Conversations with Joshua Easley

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Easley.

Hi Joshua, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born and raise in the Tower of Faith Evangelistic Church in Compton. My parents were involved in ministry and always had us at church. I knew of God and had some what of a relationship with him but I would say I started really taking it seriously as a priority in 2018/2019, my junior year of college. I felt like God was calling me to really get it together. It was time to come to him in a real way. And by my senior year in February of 2020 I heard his voice clearly tell me that when I graduated and moved back home from GCU in Arizona, I would take over the youth department at Tower. 2020 obviously was the year of COVID, so little did I know my college graduation would get cut, and my church would be closed for the entire year of 2020. So in that year I believe God was equipping me for the ministry he would birth in me. My pastor, Dr. Rueben Anderson, was gracious to have me on as the youth leader and even mentioned that he had been praying for a young person to help him push the ministry forward. So God was ordering my steps. February of 2021, 1 year after the call, I started Fire young adults Bible study on Thursday nights. The church was still closed due to Covid but I chose for us to meet in person anyway for Bible study. Resurrection Sunday 2021 was the first sunday the church reopened, and the first Sunday we offering youth classes for elementary and middle school. Since then, the ministry has been growing. We now offer a summer youth camp ages 8-14, young adults retreat every December for ages 18-30. We have youth Sunday every month on the last Sunday of every month, as well as a special fire night service we hold yearly on a Friday night. God has been faithful to me and has taken our ministry from nothing to this amazing, powerful movement, and I’m grateful to be leading it and trusted with it.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Some of the biggest struggles for me were learning what I didn’t know I needed to learn. I went to school for electrical engineering so planing and building a ministry was not at all something I really knew how to do but God gave me guidance and grace in my trials and errors. I think the most difficult thing that Fire does is planning summer camp. Camp takes months to plan, consistency in reaching out to parents, inviting kids, connecting with churches, and raising funds. It all a big task that has to be done efficiently, that when June roles around it’s not a mad rush to get everything done. I would also say learning how to delegate was difficult for me at first. I had to really learn to trust my leaders with the visions God gave me. I had to rely on them to come through for me and the ministry because I quickly learned that it is impossible for me to do every single things and meet every single need of the ministry. I can genuinely say this is so much bigger than me.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My professional career is in electrical engineering. I’m a design engineer at Raytheon in El Segundo and I primarily work on radar systems for the US military. This is obviously a major difference from my work as a youth pastor but I’ve found that the problem-solving skills I learned in engineering became extremely applicable and useful when Fire was just getting started. Additionally, my heart of service translate in engineering as I often volunteer at under served high schools to present on panels about engineering, and the STEM field at large. I was recently awarded the 2024 GMiS Luminary award for community service in STEM.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I’m really big on collaboration, and this year especially I’ve made it my mission to network with other churches, mingle with other youth ministry’s, and just really pursue being 1 body in Jesus Christ. I think it’s a shame that we have some many denominations and churches, but none of us know each other, and I would really like to be a part of leading that change. So any support and collaboration in that avenue is always welcome and 1 phone call or email away!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://toweroffaithchurch.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tof_fire_ministry?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/longlivedante
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@toweroffaithevangelisticch2376?si=vJSueRQ94pYCJAu2