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Introduction

You’ve Got the Wrong Guy!

Years ago, I was sitting in a meeting at the Leadership Network in Dallas, Texas, with nine other pastors, all of whom I consider to be very successful. As I looked around the room, I wasn’t sure why I had been invited. To be perfectly honest, I’ve never felt comfortable around pastors, especially successful ones. For me, being in the same meeting with these guys was like putting whipped cream on an onion. In my mind, I seemed out of place; I didn’t fit. They were brilliant, cutting-edge leaders, conference speakers, and published authors. They had huge congregations. And they had hair!

It didn’t help my insecurities when the guest facilitator made his opening statement, “Every successful pastor has two things in common: a strong calling to the ministry and a strong mentor.”

I sat there thinking, “Great! I’m already 0 for 2, and we just started.” But it was just another reminder that Laura and I are probably the most unlikely couple in the world to be used by God to accomplish what He has accomplished through Hope Community Church.

My education is sketchy at best. I don’t get very excited about speaking at places other than Hope. Until now, I’d never written a book, never felt “called” to ministry, and no one had ever mentored me. Heck, I grew up thinking that I never wanted to be in ministry. In fact, the one thing I was sure of when I sat in church as a child was that being a pastor had to be the worst job in the world. While everyone else was enjoying the weekend at the beach or the mountains or the lake, a pastor had to be at church . . . every Sunday! That did not fit with my plan for my life.

My dream was to be a football coach. My plan was to start wherever I could get a break, then work my way up through the ranks until I was coaching on Sunday afternoons! It was the only career I could imagine would top being at the beach or the mountains or the lake or any other place on a Sunday. However, it says in Proverbs 16:9: “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”

After college, on schedule to fulfill my plan for my life, I was able to land a job as a teacher and coach. I was on my way. But toward the end of the school year, a small church that we were attending in Southern California asked me to leave teaching and become their Youth Minister. Laura and I had been working with the students as volunteers and we really enjoyed 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.