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We’ve been talking a lot about living the great adventure, taking risks, stepping out in faith, living a joyful life, following your passions, etc. Well, we are leaving our present assignments and stepping out into an exciting future. This episode is about our journey and the reasons for our decision, but we do hope and believe that you will be encouraged by some of the things we’ve learned as we’ve made this monumental big leap.
Our Great Adventure Continues: We Are Stepping Into a New Chapter of Life
We’ve been wanting to hit this topic head on for a long time. If you’ve listened to the Calibrate Life Podcast you’ve heard a great adventure emerging in us. The timing wasn’t right for us to hit the topic head on, but we’ve talked about decisions, risks, pursuing your passions, and aligning your life to go after the things God has put in your heart.
I’ve been unfolding this for a while with my leadership teams and this past Tuesday, in a gathering of our key leadership team (we call them presbyters) I announced to them that Donna and I would be leaving our roles with the organization (district). I am an elected executive officer, so someone will be elected to take my place in May. Donna has been functioning as my administrative assistant on the leadership development side and she too will be leaving her role.
[callout]In this episode David and Donna share the story of a day they decided to go on an adventure to the Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland while visiting the alps and how their experience on that day influenced their decision to step into yet another chapter of their lives. [/callout]
This is a big step for us. It is a step of faith. It is an exercise of risking safety and security to step into the wonderful, exciting, and joyful adventure God has planned for us.
Five years ago both of our worlds changed forever. Most of our listeners know the story of our journey through grief. That journey has brought new found focus and purpose to our lives. We still experience much associated pain with those losses five years ago, but we’ve learned to press into a joyful life. We’ve learned that life is a wonderful thing and it is intended to be lived with joy.
Through facing the hardest thing I’ve ever faced I’ve learned that I am a survivor when God walks with me. I’ve learned that I can look death in the face and brush past him with confidence. I’ve learned that fear is more to be feared than taking risks and stepping out in faith.
[shareable]Fear is more to be feared than taking risks and stepping out in faith.[/shareable]
I’ve learned to not only dream dreams, but to walk forward into the unknown with the intention of laying hold of things I’ve always had in my heart, but were not willing to reach for.
This has been a 2 year process for us. When we first got married and Donna was inducted into my world, we had many days of feeling that we should quit, move away, and start a new life somewhere else. No one was unkind, in fact we are so grateful to so many who went above and beyond to embrace our new lives, but often there simply was not room for Donna in my already established world. Our vision was that Donna and I would not simply walk my path together, but that we would find our own path and together walk upon it. This is the will of God concerning us.
We were not willing to run from the adjustments of a new life, so we kept pressing forward, and we found our stride. We do not have to leave what we are doing. We took the time to stabilize, we took the time to be healthy and to make this move about “going” rather than “leaving.” We are not running from anything, in fact, we could spend the rest of our lives and ministry doing what we are doing right now, no problem… except that is not what God is asking of us in this season.
I’ve been called a “prophetic administrator.” The reason for the administrative gifts are simple, I can hear what God wants done and through the years he has gifted me to execute his wishes. When I sit down to restructure an organization, it is not some genius that kicks in, it is very simply the heartbeat of God telling me the way he wants things structured. And it always works if I hear right.
I’ve always been a visionary. For most of my life I’ve submitted to the visions of others, and I feel it is time for me to build out some of the things in my heart. Listen to episode 31, How Will I Know When it is Time to Quit, and you will hear a little more of my heart on this. Through the years I’ve had to restrain many of the things in my heart because they did not align with the visions of various leader’s I’ve served. I feel a very definite direction from God that it is time for me to go all in, and build out the things he is telling me. If I fail, I fail trying to follow what I see in my spirit, in the thing in which we are successful, I will give glory to God because it all really does come from HIm.
I must accept the fact that God has put visions and dreams in me that cannot be fulfilled in the chair in which I sit right now. I have to let go of the chair and let God do awesome things in our lives.
We’ve often talked about living life in the passion zone. I’ve often said that when you come to the place in life where I am, you need to know your strengths and invest heavily in them (Episode 30, Know Your Strength Zones). It is time in my life to stop trying to shore up my weaknesses, to release them to someone else, and invest in the strengths God has given me for the rest of my life.
So…What is Our Future [22:47]
I’ve noticed that with this announcement many want us to put our dreams in a box, put a bow on it, and deliver it nice and tidy. It’s not that simple. We have great clarity as to what we will be doing and the directions we will be going, but it can’t be put in a neat little package.
Almost two years ago I sat on a peak in the Alps and asked God, “What do you want me to do.” I had a willingness to do whatever he asked.
His response, “Write.”
My response, “What do you want me to write.”
His response, “You know what I mean.”
Yes, I did know. I have to take the time to prolifically write. I have reams written that must be moved forward. It’s the prophetic giving in me. I hear things and I write them down. It is gold. It’s made me who I am, it’s provided direction for the network I serve, It has blessed those I coach and mentor. It’s more than writing, it is the creation of life changing, transformational content that will help spiritual leaders step into their passion zone.
Secondly, I know we are to make personal investment in lifting spiritual leaders. Resourcing them to calibrate their lives and lift those they love and lead. We are called to help spiritual leaders calibrate their lives and lift the people around them. To help them in any way that we can to step into the purpose and calling God has designed for their lives. We are going to accomplish this through speaking into people’s lives in a variety of ways.
Third, I know there is an international component to all of this. It is part of the vision. We are going to let all of this unfold as we walk into our future.
Fourth, we have an intention to initiate a community of people who will be world influencers. To say it another way, we are beginning the journey of seeking out a core of people with similar vision to initiate a new church in the community in which we live that will serve Zionsville, Whitestown, and Northwest Indianapolis.
As I was writing these notes, I laughed like Sarah did when the angel told her she was going to have a child with Abraham at age 90. Now my eyes are watering up. To be bold enough to just put out there what God is saying to us is a big step. What if it fails? What if it doesn’t work?
Folks, there comes a time in your life when God calls you out on a great adventure. You don’t know exactly where it will take you, you can’t put it in a box, much less put a ribbon on it. All you know is the direction. All you know are the first few steps, that’s it.
What do you do?
You start the journey. You walk. You obey. Forward. Trust. Believe.
Our Encouragement to You… [34:26] (Calibration Tools)
God has intended a great adventure for you. Maybe you are living it right now! It very well could be that you are on the path you will be on for the rest of your life and you are to embrace it, you are to walk the path with joy.
It could be that, like us, you’ve experienced some life shattering and life altering detours that weren’t detours at all. It could be a new path and a new adventure will emerge. Here’s what we’ve learned:
- Obedience is your responsibility; outcomes are God’s responsibility. All you can do is obey to the best of your ability. We’ve found that when we follow God’s path, sometimes we end up in new and exciting places that we could never have imagined.
- You have to start. Your future begins with taking the first step. You may not understand what God is doing, and you may not have clarity as to where you are going, but if you can see the first steps you have to TRUST enough to start, just take those first few steps you can see and the successive steps will appear.
- Trust is more important than clarity (Episode 10, Why Trust is More Important than Clarity). Right now, we don’t know what our future exactly looks like, but we know the direction we are to go. It takes a lot of trust to move into a concept, a revelation, a promise.
- We can’t run from what is behind us, we have to pursue those things ahead. I’ll miss a lot of things about the place I’ve served for 23 years. I’m not moving away, so who knows how I may stay connected or serve my Fellowship in the future. I am not limiting the future, I am just walking into it.
In way of Calibration Tools for this episode, go back over those four points and think about how they apply to your life.
Finally…
We aren’t leaving, we are going. We are embracing our great adventure. The focus of this podcast is lifting spiritual leaders and resourcing them in lifting those they love and lead. We want to reveal what we hear in the heartbeat of God to you for the calibration of your life as a leader. Out of your own strength you will lift those you love and lead, be they your children, your spouse, your family, your employees, your team, your congregation, or those who look to you for leadership. We want to go on a journey with a you, a journey of pursuing the passions God has birthed within you.
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Moving forward, I know this podcast is going to focus much on living out your great adventure. We look forward to the journey ahead.
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