God is more than Enough

There’s a man that I love and consider my friend though we’ve never met. His life inspires me. He was, at the time that I first heard of him, a bright and rising star. He served as the youth minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church, a church that numbers around fourteen thousand in attendance in North Dallas. He was serving as a Youth Pastor at the time that I had just stepped into a Youth Pastor position. His preaching was passionate and bold. He was thoroughly committed to the Bible as a means to relationship with God, and not as a means of legalistic ritualistic adherence to a set of moral codes. I shared this passion, and because of the example that he set, I was challenged to rethink my style of preaching to engage people into a relational understanding of Christ rather than simply trying to pull “application points” out of a passage.

He left his position at Prestonwood, said “no” to a lot of really amazing offers at large and prestigious churches, and chose rather to step into the pastorate of a dying church in Flower Mound, Texas at the age of twenty-eight. There were less than eighty people at this church. Close friends and family said that he was throwing his life away, and making a horrible career move. But he felt God’s call, and he couldn’t turn back from that.

Within six years that church grew from eighty people to about six thousand. The church grew by about a thousand a year for the last six years. This man committed to giving away more than half of his church’s budget to foreign missions, and he led the people of his church to live bold sacrificial lives that gave generously to their neighborhoods and communities for the hope of gaining an audience to share Christ. This man led his church to begin engaging in church planting, and over the last three years they’ve planted or assisted with five different church plants. The ministry of this church has reached out and touched every continent.

On November 26, 2009, as this man stood in his kitchen helping his wife prepare thanksgiving dinner he experienced a sudden and unexpected seizure. He is only thirty-five years old. He fell to the floor striking his head on the way down. He was rushed to the hospital. Tests were run. Blood was drawn. MRI and CT scans were ordered. By the end of the day, a neurologist and a brain surgeon sat across from his bed and gave him the bad news: “You’ve got a tumor about one inch in diameter and about two and half inches in length in the right front of your temporal lobe. We need to operate immediately or you will die.” The surgery was scheduled.

The day before his surgery, my friend whom I love, recorded a video for his church. With his wife and three small kids standing by this is what he said:

“For the past six years we’ve seen some amazing things happen. God has moved and worked in our presence and many have come to enjoy and embrace a personal relationship with Him. I’ve had more fun than ever, and I’ve enjoyed being your pastor. I love all of you. There’s a passage in Hebrews 11 that talks of the amazing things that God’s people were able to accomplish through faith and trusting in Him. Hebrews 11:32-34 says, ‘…time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jepthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets – who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight, received back their dead…’ This is what we’ve seen in our once small and dying church. We’ve seen God work. We’ve seen miracles happen. We’ve seen spiritual Kingdoms conquered. We’ve seen the enemy put to flight. We, though were weak, became strong in God. Praise God for the amazing things He has done in our presence!

People have said to me, ‘You celebrate and praise God just because of all the amazing things you’re getting to see Him do. You’re just enjoying God right now because your church is exploding and growing.’  I’ve often wondered if they were right. The passage in Hebrews goes on in verse 35, ‘…some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. Of these the world was not worthy.’ Now, I’ve seen miracles. I’ve been present to observe God do some amazing things in this church. Now God is allowing me to suffer. Now God is afflicting me with a brain tumor that may keep me from ever stepping into the pulpit ever again.

And I still thank Him. I am glad and grateful for this tumor. Thank you, God, for giving me this tumor. Do you want to know why I am happy to have this happen to me? Because now I am given the opportunity to show the world that God is more than enough. I don’t need all the wonderful things that He has given me in my life to be happy. I don’t need a clear and sharp thinking mind to be happy. I don’t need all these idols to be happy. All I really need is Him. Knowing God is more than enough to satisfy my heart. And I thank Him for this miraculous opportunity to prove it.”

That’s what my friend said to his congregation. He was actually grateful for the tumor. I hope and pray that if God gave me such an amazing opportunity to show to the world that He is more than enough to bring joy and happiness in my life –I hope and pray that I would be worthy of that opportunity and that my faith and trust in Him would not fail. My hope and prayer for all of Bridge Church and for all of our communities in Kamloops and Logan Lake is that we can show the world that God is more than enough for us. In the midst of depression, suffering, death, disease, and heart-ache, please, I pray- let God be MORE THAN ENOUGH in your life.