a leveraging moment in my life.

I can't remember the last time I read a story about myself. Perhaps that's because if there ever was one it didn't mean much. This account, however, of how the Lord has moved in my life, is one I hope not to ever forget. It was written for the April CRM newsletter by Steve Hubler about The Mission, my missional community, aka "church". Being on the outside looking in truly blessed me. I hope it does you as well.

Leverage. The power to maximize the influence exerted on a person, event or decision with the use of a relatively small amount of force or activity. We are most familiar with this concept when applied to our attempts to move a heavy object or break loose a stubborn bolt. Leverage enables us to produce a result that we could not otherwise produce in our own power. However, we do not often recognize that God uses leverage in our lives. He brings us to moments; critical moments for which He has been preparing us for months, years, or even decades. And in these moments He takes one small, seemingly insignificant action and uses it to produce massive changes in us that would not otherwise be produced. It could be a change of profession, a call to vocational ministry, freedom from an addiction, or an overdue improvement in our character. Regardless of its form, we experience a change which seems altogether disproportionate to the event that triggered it. And neither we, nor the life we live is ever the same again. I once heard a colleague of mine, Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason Ministries in California refer to these moments as leveraged moments. As a Pastor, and now as a Missionary, these are the very moments I long to witness in the lives of those I serve.


I want to tell you a story about how God used our new ministry to help trigger a leveraged moment. It took place in the life of a young woman named Tonya. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting her you noticed that she is intelligent, intuitive and attractive in both personality and appearance. She’s also already achieved a level of success in her career that is favorably disproportionate for someone who is in no immediate danger of being regarded as “middle aged.” Tonya became a follower of Christ 5 years ago. Since that time God has been developing a hunger in her for a life that reaches well beyond the “Gospel of Me” that echoes all too often in the heart of our consumer driven culture. Tonya was more interested in how she could serve Jesus than what Jesus was going to do for her. For years she searched for a community of like minded Christians where her growing desire to serve others in the same way that Jesus did could be nurtured and brought to fruition. But God didn’t lead her to one. Instead, He left her in near isolation with only scattered spiritual nurture and input from others. During that time He allowed her desire to be distilled into pure ministry passion.


Meanwhile, God was preparing the community she desired. It was during this same span of time that God called CRM to launch our new ministry and then called Melissa and me to lead it. It was during this same span of time that God directed us to launch our first missional community (“The Mission”) down in Phoenix on February 21st, and moved Bryan and Drea Thiele into a position where they could not only host it but help lead it. And as we did these things we found ourselves working in concert with our dear friends, Frank and Cindy May whom God has richly blessed with a powerful and growing ministry called Remember the Poor (RTP). Once God got all of us ready to receive Tonya, He finally led her to discover Drea’s blog by way of a post Drea had made to the blog of an American missionary to Uganda that Tonya was already following. And then He led her to discover RTP’s blog through the contact she made with Drea. Tonya was so moved with what she saw God doing through RTP and in our budding ministry that she reached out to both Cindy and Drea. It was one small, seemingly insignificant act. But an important connection was made. Tonya quickly became a beloved member of our extended ministry community. She was exposed to the full scope of the work God is doing through both ministries. And in the midst of these newfound relationships God put a face on the passion He had placed inside her. Essentially, God told her to go to the city of Gulu in Northern Uganda and make disciples of those known as “the invisible children,” baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey all that He has commanded us. And yes, He would be with her always, even to the end of the age. So Tonya has resigned from her job, is selling all of her possessions and preparing to take her adopted son and move to Gulu as soon as possible.


Tonya’s connection with Cindy and Drea was a leveraged moment. God orchestrated this one small event and her life will be forever changed, as will the lives of many she touches. Hers will be the hands God uses to ease the suffering of others. Hers will be the mouth God uses to bring the hope of eternal life to all who listen. Tonya is a disciple of Jesus who is now making disciples of others. And the best part of this story is that neither I, nor my ministry, nor any of my dear friends can take credit for what has become of Tonya. All of the credit belongs to Christ. But we are encouraged because the very work that God has done in her and the way in which He has accomplished it mirrors the ministry He has given us at The Mission. We are called to reach the lost for Christ and equip believers in Christ through our service to those who are suffering, so that those we reach and equip will then live as missionaries to whatever community God sends them. We were not present when He reached Tonya. We were not present when He placed His passion to serve those who are suffering into her heart. We were not even present during much of the time He used that passion to fuel the equipping she was receiving. But God did allow us to play a small, but important role in the culmination of that equipping and sending her to the mission field she has been called. We are encouraged because if God has allowed us to play a role in His calling and equipping to send Tonya to Uganda, then why should we not be confident that God is willing to allow us to play a role in His calling and equipping to send others onto the mission field, whether that field should lie in Gulu Uganda or Glendale AZ? If the work that we’ve witnessed God do in Tonya’s life is any indication of the work He’ll use us to accomplish in the lives of others, then we have much to look forward to. God will orchestrate many more leveraged moments. Those who are suffering will be served. The lost will be reached. The reached will be equipped. Disciples will be made just as Jesus commanded in Matt 28:18-20.

If you go back and read this post from January, you can see how elated I was that the Lord had finally led me to the family I had been fervently praying for. I never captured in that post the isolation I had been through, the very isolation Steve mentions in one sentence above. Understand that God had called me out of the church I had been attending, and for about 10 months I was home-churching as my heart was being challenged and changed in reading The Word and spending time flat on my face before him. The latter part of this time was spent at home under the preaching of David Platt's Church of Brook Hills in Birmingham, AL, due to a link that I had found on Drea's blog months before I came to know her family lived in AZ. Her husband has since become my pastor. God is so crazy cool and amazing! I had to go through a massive growth in my understanding of the ways of the Lord before he placed me in this family; a time of pruning in my life in preparation for my calling. But how comforting to know that all along, in my time of great loneliness, he was putting together the perfect group of followers to receive me. He is good! And his time is always perfect, even if we can't see it in the moment.

I'll end with touching on some words Steve used quite loosely, like "intelligent, intuitive and attractive in both personality and appearance".. ha, I guess I have them fooled! As well, he spoke of the "small role" The Mission and Remember The Poor has played in my call to Africa. In the body of Christ, the church, every part is equally important (1 Corinthians 12:14-21). Without each and every one of the people in these two ministries I could not do what I am doing. God has perfectly weaved our lives together. All for his glory. And all I can think to say to that is hallelujah!