One week at a Christian camp turned an atheist into a youth director and aspiring pastor; the change in him impacted his whole family.

Kyle Smith is a youth director at Albright Church in East St. Paul who experienced a week of camp at Circle Square Ranch at 14 years old and it changed his life forever. In fact, that week changed his parent's lives too. 

Both of his parents were not believers at the time. Although it was a Christian camp, Smith recalls his father saying, "what's the worst that could happen?" 

When Smith arrived he was inspired by what he experienced. "It was amazing, the people were different. 

"They just had this joy and I wanted to know more," the youth director says. 

"I was searching for the meaning of life and I asked my mom and dad but they didn't know."

At 14 years old, Smith longed for answers. "Going there, I was searching for the meaning of life and I asked my mom and dad but they didn't know. When I got to camp, the camp director said God had a purpose for our lives and that God knew us and had and I was like 'yeah, that's what I want, that's what I've been searching for'," Smith says.

From that moment on, everything changed. "Before, I really thought there was no point to life. I would go to school, play football, have a crush on a girl, and it would repeat. Realizing that God had a plan and purpose for my life made everything so much more meaningful. It gave my life clarity and direction," Smith says. 

"I prayed for my parents almost every night and now they are following Jesus, so don't underestimate the power of prayer."

"I wanted to be a physical education teacher but God had different plans. He wanted to use my desire to teach people to lead me to be a youth pastor and teach as many people about him as possible. Initially, my parents were devastated that I wanted to be a pastor and that was hard," Smith says.

However, four years later "something amazing happened. 

"When I was 18 or 19, my parents decided to follow Jesus and now they are baptized and serving in the church! It was one of my dreams to be able to pray with my parents and have us all praise God as a family. My parents said instead of trying to shoving it down their throats, being a good son to them and seeing that change in my life is what convinced them the most that God was real. They saw just how radically my life changed," Smith says.

Smith hopes his younger brother will also follow Christ one day. "I'm praying for him.

"One of my favourite verses is James 5:16 'the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.' I prayed for my parents almost every night and now they are following Jesus, so don't underestimate the power of prayer," Smith says.