Most children have dreams of being a doctor, a singer or, in Valdosta, a football player. For Tyler Barrett, he knew his calling early — a pastor.

Barrett is a 21-year-old 2009 Lowndes High graduate who recently received his associate’s degree from Georgia Military College. He is the senior pastor at New Bethel Baptist Church.

After being baptized and saved when he was 10, he realized his calling.

“When I was 12 years old, I was at a youth camp in Tifton, Ga., and I went down to the altar during invocation time and I was just praying and seeking the Lord’s guidance for my life and I felt like I was called into the ministry at the age of 12 and from then, everything kind of grew,” Barrett said.

For three years, Barrett taught a special-needs Sunday School class, then moved with his family to Crossroads Baptist Church in 2008.

Barrett credits Dr. Ken Alford, Crossroads’ senior pastor, with taking him under his wing. In 2009, Barrett committed himself to the ministry and began interning with Alford at Crossroads.

“He is still to this day my mentor and I look to him for advice,” Barrett said. “If it was not for Dr. Ken taking me under his wing and mentoring me and pouring his life into me, I don’t think I would be in this position now. I appreciate him and his God-given ability to teach what he knows about pastoring.”

During that time, Barrett became one of the “supply preachers” for the Valdosta Baptist Association. He spoke and traveled to various churches in the area.

“In 2010, I became licensed into the gospel ministry,” Barrett said. “In May 2011, New Bethel asked me to come fill in. In August, I started as interim pastor and, in April of this year, they called me for the full-time pastor position.”

“He was called as pastor and I was on the pastor service and we had a list of prerequisites and they were looking for someone between 35 and 60, married, with or without children. They had planned all of this,” Ricky Swafford, deacon, said of Barrett. “This is what the church wanted and when he came all that changed. He’s special. He’s touched by God. He seems nice but when he gets up there, he’s serious business. We called him because he’s special.”

“I was kind of nervous about it. I didn’t know,” Barrett said of being chosen as pastor. “I felt like they were going to call me. I was just thinking, ‘I’m just young,’ and I just prayed about it. So, … when they called me about being pastor, I was very happy and not really surprised. I was more excited about this great position. It’s not common for a 21-year-old to be a pastor at a church.”

Barrett thinks that God set him on the path as early as the age of 12.

“I’ve prayed my entire life, ‘Lord use me the way you want me to be used. See me where you want me to go and I’ll do it your way.’ That’s always been my prayer and I’ve always followed through with what the Lord wants me to do,” he said. “I realize that being 21 is young but there’s a difference between age and the calling of God on your life and God can always use that which is small to do great things.”

Barrett relates to David in the Old Testament and how God used to him to conquer Goliath.

“I’ve always known that God can take something small and turn it into something extraordinary,” he said. “That’s how I view my life. I’m young. I’m so insignificant to this great world that we live in and God can take something that small and turn it into something great for his glory.”

He also sets out every Sunday morning with one prayer: To make sure whatever he preaches is about God.

“Before I get up and preach on Sunday morning, I always pray and say, ‘Lord take everything that has to do with me out of this place. It’s not about me and it’s all about you,’” Barrett said. “I don’t take any credit or glory for what God’s doing in my life because I know it’s all him.”

While surrendering himself to the Lord, Barrett finished his associate’s degree at Georgia Military College. His degree is in middle school education, majoring in history.

“The only reason I’m pursuing that degree is in order to go to seminary, which is my goal over all. You have to major in some area and I wanted to have a degree in something I enjoy doing. I’ve always enjoyed teaching. I like history so I thought it would be good to have a degree in teaching.”

This August, Barrett will begin work on his bachelor’s degree at Valdosta State University then his master’s degree before moving onto a seminary school.

“From there, I will either commute back and forth to a seminary hub that is local,” he said. “There’s one in Warner Robins and there’s one in Florida and it’s once a week, so you travel back and forth.”

But between work at the church and his school work, Barrett has found a system that works for him to balance everything.

“It is a daily struggle to balance it out but I have finally found myself a good system that I’ve been keeping with balancing my school work and my work here at the church,” he said.

While he enjoys the early civilization and war stories of history, he has become enthralled with another history.

“This church just celebrated its 150th anniversary,” Barrett said. “Just here, going back and reading the history of this church, it really excites me to see how everything plays.”

Barrett says his parents, Todd and Tina Barrett, were both nervous about whether he could handle the position and his school work at first, but they see now that he’s able to get the job done. Barrett says his mother attends the 9 a.m. session at Crossroads before coming to see him preach at the 11 a.m. session at New Bethel.

Preaching in front of his family doesn’t make him nervous.

“I used to be nervous when I first started here, but now that I’ve been doing it for going on now 10 months, I just get up there like I’ve always done it. There are times when I’m a little nervous when I first get up there, but then I get going,” Barrett said.

Since January, attendance has been rising at New Bethel and, according to Barrett and Swafford, there have been 10 baptisms. Barrett has made changes within the church that may be drawing more people each Sunday. Among those changes are sermon series, such as the new one, “Courageous Living.”

“In January, I started a new motto for the church,” Barrett said. “The motto is, ‘this is a place where everybody is welcomed, everybody is someone and Jesus is Lord.’ I want us to have an environment where you come as you are, but you leave changed. A lot of time people don’t come to church because they don’t feel like they are somebody … I want it to be an environment where everybody is welcomed and everybody is somebody.”

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