In a lot of ways, Cam Huxford has a boring testimony—and it’s the kind of testimony Pastor Mark wishes his kids will have one day.
Cam’s dad is a pastor of a large church in Georgia. Growing up, Cam says he watched his parents undergo massive sacrifice and hardship in their ministry, all for this guy named Jesus. “[Jesus] seemed to be a real person who was doing something real in their lives,” says Cam. And so he set out to figure out who this Jesus guy was, and ended up becoming a Christian when he was a little kid.
And it was because of their dad’s example, that Cam and his two brothers all wanted to go into ministry. “We saw a guy who was legit,” says Cam of their dad. “He was the same guy at home as he was at church.” He hopes it’s a legacy that continues. “I hope my kids would see me as being legit, as being a real guy trying to serve Jesus.”
Cam grew up and as an adult found himself duly working at a large church in Kentucky. But quickly, he started to idolize ministry: “Basically, I put my identity in working at a church.” That was when Cam said God took him on an important exodus.
Five years ago, Cam and his wife, Hailey, felt like God was calling them to urban ministry and to be on mission in a city. So they went online and tried to find the city with the least churches in it, and Seattle was at the top of the list. Part of the reason God brought them out to Seattle was to break that idol of ministry, Cam says. So they came out here, and Cam didn’t work for a church for two years.
The whole time, Cam says, God was challenging him: “Are you called to this? Or do you just like this job?” In particular, Cam says God spoke to him through John 10, a passage in Scripture where Jesus talks about being the good shepherd who loves and cares for the sheep. Jesus also talks about the hired hands, guys that come in to just do the job—but when the wolves come, they just run away. “I think I was working as a hired hand,” he says of his time before coming to Seattle. “If God hadn’t brought me through all that, I would’ve just left when hard times came.”
Today, Cam is a deacon at the Mars Hill Downtown Seattle church, where he leads worship with the roots-rock band Ghost Ship. The band’s most radio-ready song “One God” has received some high praise from some unexpected places.
Download Ghost Ship’s latest EP, A River with No End on Bandcamp
