Helen Berenthien, the minister to older adults at St. Luke United Methodist Church in Columbus, never predicted that she would become a minister. She wasn’t called to the ministry as a young person, and it wasn’t even her first choice for a career. But Helen listened when she was called. She was called to many places before God finally called her to serve the Columbus congregation, but that may be because Helen was also needed in the places He stopped her on the way.

Helen began her career path normally enough, as a secretary for an attorney in Macon. After graduating from Macon Technical Institute, a junior college in Macon, she decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps and pursue a career as a secretary. “My mother had been a secretary for years before, and I wanted to do that, too,” said Helen. Coincidentally, her father’s friend who was an attorney in Macon needed a secretary, so Helen excitedly began working for Mr. Sheppard, enjoying the freedom that he allowed her and feeling as though she successfully ran the office. “I loved everything about taking care of an office,” she said.

Mr. Sheppard must have noticed how productive and hardworking young Helen was because after 15 years in the position he encouraged her to make a change. She was knowledgeable in law by now, and he suggested that she go back to school, get a bachelor’s degree and try her hand at law school. “He was really an encouragement to me,” said Helen. With Mr. Sheppard’s prodding, she enrolled at Mercer University in Macon. She was accepted into Mercer’s school of law, and she graduated in 1970. Upon graduation, Mr. Sheppard invited Helen to practice law with him, and the man that had been her boss for more than 15 years became her partner.

Helen practiced law with Mr. Sheppard for 10 years, until 1980. “In 1980, it didn’t hurt to be a woman practicing law,” said Helen. “So I applied, and was accepted over 95 other people as clerk of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Georgia,” she continued. Helen stayed in this prestigious position from 1980 until 1986. But in ’86, Helen would hear a calling. This calling didn’t come from the voice of a boss or administrator, but it came from a voice that was much more convincing.