Hearts Strangely Warmed: Rev. David Keyworth

“While the leader was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” — John Wesley, May 24, 1738 

God calls us to tell our story so that others may come to know Jesus Christ. “Hearts Strangely Warmed” was created to share these stories about transformational encounters with the Living God.

Rev. David Keyworth

Rev. David Keyworth was ordained in 2020

Before my call to ministry in college, I was very active in the church. My dad is an ordained elder in the UMC in the Michigan Conference. I was involved in many facets of the church: worship, Sunday School, Ad-Council, youth leadership, conference events, and delegate to Annual Conference multiple times. I saw the good and the bad in the church. The church became my home. One church became significant for me since my dad was appointed there for 18 years, Midland First UMC in Midland, MI. They supported me through my confirmation and later became my recommending church for candidacy. 

When I went to college, I told myself that I would never become a pastor. Even though the church was my home, I saw the things that my dad went through, both the good and the bad. I wanted to become an eighth-grade history teacher. However, God had different plans. In a chapel service at Albion College, God placed it upon my heart to attend seminary at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore KY. I have a passion for teaching, but God wanted me to be a teacher of God’s history not of American history. When I told my home church that God had called me into ordained ministry, many people told me that they had seen it for years, and that I was probably the only who had not seen it. After several years of prayer and discernment of whether to go back to the Detroit Conference or stay in the Kentucky conference, God led us to the Susquehanna Annual Conference where my wife was born. 

In my life, I have experienced many heartbreaks and physical pains, but through it all two scripture passages have been my rock: Psalm 28:6-7 and 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. Both of these scriptures remind me that in joyful times and even in the pains and heartbreaks, God’s grace is sufficient; thus, I can leap for joy. 

I have had many mentors and faith leaders who have made a huge difference in my life. My mom has always been a key faith role model for me. I have always looked to her for guidance. My friend in faith from confirmation class remains a key part in my life. There are three pastors whom I look up to and have deep respect for because they have made such a difference in my life: 1. My father (who will always remain my hero as a child of God and as a Pastor), 2. Jeremy Africa (an ordained elder in the Michigan Conference who was one of my youth pastors at Midland First UMC), and 3. my clergy mentor in the Susquehanna Conference, John Godissart. Another mentor that has made a huge difference in my life was my seminary professor Rev. Dr. Ellsworth Kalas. 

My hopes for the church and for my ministry are: I want to be a man and a Pastor that is on fire for God. I hope the church can get to a place where we have another Great Awakening where the church returns to God and realizes that we need God. I hope, by God’s grace, that I and the church can be a beacon of hope in the world that so desperately needs God.