You Can't
God Can
Making a Difference in Your World
Mike Lee
You Can’t God Can
Making a Difference in Your World
Copyright © 2018 by Mike Lee
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher and author. Additional copies may be ordered from the publisher for educational, business, promotional or premium use.
For information, contact ALIVE Book Publishing at:
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Book Design by Alex Johnson
Quotes from the Bible are from the New International Version (NIV).
ISBN 13
978-1-63132-050-7
978-1-63132-056-9 epub
ISBN 10
1-63132-050-5
1-63132-056-4 epub
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018939999
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
is available upon request.
First Edition
Published in the United States of America by ALIVE Book Publishing
and ALIVE Publishing Group, imprints of Advanced Publishing LLC
3200 A Danville Blvd., Suite 204, Alamo, California 94507 alivebookpublishing.com
Dedication
There’s an old saying, “Behind every successful pastor is a wife that is as shocked as he is.” There’s no way there would be Hope Community Church without the support of my wife, Laura. Even when I didn’t have confidence in myself, she had confidence in me and the vision that God called us to. Laura not only supported me but built one of the best Family Ministries in the United States.
I also want to thank my sons, Aaron and Adam, for all their support through the years. It’s tough to grow up at church! Today they both work on staff and bring joy to my life.
Foreword
By the grace of God, this past year the Triangle (Raleigh-Durham) was home to five of Outreach Magazine’s “Fastest Growing Churches in America.” But of the five on that list, Pastor Mike Lee was here long before the rest of us, building a movement devoted to bringing people who are far from God to an encounter with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. God used Pastor Mike as the gospel pioneer in this area, his forerunner to till up the soil, sow gospel seed far and wide, birth kingdom vision, and create a thirst for genuine encounters with God in one of the fastest growing areas of America.
Pastor Mike’s messages, like this book, are filled with wisdom, gritty authenticity, humor, earthy practicality, and genuine gospel power. The most frequent word I hear when people tell me about their experience at Hope Community Church is “life-change.” They say this, more often than not, with tears in their eyes, as they talk about how God used Mike’s messages to interrupt their lives and introduce them to God. I can’t think of any way I’d rather be described.
I have personally benefited in numerous ways—both direct and indirect—from Pastor Mike’s ministry. The church he’s led now for more than two decades helped foster a gospel hunger that has permeated the Triangle. He has promoted a spirit of unity and gospel cooperation among like-minded pastors. Most of the Triangle pastors I know I have met at an event hosted by Hope Community.
On a personal level, Mike has always opened up his life to me, sharing his wisdom, experiences, and even Hope’s resources with us. And he has demonstrated that rare quality of caring more about the kingdom than his particular church. I have had the privilege of serving in his shadow, reaping the benefits of his labor.
As you’ll see in this book, one thing moves Mike’s heart more than any other—seeing people transformed by the grace of God. Jesus said, “There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent” (Luke 15:7 NIV). That’s an amazing statement, and one every Christian leader should wrestle with. Of all the things to get excited about in the body of Christ, and of all the things to focus our attention on, one above them all brings joy to God’s heart—seeing lost people come home. Pastor Mike has made a lifetime of seeing this happen. In these pages, you get to learn from a master fisherman sharing his secrets with you.
The stories contained in this book will not only instruct you; they will inspire you to see things like this happen through your life, too. I’ve heard it said that some books take a year to write, while others take a lifetime. This book is one of the latter. In this book you’ll see how God used an ordinary man to accomplish extraordinary things in the lives of very unlikely people—and how he wants to do the same in you. Buckle your seatbelt. I assure you that you won’t be the same after reading it.
Pastor Mike is not that much older than me. But I do consider him a mentor, example, and friend, a leader of extraordinary gifting and wisdom—to whom I, along with thousands of other believers in the Triangle and around the world, owe a great debt of gratitude. You’ll feel the same when you finish this book.
—J.D. Greear, Ph.D.
Pastor, Summit Church
North Carolina
Introduction
You’ve Got the Wrong Guy!
Years ago, I was sitting in a meeting at the Leadership Network in Dallas, Texas, with nine other pastors, all of whom I consider to be very successful. As I looked around the room, I wasn’t sure why I had been invited. To be perfectly honest, I’ve never felt comfortable around pastors, especially successful ones. For me, being in the same meeting with these guys was like putting whipped cream on an onion. In my mind, I seemed out of place; I didn’t fit. They were brilliant, cutting-edge leaders, conference speakers, and published authors. They had huge congregations. And they had hair!
It didn’t help my insecurities when the guest facilitator made his opening statement, “Every successful pastor has two things in common: a strong calling to the ministry and a strong mentor.”
I sat there thinking, “Great! I’m already 0 for 2, and we just started.” But it was just another reminder that Laura and I are probably the most unlikely couple in the world to be used by God to accomplish what He has accomplished through Hope Community Church.
My education is sketchy at best. I don’t get very excited about speaking at places other than Hope. Until now, I’d never written a book, never felt “called” to ministry, and no one had ever mentored me. Heck, I grew up thinking that I never wanted to be in ministry. In fact, the one thing I was sure of when I sat in church as a child was that being a pastor had to be the worst job in the world. While everyone else was enjoying the weekend at the beach or the mountains or the lake, a pastor had to be at church . . . every Sunday! That did not fit with my plan for my life.
My dream was to be a football coach. My plan was to start wherever I could get a break, then work my way up through the ranks until I was coaching on Sunday afternoons! It was the only career I could imagine would top being at the beach or the mountains or the lake or any other place on a Sunday. However, it says in Proverbs 16:9: “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”
After college, on schedule to fulfill my plan for my life, I was able to land a job as a teacher and coach. I was on my way. But toward the end of the school year, a small church