Scott Ayars and his wife Robyn left Caronport in 2010 to pursue a ministry career in Swift Current, Saskatchewan; but Caronport never left their hearts.

Ayars spent six years in Caronport, and his wife's family is close by, so Caronport seemed like a perfect fit for them in the future; the future just happened to come a bit quicker than they imagined.

"We got married, we moved to a new location, and started our careers all together at the same time," explained Ayars. "It was the best thing that could have happened for our marriage ... but I felt called back to Caronport."

Ayars was interested in pursuing further education in marriage and family counselling. It made sense for him and his family to make their way back to Briercrest where he and his wife spent so much time.

It seemed as though the timing was written in the stars for the Ayars family.

"Our daughter Ryla being born kind of pushed [our move] forward, and it seemed like a good time to leave the church," Ayars said. "We had a good, developed youth group, some great leaders, an intern coming in, so I didn't feel like I was going to leave them high and dry. I wanted to get a master’s in something that was important to ministry."

Luckily for Ayars, Briercrest Seminary offers a master’s in marriage and family counselling, something that Ayars feels is integral to a successful and healthy church.

"Ideally, it's nice to have that education for ministry," explained Ayars, "but if I can do some counselling on the side or full time ... I feel like I can be effective if I have my master’s, and family and marriage seem to be the two things that are hit pretty hard in churches, so I wanted to get into those and study them more."

On top of his education, Ayars is excited to continue in ministry as the youth pastor of Moose Jaw Alliance Church as well. Through the persistence of a friend, Ayars was able to secure a job while attending seminary.

"I said no to AJ five different times, because I had a family, and a mortgage, but eventually I realized it's not about the money," said Ayars. "I knew I was supposed to come back to school, and God opened that door to be able to work in the church that Robyn and I got married in and attended a bit when we were here."

Ayars is glad to be back at school, but he is also looking forward to building into the next generation.

"I look at church as sports related," started Ayars. "When you were a kid you did a camp, or a coach instilled confidence in you and it was something that got you excited. You used that excitement to spur you on and to carry on further. It's the same thing for my youth group. I want my kids to be excited to be Christians, and to be excited about youth group; to see how fun it is."

With that excitement, Ayars hopes to see a changed generation. He has had success in that facet of ministry before, after all.

"What I was able to create [in Swift Current] was an environment where kids wanted to come to church so their parents had to drive them. I want to instil excitement in them so that they will actually go further into the Bible. I introduce it in a way that it's real, but it's also exciting. Just like sports, the more you love it, the further you go with it."