"I got my strongest call the first weekend in January," she said, adding that she usually gets up early on the weekend to study the Bible. "It was early Saturday morning while I was reading my Bible and spending time with God. An overflow of emotion came over me."
Weathers accepted the call into ministry with her parents, Larry Weathers Sr. and Amanda Weathers.
"It was a very emotional time for all of us. It was a turning point in my life," she said. "I'm excited to see where it will take me."
She already has two degrees in sociology and thinks she might want to get more education. "I may go to the seminary to complement what God has called me to do. I'm keeping an open mind."
She's also had sessions with her father preparing for her work in the ministry.
Her parents are proud of their daughter who has followed her paternal grandmother Kate Johnson, an evangelist, and maternal grandfather William Payne, a church elder. Her father went into the ministry when he was 19 years old.
Service runs in the family
Weathers' brother Jason is minister of music at the family church and attends college, sister Angela is praise and worship leader at the church and operates a day care, and brother Larry Weathers Jr. pastors a church in Lexington.
Weathers knows being involved in church work is not easy.
"I've been around the church all my life and expected to be called into the ministry," she said. "I also understand how my father and grandparents struggled to become ministers.
"The support I received from my parents is more than I imagined," she said.
She's proud to serve under the leadership of her father and the church the family built.
"It is part of that vision God gave us," she said, adding that she will do anything she can to help serve God. "It's a huge miracle. If I can be a part of it, I humble in that. I thank God that He saw something in me to be of interest."
Her dream of being a young African American who is financially secure also has come true.
Likes job as social worker
A 2002 Centre College graduate, the 26-year-old Weathers took a year off after graduation to help the family build the Vision Church. She got her master's degree from University of Louisville in 2005.
She has been a social worker for the past 17 months with the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services in Lincoln County. She works with a team that investigates child abuse and neglect and also adult abuse and domestic violence.
"I like my job," Weathers said. "It's challenging. I have learned so much about what goes on in families." She wants to implement services and do what's best for the children.
"I want to make sure families have all the resources they need to prevent abuse. I ask people what we can do for them, rather than trying to tell them what to do."
