“God is only going to use you more… “
I had a really great college experience. I started and directed a big choir and band that grew to about 100 people and sang black gospel music, even though most of us were white. I also preached all over South Carolina, led bunches of football players to Christ, met Holly and convinced her to marry me, and, oh yeah, went to class and graduated.
The months before my college graduation were a weird transitional time for me.
Don’t get me wrong, I was very much looking forward to ending the steady four year diet of Ramen noodles and make Holly my permanent roommate.
But part of me wondered:
“What next? Maybe it’s all down hill from here. Maybe college was my spiritual high point… and now it’s on to the real world… work, mortgage, taxes… maybe my best days of ministry are behind me.”
I was talking on the phone with my friend Clayton King about all of these doubts one night about 4 months before I graduated. Clayton is an evangelist who started a ministry out of his college dorm room about 12 or 13 years ago. He now preaches to over 250,000 people (that’s a modest number) every year and holds summer camp for about 3000 students in a little town called Boiling Springs, NC.
He was trying to convince me to move to Boiling Springs after graduation and travel and preach for his ministry, Crossroads. And I did.
Holly and I moved to Boiling Springs 2 weeks after we graduated, and I worked with Crossroads, preaching to students all over the country for 3 years before moving to Charlotte to start Elevation.
But that’s not the point.
The funny thing is, he probably doesn’t even remember the conversation from that night, but it flipped the script on my perspective and set my imagination on fire about the future God had planned for me.
As Clayton was trying to talk me into moving to Boiling Springs and living off my speaking honorariums and love offerings instead of taking one of the 3 offers I had to go make a salary at some pretty large churches, he said something that pushed me out of the boat:
“Steven, the best is yet to come in your life. God is only going to use you more. You haven’t seen anything yet.”
Anyone who has been through a major life transition recently can relate to the intense fear that threatens to paralyze you as you try to figure out what to do next.
I thank God for Clayton, who reminded me at an all-important crossroad in my journey to anticipate that the best is always forthcoming as I follow Christ in faith.
If you are stuck in a portal of uncertainty right now, be encouraged.
God’s calling on your life has not diminished.
Jesus has gone before you and prepared a future of blessing and impact.
He’s only going to use you more.
