He Had a Dream! Do You?

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"It is abnormal for a Christian not to have an appetite for the impossible." - Bill Johnson

I love thinking about this quote on the eve of Martin Luther King Day. I have had the privilege of sitting on the front pew of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia where I listened to recorded sermons of Martin Luther King preaching.


It was anointed. And I didn't hear anything that was biased with a political agenda. I remember sitting there feeling liberated to dream and hearing about the power of faith. It was good stuff. It was insightful teaching on the power of freedom when God is in first place of your life. It was powerful. It's been over ten years since then, and I still remember it vividly.


I also remember sitting there feeling frustrated. I was frustrated by how his message has been hijacked by those in our society who want to use Martin Luther King's message of equal opportunities as an endorsement for any lifestyle that isn't accepted by everyone. That isn't the Martin Luther King I heard preaching on that day.

I think Dr. King's messages were amazing. Not only in their delivery but in the depth of their content.

And I believe they were motivated by a spiritual appetite for what seemed like a huge impossibility to the masses at the time. As we all know now, Dr. King had a dream. And a man with a dream can accomplish impossible milestones if he can keep that dream fueled with hope and desire - freed from distraction and the discouragement of naysayers.

I think we have come a long ways as a society to make sure there are opportunities for all people. But I also think we have a long ways to go before people are judged more by the content of their character than the color of their skin. I intend to do more sharing about some of those things in the near future - hopefully.

I have been blessed to be able to meet many awesome people from the inner-city of Des Moines these past few months and I am excited to see how these relationships will enable us to have a greater impact on the city where God has called us to base our Teen Challenge ministry out of - even as we are preparing to go statewide across Iowa and Nebraska with Living Free Community!

The main thing I wanted to post on my blog tonight, is the reality that every one of us who embrace a spiritual profession of faith in Jesus Christ should have an unquenchable passion in our life to pursue the impossible - impossible apart from a miraculous intervention. I am so driven by the desire to impact people that it is the first thought that greets me every morning and keeps me awake at night. In order for the ministry I am involved in to reach its full potential, I am going to need  a lot of help from people I haven't even met yet, favor from people who don't even like me (yet), and miraculous provision of resources and multiplication of just about everything.

But I am so excited I can barely sit here and type. Whenever I have the opportunity to share Christ with somebody, and to see the emotional, spiritual and physical chains of sin and bondage drop off someone's life, I only have a greater and more unquenchable passion to see this occur on a daily basis - multiple times!

Martin Luther King had more than five sermons in his preaching repertoire. Social justice was a powerful motivator in his life. But if that is all you know about this influential man, then you really don't know the man. And most of our history books and cultural sanitizing of his spiritual passion, makes it somewhat hard for the average person to really understand the spiritual equation of his life.

I am truly in awe of Martin Luther King's influence on the Civil Rights Movement. But I think his eternal legacy in Heaven will be much bigger than that. I'm not always the best judge of character because I tend to believe the best in most people. But when I got involved in helping lead the Martin Luther King festivities on the campus of the University of Central Missouri from 2000-2004 (Central Missouri State University at that time), I spent a lot of time researching the man, and I felt personally challenged to do even more than I was doing, to make a bigger difference and to have more of an impact. On January 14th, 2004 I was honored as a recipient of the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award. It was presented annually by the university to celebrate Dr, King's legacy and the principles for which he stood. (To read the press release from the University, go here and scroll down to page 3. I am surprised it is still accessible after nine years.)

Even now, I am really excited because I believe that Living Free Community, the strategy of Teen Challenge to take the message of freedom through Jesus Christ to every county, is a partial fulfillment of that desire to have a bigger impact. Through Living Free Community we want to work with every city and town that will partner with us to network with them and the judicial, law enforcement, business and church communities to facilitate outreach and discipleship to the hurting, the addicted, the broken and the spiritually hungry individuals that are interested in joining us.

Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia

I often think back to the opportunity I had to visit King's birthplace in Atlanta and the neighborhood where he grew up and entered pastoral ministry. I often draw encouragement from the reality that dreams can have a powerful influence in our lives.

And I am excited and humbled at how I have the privilege and opportunity to live out a personal dream of mine every day that I am involved in the ministry of Teen Challenge.

If it has been a while since you have had a dream that motivated you and filled with passion for something more than you are currently doing; please contact me and let's talk! I would love to play a small part in helping you to become re-energized and refocused for God!

Thanks for reading this blog! You are loved!