Confessions of an Insignificant Pastor  CHAPTER 1: EXCERPT #1
I’m a nobody! I went to average schools with mostly average kids and average teachers. Since it was all that I knew at the time average was very good. I wouldn’t change it for the world because God has used it to craft me into the person I am today. I love you Orleans, Indiana 47452! There is nobody famous from 47452 that I know of Mine is a background of pain, poverty, simplicity, obscurity, small towns, and relative insignificance. Yet, perhaps my life is not much different than yours. We all have a story to tell! Perhaps your story line includes similar people, similar small places, and similar results with just a different zip code. Maybe you too are a nobody from nowhere like me. The Bible is full of nobodies from nowhere. David was the youngest (least) in his family. Are you the baby of your family? Joseph was the despised baby step-brother in his family. Do you feel lost in the shuffle of a blended family? Moses was abandoned by his mother in the Nile River, later found and adopted, and went on to become a murderer on the run to Midian (Exodus 2:1-15). Were you a foster child or an adopted child into a stranger’s home? Samuel was left off at the synagogue by momma Hannah and then raised by Eli the prophet as a preachers’ kid (1 Samuel 1-2). Were you abandoned emotionally or physically as a child? Peter was an uneducated, dropout, blue-collar fisherman. Perhaps you had a mid-course career change into pastoring? Perhaps that is your future. Perhaps you are a sacrificial bi-vocational pastor? Ruth was orphaned and later widowed. Naomi was widowed. Are you single again? Jesus was viewed as an unexplainable illegitimate child. John Mark was a momma’s boy still connected by an emotional umbilical cord. We all have a storied background! What’s your story? How did you grow up? Despite their insignificance, God raised each of these biblical heroes up out of their obscurity and did amazing things through their dedicated lives. He can do the same thing for you friend! It’s not so much about where you come from (47452) or who your family tree includes. It’s more about who you are becoming today as a citizen of the kingdom of God. Our “doing” cannot dictate who we are as a “being.” Our “being” instead needs to determine what we are “doing.” Pastor Mark Batterson of National Community Church in Washington DC says, “God is in the business of strategically positioning us in the right place at the right time. But the right place often seems like the wrong place, and the right time often seems like the wrong time”. I’ve had those confusing times too. How about you? CHAPTER 1: EXCERPT #2 I had a distraught middle-aged mom in my office recently sharing with me how “God was turning her misery into a ministry.” I was amazed by her faith. God gave Joseph the ability to interpret the dreams of those around him in prison. Joseph began to minister to those he worked and lived with in the prison (Genesis 39-40). By cooperating with God, Joseph had turned his miserable prison situation into a ministry center. Perhaps God wants to do the same for you with those things that have you bound, imprisoned, or falsely accused. Be open to new ministry opportunities in your latter years. Joseph interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s servants and then eventually interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh himself (Genesis 40-41). Pharaoh pardoned Joseph and made him Vice-Pharaoh of Egypt (Genesis 41:41-57). He gained this position of authority because he had been faithful to God while in the dungeon of obscurity. He was now in an influential position to make significant contributions to his generation and his family. His highly lofted childhood dreams came true that day as his brothers bowed down in respect and fear to Pharaoh’s right-hand man (Genesis 42-47). When we humble ourselves, nurture our dreams, and lean upon God in the midst of conflicting situational messages, we are able to be raised up out of insignificance to significance through the anointed sovereignty of God. God is in the business of making somebody’s out of nobody’s from nowhere because it brings a greater glory to His Name. The Bible is full of examples of the life-altering work of God in a yielded person’s life. God is able to do what NO man can do. God can open doors that NO man can close. God can close doors that NO man can open. It’s more about who He is and whose you are in him my friend. Christ has all the significance you and I need. Tap into it! | 
