You Can't God Can. Mike Lee
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being a part of what God was doing in their lives, so I thought, “How bad can it be? I’d have to teach Sunday School for an hour each week, but then I’d get to spend the rest of my time at the beach playing volleyball and roasting hot dogs!” Plus, if I didn’t like it, I could always return to teaching and coaching. After all, I wasn’t “called” to ministry. I accepted the position.
After a few months in my new role, our Senior Pastor was forced to step down because of health issues. The Elder Board invited me to my first elder meeting and asked me if I would be willing to also take on the role of Interim Teaching Pastor until they found a new Senior Pastor for the church. From my perspective, it didn’t seem like that big of a deal. Teaching was teaching. I had filled in on a couple of Sundays when the pastor had been away and no one had thrown anything at me. I took it as a good sign. Add to that the fact that I was young and stupid. I accepted the challenge. I can still remember what it was like to finish teaching Sunday School and then make the quick transition to the adults.
Over the next few months, the church saw some significant growth and people seemed to be happy. I was invited to my second elder meeting. I assumed that it was to inform me that they had found a new senior pastor for the church. Instead, they asked me if I would consider taking the position permanently. My emotions were all over the place. It looked like becoming a pastor was about to become a reality. I was willing to consider the offer only because the half-dozen men that made up the Elder Team were six of the godliest and most mature Christian men I’ve ever known to this day. Plus, if I didn’t like it I could always go back to teaching and coaching. Remember, I was never “called” to ministry.
Laura and I prayed about it for a few days, and I accepted the job as Senior Pastor for the church. I was only 24 and Laura was 21. I immediately enrolled in seminary and took some classes; at the same time, I tried to figure out what I was supposed to be doing as a Senior Pastor. I’ve now been in this role for over thirty-six years, yet I’m still not sure that I’ve ever been “called” to ministry, I’ve still never had a mentor, and I still don’t know what I’m doing. God, indeed, has a sense of humor!
Laura’s resume isn’t very impressive either. She dropped out of college to marry me when I was 22 and she was 19. She had our first son at the mature age of 21 and our second son when she was barely 24. She taught music in Christian schools for nine years without a degree. After moving from California to Cary, North Carolina to start Hope Community Church, she transitioned to corporate work to help support the family. God rewarded her immensely which allowed me to work part-time construction while trying to start the church on the side. That was 1994.
We started Hope with five families on Easter Sunday that same year, and twenty-four years later, we have over 18,000 people that consider one of our campuses their church home. By the world’s criteria, Laura and I are the most unlikely candidates for our job (again, like whipped cream on an onion). The fact that God chose us makes no sense whatsoever from a human perspective. But that’s what this book is about. It’s the story of what God has taught us over the years about how God can use us. What we’ve learned may surprise you; it will definitely encourage you.
My motivation for writing is simple: It’s to encourage those who are followers of Jesus to start thinking a little bigger and ask the question, “God, what could you do through me if I could get my priorities and values lined up with your priorities and values?”
Some are already on that journey; some are already in the process of being utilized by God in incredible ways. Others have never thought of themselves as those who could make a significant impact in God’s Kingdom. My message is simple: “If God could use us, why not you?”
I hope you will let God work in your heart and mind while reading this book. I pray that God will reveal to you the ways that you can make an impact in this world and in the lives of the people that God has placed around you. By the end of our time together, I hope you will “take the hill” with us as we turn the world, not upside down, but right side up with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Chapter 1
Not Me!
I pastor a big church. And just like any big church, we have thousands of people who’ve never considered the possibility that God can use them in significant and purposeful ways. My guess is that the average person who attends Hope represents the average church attendee in most of the average churches around the world.
We all have our reasons why we think our potential in God’s Kingdom is limited. Maybe we’re from a dysfunctional background and our family life was a disaster, so we naturally assume that God could never use us to make a difference in someone else’s life or in His Kingdom.
Maybe we’ve been involved in some spectacular sinning. Our mission statement at Hope is to “Love people where they are and encourage them to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ.” It’s a mission statement that I’m especially proud of because as a church of “messed-up” people, we do a pretty good job of living our mission. Over the years, God has put us to the test by bringing some individuals to our church that could, even by our standards, be considered “All-Pro” sinners. Maybe you believe you fall into that category.
Maybe you’ve just begun a relationship with God and you’re taking baby steps in your spiritual journey—and “three steps forward and two steps back” describes your Christian walk. Or maybe you’re still stepping out of one mess only to step right into another. We’ve all been there. At such a beginning stage of your spiritual journey, you can’t even imagine how God could possibly use you. As a novice; there’s so much to learn. In fact, you may have recently found the maps in the back of the Bible and secretly hope that I’ll reference the “Book of Maps” because it’s the one book you can locate.
Maybe you’re at the other end of the spectrum—been around church for years. That’s my story. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t in church. I’m pretty sure that I was born in the choir loft. My church week consisted of Sunday School, Sunday morning service, Sunday afternoon choir practice, Sunday night service, Sunday night youth service after the Sunday night service, Wednesday night prayer meeting, and Thursday night visitation and soul-winning. On top of that, I was a bus captain! Those of you who lived through the Jack Hyles and Jerry Falwell era know what I’m talking about. The rest of you should pause and offer up a little prayer of thanksgiving to God that you were spared. But, again, maybe your story sounds like mine: You attended AWANA; you can name all the books of the Bible in perfect order; you’ve memorized a thousand Bible verses, all from the KJV; you’ve taken every class your church has to offer; you know your spiritual gifts, you’ve taken Strength-Finder (by the way, I have the gift of WOO—Winning Others Over—that will come into play later); you’ve memorized the “Romans Road” and are always prepared to share the hope that’s in you; and you’re a certified Stephen’s minister. No matter which topic your pastor addresses, it’s never deep enough for you— because you even know what really happened to the lost tribes of Israel. You’ve pretty much spent your life becoming a professional Christian. Yet as you look back over your journey, you find yourself wondering, “I have a lot of knowledge, but have I ever made a difference for God and His Kingdom?”
Or maybe you find yourself in a season of life where your total focus is on you, your education, your family, and your career. In other words, it’s all about you. And for that reason, you haven’t taken the time to explore the possibility of what God could do through you.
Regardless of where you are on your spiritual journey, have you ever slowed down long enough to ask, “God, what could you possibly use me to accomplish and how can I make an impact in someone’s life?”
The reason those questions are so important is that there is no greater joy in life than realizing that God has used you to impact His Kingdom by changing another’s spiritual destiny. Nothing else comes close.
Think about it, every incredible experience eventually loses its sizzle and becomes a memory. For example, I’ve had a great life and had a lot of wonderful experiences. I’ve had the pleasure of traveling to London, Paris, Rome, and Prague. I’ve fished for salmon in Alaska and for muskies on the French River