Upon finishing the Calvary Chapel history book called "Harvest," I came to a glaring conclusion. God often doesn't call leaders who haven't lived sinful lives. It is a person's experience that validates them to minister to the people God is calling them to. It is clear to see that in the work of the Calvary Chapel movement, through the stories of how he called the druggies, the hippies, the drunks, the suicidal, the abusers and the abused to minister to people who are walking in these same life experiences. God doesn't often call super straight laced people who have never done anything wrong because what validation would they have to minister unto people who have been in a lifestyle of sex, drugs and rock and roll? If you don't know someone's situation from experience, you have less of an ability to say "I know what your going through, and believe me God can deliver you from this because he did it for me". Not to say that God can't use the straight laced for reasons of ministering to the people who have never done anything wrong, but let's face it, most of us have done some bad stuff in our life.
Reading this book reaffirms my calling into ministry. It reaffirms my understanding of why God would call this wretched man to a work of facilitating the saints into the throne room of God. My life experience is anything but pretty. I've experienced so much bad, and God wants me to use that for good. I'm reminded of the words of Joseph (Gen. 50:20), and several other stories throughout The Word of God of people being called to minister out of their trials and misfortune.
Everything from growing up in a broken home watching physical abuse between my Father and Step Mother. To my party days of college where I was engaged in a lifestyle of getting drunk and inappropriate relationships. To the trials my wife and I have faced in her battle of endometriosis and issues conceiving a child and then having a hysterectomy. God had a plan for me. I can remember so many occasions since even my high school years where I've had the opportunity to minister to people who were going through something that I've gone through.
I can remember praying with a young middle school kid that was watching his parents go through a divorce. I had just sung a song with my band at a summer camp. It was a song that I wrote about divorce and God's comfort that spoke to him and he came to me. God's calling on my life began to become clear at an early age, but I'd still have a lot to walk through.
From the valleys to the mountain tops my relationship with God and understanding of his great and awesome grace has become a reality. Not just a superficial reality, but something I know to be true in my heart of hearts. It is the wellspring of which I can minister out of. It's the context to my worship and the power in my praise.
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