The Vision (Part 1)

The vision for Elevation Church began in 2001.  It was just a fuzzy vision then...a dream with no deadline.  I could just see myself and Trena leading a church in Colorado.  I could see myself preaching, teaching and leading.  I could see us loving, sharing hope and being hospitable.  I knew I had alot of growing to do but I thought maybe someday God would make the dream a reality.  At the time, I was a brand new staff member at http://www.fellowshipchurch.com/  in Grapevine, TX.  I knew I was in a great church with great leadership, but I had no idea how much this church and the incredible team of godly leaders would impact and shape me.

Fast forward to February 2009.  Over the past 8 years my ministry experience has included Small Groups, Students, First Impressions, and Operations.  Each of these roles included dozens of jobs and responsibilities that have challenged me, grown me and prepared me.  The leaders I've associated with and come up under have taught me much.  But nothing has prepared me for the trial I am about to face.  On February 7th, 2009 I received a call just before midnight.  My best friend and long-time ministry partner, Jimmy York, was being taken to the hospital in an ambulance.  He was not breathing and things did not look good.  I rushed to the hospital, arriving just as the doctor told Jimmy's wife, Tricia, that they tried everthing and could not bring him back...Jimmy was gone. 

Life changed in an instant...for Tricia and their two sons, for myself and for many others.  Jimmy touched literally thousands of lives as the Marrried Life Pastor at Fellowship Church.  The grief and trials that followed are too much to explain here. But a year later I know I am a better person, a better pastor, for having known Jimmy York.  Strangely, I also know I'm better for having lost him.  God has used this experience to shape me, refine me, and define me.  It was in the wake of this tragedy that my calling crystallized and the "someday" dream became a "today" reality. 

I don't know if I would have been willing to follow God's call to plant without this experience.  I don't know if I would have been ready to stand firm in the face of trials of many kinds had I not been used by God to stand strong in the face of that trial.  I don't know if I would have had the "guts" to step out and leave a phenomenal ministry like Fellowship Church if not for the realization that life is short...way too short and too precious...to be lived comfortably.  So here I am, God.  Send me.