MARK W. WAGNER

Following God’s Call: A Journey of Unexpected Turns

In 2011, I walked out of a co-write at a Christian record label in Franklin, Tennessee, with a strange feeling that I couldn’t shake. It was as if God was whispering to me that my life was about to change in ways I couldn’t yet understand. I had been working tirelessly to build a music career, and we were starting to gain some momentum, but something inside me knew that God was leading me in a new direction.

Just a few months later, my bags were packed, and I was saying goodbye to Nashville. I was headed to Seattle to start graduate school, leaving behind a promising career in music and ministry. My label representative couldn’t understand why I was walking away just as we were starting to build a name for myself. At that moment, it seemed like everything I had worked for was slipping away. But deep down, I knew I had to trust God's spirit, even if I didn’t fully understand it.

I thought I had it all figured out. I planned to graduate from seminary, become a pastor, and continue writing and recording music as a full-time Christian artist—blending my love for music and ministry with a deeper education. But as I moved through my studies and finished seminary, the picture changed. Instead of stepping into full-time music, I took a job as a pastor and began to transition away from the stage.

Over the years, I slowly found myself performing fewer and fewer shows. It wasn’t that I had stopped loving music—it was just that my calling was pulling me in a different direction. I went from being a full-time singer-songwriter who preached occasionally to a full-time preacher who performed just a few times a year. I started to realize that God was asking me to invest in people’s lives in new ways, and that meant embracing the role of a pastor in a more significant way than I had anticipated.

But God’s plan doesn’t always unfold in predictable ways, and after eight years of serving as a pastor, my life took another unexpected turn. Today, I’m a Chaplain in the U.S. Air Force. It’s a career that still allows me to serve others but in an entirely different capacity. I’m now in uniform, supporting Airmen in their faith journeys, and helping them navigate the unique challenges that come with military life.

Despite the new responsibilities of my role, one thing has remained constant: I’m still writing music. I’m still creating songs, expressing the thoughts and feelings that come from my faith and my experiences. The journey has been unpredictable, but I’ve learned that God doesn’t always call us to the paths we expect. Sometimes, God calls us to something different—something deeper—and in that space, we find new ways to live out our purpose.

As I reflect on these twists and turns, I’m reminded that following God’s call doesn’t always make sense to those around us—or even to ourselves. It takes faith to step into the unknown and trust that God’s plan is bigger than our own. While my journey hasn’t been exactly what I envisioned, I’m grateful for the ways I’ve been able to serve, the lives I’ve been able to impact, and the music that still finds its way into the world.

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