Part III-FINAL

You may want to catch up here and here .

When you’re hearing God say things that no one else is hearing, sometimes you’ll feel like Abraham:
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.”
Sometimes, stepping out on faith means taking the first step before you have a clue about the destination.

I’ve preached and written on this phenomenon before: God commands you to go before He shows. He calls you to step out before He steps in.
But today, I want to pay a more specific tribute to a group of people in my life who have marched to the beat of a sound that many others didn’t hear, even when it made them look foolish (and possibly unstable).

Now, I know I’m a little biased, but I would put the faith of those who came with me to start Elevation in the same category (not on the same level, but in the same category) as the faith of Abraham.
Holly, Chunks and Amy, John and Heather, Larry and Janet, Tyler and Amy, Eric and Nicole, Ray and Shauntona, Jay and Brandi…
They must have looked silly to their friends and family:
“We’re going to start a church… “
“Where?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Oh… that sounds… interesting.” (Interesting, in this context, is code for stupid.)
One of those couples told me that their closest friends laughed at their decision to commit to such a “fly by night operation”.
The same couple told me recently that “those friends aren’t laughing anymore.”

The story of Elevation is not that we felt called to start a church in such and such a city because the need was so great, or “boy, this town we live in really needs a church.” We simply had a vision to make our lives count through building a powerful church. And so we committed and prepared to start that church before we even knew where it would be.

In the Kingdom of God, faith always precedes evidence.
Believing precedes seeing.
And obedience precedes blessing.
It’s a strange sound indeed!

Most recently, our people pledged millions of dollars to our Dominate campaign…
Not to a blueprint of a specific building-
But to a blueprint of the Gospel breaking out and spilling over into the streets of our city.
It’s a lot of fun (and inspiring!) to lead a group of people who will move to the music even when we don’t know exactly where we’re driving to.
My deepest appreciation to all the Elevators who don’t mind people looking at you funny while you’re dancing in the car.
Keep moving.