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“We Heard a Loud Bang, and Then BOOM!”: Megachurch Pastor on God Turning Off His Church’s Power So They Could ‘Witness His Power’

“We just encountered something I haven’t experienced before at Long Hollow or at any church for that matter,” Gallaty explained. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We now with unveiled faces are looking at the glory of God are being transformed.”

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The Danger of Following Your “Calling”

I don’t like to say that God “calls me” anymore.

When I graduated from a Christian college, I believed I would change the world.  I was determined to be useful, significant and different.  I wasn’t going to join the throng of sell-outs who eventually move to comfy white-picket homes in the suburbs and attend churches where conversations afterward are meaningless and trivial because I was called to be a missionary—the highest calling a Christian can have.

Every decision I made propelled me on that path.  College?  A place that would offer overseas opportunities.  Major?  Something useful, but that could also slide under the radar if I went to a closed country that was anti-Christian.  First job?  Teaching in inner-city Chicago until a door opened up to go overseas (obviously).  First chance to go abroad?  China, because closed countries are the place to be if you really love Jesus.

I finally had the chance to answer God’s call on my life to serve Him as a missionary after a few years of teaching in the states.  I sold my car, quit my job and moved to China.  Yes, I was lonely at times, but I was finally doing what I was called to do, so I loved knowing that I was living such a high calling and making a difference in the world.  And then something tragic happened:  I fell in love with an actor in Chicago, who was not “called to missions” (careful about short trips back home when you have your guard down).

And I had to face some hard questions.

What if God hadn’t called me to missions after all?

What if I was being just a tad prideful about my “calling”?

What if I was worshipping my call?

When I made the decision to move back to the states and get engaged, I felt like a failure.  Though God had made it unmistakably clear that this was the man He intended for me, I still struggled with all the demons in my head yelling at me that I was selling out by leaving the mission field.

But God.

He wanted more for me.  He wanted me to step down off my pedestal and walk among the “uncalled” for a while.  He wanted me to untangle my identity, unwinding all the programming I had received that led me to believe that I was “more,” that I was doing “more” and being “more” than other Christians.  The lies.  That my life was somehow more meaningful because I was serving Him in another country.  That I was special because I had that call in my life.

Leslie Verner
Leslie Verner
Leslie Verner is a goer learning how to stay. She traveled widely and spent five years in China before returning to the U.S. to marry a theatre actor. Leslie writes regularly about faith, justice, family and cross-cultural issues at www.scrapingraisins.com and elsewhere on the web. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

“We Heard a Loud Bang, and Then BOOM!”: Megachurch Pastor on God Turning Off His Church’s Power So They Could ‘Witness His Power’

“We just encountered something I haven’t experienced before at Long Hollow or at any church for that matter,” Gallaty explained. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We now with unveiled faces are looking at the glory of God are being transformed.”

10 Common Mistakes in Marriage, According to Divorced Men

Learn from 10 common mistakes in marriage shared by divorced men, with insights on building stronger communication, connection, and mutual respect in relationships.

They Were Born 6 Hours Apart in the Same Hospital. 35 Years Later, They Got Married

Like many modern couples, Joshua and Elizabeth Colbert met on a dating app, Hinge. Except in their case...that's not really 100% true. It turns out, the couple discovered they'd actually first met in the hospital nursery, on the very day they were born.