How the IMN saved my Life

Sounds pretty drastic huh? The IMN saving my life sounds crazy, but its true.

Allow for me to explain.

Coming into the IMN now for my second year, I really didn’t know what to expect. I’m currently in the first year of a church plant with a partner and we’re doing great. Going into last years IMN experience we were a couple of months away from gathering our core group of people to help us plant the church. Going into this year’s experience we were in our 5th month of being open to the public. Things have been going great, better than I expected, but we still have a long way to go.

Something mystical happened to me at this year’s IMN experience. On the way back from taking my partner to the airport (he had to return several days early) God began to speak to me very clearly about our current situation, my role, and particularly, my leadership. The day before this happened; we had an all day session of the Character Matrix. I’m very familiar with the character matrix, but God began to open my eyes to the issue of lacking courage. On my drive back from the airport, God began to reveal to me why I lacked courage. To summarize, God showed me how I was more concerned with making people like me than I was about fighting for the heart of the church and leading with courage. It was a humbling experience to say the least. I could hear God telling me that if I continued forfeiting my leadership that he would remove me from having spiritual influence. When I returned from the airport, I sat outside of William Carey University in the car, crying, thinking about how God had brought me to this place in my life. A Tennessee kid, who was living life for himself, found a relationship with God through Jesus, left a six figure per year job to pursue advancing this invisible Kingdom. I sat amazed as I thought about the events of my life that had brought me to Los Angeles, CA as a part of this movement of God. All I could do was worship God for using my life and repent for lacking the courage I needed to be the leader God desires for me to be.

If God were to remove me from having spiritual influence, if he were to take me away from serving the local church, it would devastate me. I can’t even imagine my life without that. However, that is no longer a worry I have to wrestle with. I’m leading with courage and integrity now, pursuing those things that God has laid on my heart. I’m making decisions based on what I believe is right and best for the church, not what I think will keep everyone liking me. Since returning it’s forced me into a lot of hard conversations, but I’ve moved forward couragously.

So now you see, the IMN saved my life. It focused me back to those things that are essential and challenged me throw aside the non-essentials in my pursuit to become the leader I was born to be.