your spiritual authority: your pastor, your parents, and your youth pastor. God places people in our lives for our protection and instruction. Submit yourself to them as the Bible teaches. Do not reject these blessings and hedge builders in your life.

IO: How can the students take the North American Youth Congress fire to their homes and home churches and keep it burning?
AR: You cannot expect to stay on fire and alive in the Spirit if you are not staying connected to the source. Outside of faithfulness and obedience to God and His Word, you will just be coasting on someone else’s spiritual overflow. Get plugged in to your local church. I never forgot the quote someone told me when I was a teenager, “If you live for God hard, it will be easy. If you live for God easy, it will be hard.”

BONUS: What is the greatest thing that has happened in your life beside salvation?
AR: Easy! After fourteen years of marriage, Janelle and I now have a child, our new son Luca Alonso Romine. He was born on April 11, 2017. Definitely the greatest baby ever, except for maybe baby Jesus.

Andrew and his wife Janelle serve as pastor of Christ the King Apostolic Church in O’Fallon, Illinois. They are the (sanctified) proud parents of Luca Alonso Romine.

Andrew Romine is scheduled to speak Friday, July 28, 2017 during the 10:00 a.m. teen split session.