Recent theology graduate answers call to ministry after son’s miracle recovery

Through the near death of his youngest son, Xavier, teacher and pastor Shannon Miller (’21) saw the Lord’s faithfulness abound in ways he never could have imagined.

In 2018, while playing with a friend in a tree house, 10-year-old Xavier was attacked by a swarm of yellow jackets and fell onto a meat skewer that was coming out of the ground. The skewer pierced through his face, just below the eye, and almost out the back of his head.

Following emergency surgery, Xavier was miraculously able to make a full recovery from the gruesome injury.

Now, three years later, Miller is able to reflect on how the Lord used one of the scariest times in his life as a time to draw him closer and direct him on a path to serving Him in ministry.

“Every trial, every time somebody gets taken from us, every time God spares life, every time God changes your circumstances, it means everything to who He’s making you to be,” Miller said. “And if you can trust in His plan, if you can trust in His guidance, it’s going to change your life.”

While in the hospital with Xavier, Miller was brought to tears when he realized that a little boy in the room next door did not have a pastor or anyone from a church coming to visit him.

“He had been attacked by a dog and had gotten his face mauled,” Miller said. “I realized as I walked out of the hospital that that little boy didn’t have anyone to come see him. … That just haunted me.”

Miller had been heavily involved in ministry in his early 20s, but over the years had backed away to focus on his teaching job and his family of five.

But, after seeing the need in the hospital, “I realized that I was kind of shirking my calling and was kind of in rebellion,” he said. “I really needed to set my heart right with God.”

From that point on, Miller, 41, said that he was not able to resist the calling to ministry that he sensed the Lord had on his life. Already a special needs teacher at a public school in Grandview, Mo., Miller followed the Lord’s leading to speak with his pastor, Liberty alumnus Dr. Malachi O’Brien, at The Church at Pleasant Ridge.

“I told him that I just wanted to go and minister to people in the hospital; I wanted to care for people and provide for those needs that are there, ministering to the sick and those day-to-day needs that we always forget about. I don’t care about preaching, I don’t care about any of that other stuff. I don’t even have to be called a pastor. I just need something that will let me into hospitals,” Miller said.

Miller shared with O’Brien his desire to learn more so that he could also communicate the love of Christ in a clearer way to his students.

On O’Brien’s recommendation, Miller enrolled with Liberty University Online Programs to pursue his Master of Arts in Theological Studies, a decision that has helped him with his current jobs as both the associate pastor at his church and a special needs teacher at Summit Christian Academy, a job he was offered soon after Xavier’s accident.

“The Lord has given Liberty to people to help them reach their God-given potential and to activate the Holy Spirit gifts that are within us and allow us to succeed,” Miller said.

Miller graduated in May but said he intends to take more classes at his alma mater for years to come, likely through the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity.

“I just love it. I’ll probably be taking classes at Liberty until I can’t understand the technology anymore,” he said, laughing.

“To think this (Liberty) was one evangelical pastor’s dream to pull something together is incredible,” Miller added. “It’s not like the founder had a perfect plan for all of this; he had to trust God for every single brick. It’s pretty powerful.”